The Weekend

Hey everyone, I'm back again. I have a quick note before I get into this chapter. First off, I have started up a new story that I will be updating intermittently between chapters of this fic. It is a Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) AU and the first dedicated IzuOcha fic I've had in a while, so you should check it out. It is under my stories/works on my profile. Next, to avoid making this chapter 7k words long, I've split up the last scene of this chapter into its own individual chapter that I will be releasing in a few days, and It gets its own chapter because it is super important. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

NOTE: This would've been up yesterday but FFN is being dumb

Izuku was surrounded by darkness. Looking around, all he could see was black, nothing else but darkness. There wasn't any noise, just the dull hum of the space around him. He couldn't feel anything but the cold touch of the void on his skin.

Then, there was a hint of color in the sea of black. A white speck in the distance, like a glimmer of hope in this depressing reality. It grew in size slowly, speck of white taking form in the distance, small head bobbing up and down.

Izuku couldn't move his body, he was stuck in place as the figure approached. After a painstakingly long time, Izuku was able to make out who it was running towards him.

Stark white hair, A pitiful rag of clothing. Bandages covering her legs and arms from head to toe. A tiny horn on the top of her head.

Eri.

Izuku tried to take a step forwards, but his body wouldn't move. He was stuck in place like a spectator. Eri was running towards him, her arms outstretched, just like she had come out of the alleyway.

Izuku tried to reach out, with everything he could, but it proved futile. No matter what, his arms wouldn't budge. Izuku was condemned to watch in horror as Eri ran straight through the area where his body should be. As she passed through him, she dissolved into thin air, becoming white wisps of light in the air.

Izuku tried to scream. He tried to call out, but nothing came out. And even if something had, there wouldn't be anyone to hear him.

"Gah!" Izuku bolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily. His sudden rise and clatter startled Riolu at the end of the bed, causing the pokemon to nearly jump out of his skin as he clambered to his feet, getting into a fighting stance.

"I-It's okay Riolu. There's nobody here." Izuku said. Riolu visibly relaxed, moving from his fighting stance. Izuku looked down at himself to see his palms clammy, his body covered in sweat. He was still breathing hard, and his hands were shaking ever so slightly.

It's just a nightmare...It's just a nightmare. It wasn't real… Izuku repeated to himself in an attempt to calm his nerves. It only kind of worked.

"It was just a nightmare. You can go back to sleep." Izuku told Riolu, who was still standing up on the floor. The pokemon just eyed Izuku, giving him an unconvinced look. You don't look okay. It shook his head.

"I swear. I just need a second to calm down." Riolu didn't look totally convinced, but at least he gave up, climbing back onto his spot at the end of the bed. Izuku looked over at the clock that had permanent residence on his desk.

1:09 am… Izuku groaned and laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He'd be hard-pressed to be able to get to bed on time, so he decided it would probably just be best to take a break and go get some water, possibly calm himself down from his nightmare.

Riolu gazed at Izuku as he got out of bed and walked to the door, but to his relief, the pokemon didn't protest. The less arguments he could have with the pokemon the better, even if they were well-intentioned and based in his partner's concern for his health.

Izuku was able to calm down after a while. He sat for a few minutes in the living room with a glass of water, drinking the cool liquid. Eventually, the clammy hands went away and he stopped nervously sweating. He finished his glass of water and made his way back to his room.

He laid down, getting under the covers to try to go back to sleep.

Yet, every time he found himself dozing off, something in the back of his mind ticked and he was stuck staring at the ceiling once more.

I'm never going to be able to fall back to sleep. Izuku groaned mentally, reaching for his bedside table. He fumbled around, nearly knocking his wallet of the stand, but he successfully retrieved his phone.

The second clicked the home screen button, the screen popped open, background of All Might standing out like a beacon in the dark. It was nearly blinding due to how Izuku's eyes were adjusted to the dark. Izuku turned down the brightness to where he could actually look at the screen, and was surprised to see a notification.

"Hey Deku! I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend! It's totally fine if you're busy!" The text from Uraraka said. The timestamp said it was sent at 8:59 pm the previous day.

I must have totally missed the notification! Izuku opened the text and started to type out the response.

"Sure. I need to get out of the house anyways." Izuku typed back. He moved to press send, but his hand stopped a millimeter above the screen.

"What if she's asleep? What if I wake her up? Should I wait until it's morning?" The questions weren't directed at anyone, just said to the open air. Izuku felt Riolu shuffle around at the end of the bed.

There I go, waking him up with my pointless muttering

Suddenly, a streak of blue came out of the dark and slapped Izuku's hand lightly, conveniently causing him to his the send button. The text went through before Izuku could even try to stop it.

"Riolu!" Izuku whisper-shouted, "You could've woken her up!" Izuku squinted in the dark, but he swore the pokemon just shrugged nonchalantly, curling up again at the end of the bed. Izuku groaned and scrambled to pick up his phone to apologize.

Yet, when he picked it up, he saw the signature three blinking dots signifying that Uraraka was texting back.

"Yay! How does saturday afternoon sound? Also, why are you up this late?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. You go first." Izuku typed back. There was a pause before the next message came through.

"Eevee is keeping me up. She wouldn't go in her ball so I had to get accustomed to sleeping with her out." Izuku snorted.

"Welcome to the club." Izuku said out loud, but didn't text.

"Anyways, why are YOU up this late?"

Izuku didn't respond immediately. He had to think through what he wanted to say first. Should he tell her he just got up at such an hour on a whim, or should he tell her the truth? THe answer made itself apparent pretty quickly.

"Nightmare." He typed back simply.

"Oh."

"I'll be fine, I just needed a glass of water." Izuku quickly typed back, not wanting to worry her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

It was such a simple question, yet it held so much weight. Not only did she care about him enough to offer to listen to him vent, but she also recognized that he probably needed that help too.

"Actually, that would be nice. Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

Izuku was able to get at least a little sleep. It wasn't a healthy amount, but at least it was something. By the time he got back to bed, it was four or five in the morning, which left him with a extra couple hours of shut-eye.

When his alarm went off at 7:30, he actually pulled himself out of bed to go on his morning run. It was a strict training plan that didn't leave room for any days off, so he couldn't afford to not work out just because he was feeling down in the dumps.

Riolu cooperated, stretching with Izuku in the living room. They ate a quick breakfast as they warmed up before saying a quick goodbye to Izuku's mom and heading out of the room.

Izuku enjoyed his morning runs a lot. Most of the time he scheduled them for early mornings when he didn't have to worry about the sun being too hot, and the roads were generally clear so that he could safely run on the sidewalks. Those weren't the only reasons, however.

Running let Izuku clear his mind. He could think about a wide variety of other things as he let his legs go on autopilot and carry him at a constant pace. Sometimes what he thought about was something stupid, like what he was going to have for dinner Others it was something more important like analyzing a hero encounter.

Today, it was a variety of things. At first his mind had taken a bad turn, sticking onto the same thing it had been over the last two days (Had it really only been two days?). No matter how hard he tried, he just could not get the terrible thoughts out of his head. Ever time he closed his eyes he saw Eri jumping out of his arms. Every time he looked down a alleyway he thought he saw shapes in the darkness, only to figure out it's his eyes playing tricks on him. He tried to stay away from alleyways.

Thus, he did the one thing that made the most sense. He distracted himself with something else that no pertinence to the situation that was unnerving him so much. He thought about his meeting with Uraraka he'd be going to as soon as he was done with his run.

She'd wanted to go on a simple picnic at the park near Izuku's house for lunch.

"We can let our pokemon out to play while we eat!" She'd said excitedly when they coordinated it. Just based on the tone of her voice over the phone, Izuku could tell that she was genuinely excited to be meeting with him.

Izuku couldn't help but feel a little flustered at the prospect. It was two high schoolers, alone, in a park, having a picnic. That was cutting it awfully close to the 'It's a date!' line.

Hanging out with a friend is all it is. That's all it is. Friends do that, right? Izuku reasoned with himself, trying to keep his face from getting too red. Maybe the fact that he was already hot and sweaty from running would cover up his blush. He hoped.

The rest of the run was uneventful. Izuku kept his mind on his meeting with Ochako, opting for embarrassment over the...other thoughts. Something he did notice, however, was how to clouds seemed to amass over the sky as his run went on, forming a sort of gray barrier in the sky, separating the sun from humanity.

Izuku made it back to his apartment and ran inside, scaring his mother partially as he slammed open the door.

"Oh-Hey! Izuku!" She said, hand raised to her chest, frightened be his sudden entrance.

"Hey-" Izuku panted, still breathing heavily, "Hey Mom."

Izuku jogged around the corner, running into the bathroom and turning on the shower.

"You took longer than usual today, is something wrong?" She asked. She wasn't wrong about that. He'd extended his run by a little bit so that he could cut out any of the small side streets or alleyways he used to go down. He had bad experiences with alleyways.

Not that he could tell her that.

"I just took a scenic route today!" He called, shutting the door to the bathroom. He didn't want to delve into too much conversation, so he made the choice to condemn poor Riolu to endless conversation with his mom, as the pokemon was stuck in the living room, alone.

This is for all those times that you gave me sass while you were on the computer Izuku thought. He rushed through his shower and got dressed as quickly as possible, not wanting to be late for his meeting with Uraraka.

By the time he got out of the shower, it was already 10:30, and they were supposed to meet at 11 at the park, which was a five minute walk. Izuku burst out of his room, packing a bag with fruits and vegetables from the fridge, interrupting his very confused mother.

"What are you in such a hurry for, Izuku?" She asked.

"I'm supposed to be meeting a friend for lunch in ten minutes , and it's a five minute walk!" He slammed the fridge door shut, shoving the bag over his arm and gesturing to Riolu, "Let's go!"

"Wait, izuku!" His mom called out, catching Izuku right as his hand touched the door handle.

"Have fun." She said, giving him a huge smile.

I'll try he thought.

"I will!" He said.

Izuku sped his way to the park, but it all turned out to be pointless anyways, as he was there before Uraraka. He walked around a little, searching for a good spot to settle down. There was a park bench not too far off of the main path, but it was already occupied.

The playground itself was occupied by various children, but Izuku didn't think that it would be a very optimal place for a picnic, even if it were free. Then, he turned and saw the perfect location.

An old oak tree stood at the crest of a hill, looking almost like a scene from a movie. It was old enough that it had a thick trunk and a full canopy, and not old enough that it looked like it was falling apart. Smiling, Izuku jogged over to the location and set down his bag.

He pulled out the plaid white and red tablecloth and set it down right in front of the roots of the tree. Then, he pulled out the bag of food as well as the paper plates he had, setting them down on the ground.

He reached into his bag to check if anything else was-

"Deku!" Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin when Uraraka called his name.

"Oh-hey!" He said, looking up from the bag that was now empty. He scooted over to give her room to sit down. Uraraka was a dozen or so meters away, but she was walking towards Izuku briskly, holding something in her arms. Only when she got closer did Izuku see that she was carrying Eevee in her arms.

She was cradling it, but not at the same time. She was supporting the pokemon's legs and torso, while the little pokemon's head and upper body was sticking up out of her arms, taking up residence between Uraraka's arms and head. Its fluffy tail lazily waggled out of her arms.

Uraraka hurried over, taking a seat next to Izuku. She sat with her legs criss-crossed, Eevee sitting down in the gap between her legs.

"Sorry I was late. I must have misjudged the time it took for the train to get here!" Uraraka said in her usual happy tone. She even let out a little giggle to go along with it, and Izuku had to suppress a blush.

"It's alright. I just got here and set up, anyways." Izuku said, gesturing to the setup.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Uraraka reached into her bad, pulling out some bread, grapes, and a soda for each of them. They set to eating the food they brought, making sandwiches with the ingredients Izuku brought and Uraraka's bread.

They weren't talking, and there was a sort of awkward tension filling the air as they ate. It felt like both of them wanted to start a conversation, but neither of them knew how.

I mean, what would we even start with? I know she wanted to talk to me but… Izuku thought. It was probably to start off with such a heavy topic.

"So why doesn't Eevee like her pokeball?" Izuku finally asked between bites. Uraraka sat up ever so slightly taller, perking up that Izuku finally started a conversation.

"I have no idea. It's just that every time I try, she avoids it like the plague." Uraraka said when she finished chewing. She looked down at Eevee, petting the pokemon on the head affectionately. Eevee just cooed happily, snuggling up against Uraraka's hand.

"You two seem to be getting along well." Izuku noted. Uraraka smiled, nodding.

"She's so sweet, even if she can be sassy sometimes. And wake me up in the middle of the night. And not want to go into her pokeball. Other than that, she's so cute, don't you think?" Uraraka ran her hand through Eevee's fur.

"Riolu gets sassy sometimes too. It's kinda irritating, but what can you do, right?" Izuku stopped, "Oh that reminds me. We should probably let our pokemon out." Izuku opened his pokeball, and out came Riolu. Uraraka did the same, releasing Togekiss and Clefairy from their confinement.

The moment Clefairy was out, she jumped at Uraraka, landing on her chest before climbing onto her shoulder. Togekiss immediately spread out her wings and stretched, doing a little twirl on one foot. It kind of reminded Izuku of the little spinny circles Mew liked to do from time to time.

Togekiss then looked around, noticing the area around her. Her face lit up when she saw Izuku and Riolu at the picnic with them. She happily bounced up and down, waving her wings frantically.

"She's happy to see you." Uraraka translated the movements. Izuku laughed.

"It's nice to see you, too Togekiss." Izuku said. The pokemon only jumped up and down happily. She opened her wings invitingly. Izuku just sadly shook his head.

"No hugs for me today, sorry." He said nervously. Togekiss looked down a little, disappointed but not surprised. Suddenly, a thought came to Izuku's mind. "...But Riolu wants a big hug."

Togekiss's head snapped up, smile on her happy face once again. She glided over, taking poor Riolu by surprise as she tackled him into the ground with the fluffiest bear hug in existence. "Kiss!" She said happily as she smothered Riolu. Izuku could just barely see his partner glaring over Togekiss's shoulder, staring daggers into Izuku.

Izuku couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Uraraka joined in a moment later. The light laughing developed into something heavier when Togekiss released Riolu, who just kinda collapsed onto the ground, properly wrung out. The laughing devolved more until Uraraka and Izuku were practically rolling on the floor with laughter.

Eventually, Uraraka and Izuku were able to regain their bearings and stop laughing, though they both had big smiles on their faces. Riolu, however, was still lying on the ground, beat. Izuku saw some movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Uraraka whispering to Togekiss, who looked like she was gesturing to Izuku.

"Something wrong?" Izuku asked. Izuku swore he saw Uraraka's cheeks flash a slightly brighter pink.

"Oh-Umm-I, uhh…" Uraraka stopped, opting to start again, "Togekiss wanted to get you something."

"Get...me something?"

"Yeah, for like, saving us at the entrance exam. She thought that since she can't hug you, she should do something else, so she made me go and...well, just take it." Uraraka stuck out her hand, which held a simple card. Izuku took it, looking it over.

It was a simple white card with black text on the front that said 'Thank You'. Opening it up, something fell out onto Izuku's lap. Picking it up, he recognized what it was almost immediately.

It was a keychain with a little metal figure of a Riolu hanging off of it. It was a rather faithful depiction of the pokemon. Smiling, Izuku attached it to his keychain before looking to the rest of the letter.

"Deku, Togekiss and I wanted to thank you for saving us at the entrance exam. Without you, we probably wouldn't be going to Yuuei. It's been really great getting to know you, and you're definitely our best friend! We owe you one!

It may sound cheesy, but we weren't sure if we would find friends moving to here from home, but in the end we met you, and now we have a ton of friends!

Thank you, Deku.

Sincerely,

Ochako Uraraka and..." the bottom half of the page was printed pink with what looked like a footprint of a pokemon. Izuku recognized it as that of Togekiss's foot. It was the pokemon's way of 'signing' the letter.

It was a short and sweet, but it held so much weight. Not only had Uraraka been willing to go out and buy him a keychain and thank you note, but she had called him her best friend. Izuku could actually feel tears just under the surface, but he pushed them down.

"Thank you, Uraraka. Thank you, Togekiss. It really means a lot to me." Izuku rubbed at his eyes, "I owe you a hug, Togekiss. Don't let me forget."

"Togekiss insisted we should get you something, so that's what we decided on. And look!" She pulled out her own keychain to reveal an identical keychain to the one she gifted him, except that instead of an icon of Riolu, it was one of an Eevee.

"They were having a two for one sale!" She said excitedly. Izuku snickered, barely containing a laugh.

"Are you saying that the only reason you got me a gift was because it was on sale?" Izuku raised an eyebrow teasingly. Uraraka broke out into a fierce blush, waving her hands out in front of her frantically.

"Oh no! That's not it, I swear!"

Izuku shook his head, chuckling, "I'm just messing with you. Thank you, for real though." Uraraka just nodded her head. Suddenly, there was movement again, except this time it was coming from Uraraka's lap.

Eevee had gotten up from her seat in Uraraka's lap, and was walking. She came over next to Izuku (But not too close for comfort), and approached Riolu, who was still laying down on the ground, recovering from his traumatic hug experience. She leaned over, looking down at Riolu, who had his eyes closed.

Eevee tilted her head before leaning over and giving Riolu a light lick on the face. Riolu jumped straight up, scrambling away frantically, looking for signs of danger.

"Eevee!" Uraraka yelped, face a mad red blush, looking horrified. Eevee ignored her trainer, just sitting down where she was.

"Voy!" She said cheerfully, wagging her tail and looking at Riolu, who only just then seemed to realize he wasn't in danger. Riolu walked over cautiously, giving Eevee an odd look. He reached up, wiping the place where Eevee had licked him with his palm. He suddenly stopped, looking at his palm.

Then, Riolu's face turned a bright scarlet, and he looked astonished. Eevee just tilted her head and cooed, walking up to the flustered pokemon. She got up in Riolu's face, looking him in the eyes.

"Voy!" She said cheerfully, jumping up onto all four feet again. She took a few steps back before running straight at Riolu, who narrowly jumped out of the way before Eevee tumbled through the area where he had been moments before. Eevee rolled over, skidding to a stop before taking off right at Riolu again, who narrowly dodged.

Riolu looked to Izuku for help between dodges, obviously confused as to what was going on. Izuku laughed at his partner's obliviousness.

"I think she wants to play, buddy. Why don't you and the rest of the pokemon go run off some energy?" Izuku suggested. Togekiss certainly liked the idea, as the moment the words were out of Izuku's mouth, she jumped up from her spot next to Uraraka. Clefairy jumped onto her back and she took off, going to the open field space next to the group.

Eevee ran down the hill, chasing after the two. Riolu paused for a moment, looking over to Izuku as if he were asking permission.

Izuku smiled, "Go have some fun." He said. Riolu didn't wait a moment longer to take off down the hill. Uraraka next to him laughed out loud. Izuku looked over, and the blush on her face from earlier was gone.

Awkward tension fell down on their conversation. Neither of them wanted to speak, to be the one to initiate the conversation they both needed to happen. Yet, in the end it was important, so someone had to speak up.

"So…" Izuku prompted.

"You haven't been sleeping well?" Uraraka stated the obvious. Izuku just shook his head. Hey sat in silence for a few more moments, neither opting to speak.

Uraraka cleared her throat, "Is it because of worrying about people at school, or…?" Izuku shook his head.

"I think I've accepted that the people at school aren't like the people at my middle school. No, this is something completely different." Izuku slumped back, laying down. It was not a conversation he wanted to have, but he knew it was a conversation he knew he needed to have, and who better to have it with than his best friend, right?

"Is it the nightmare?"

"It's more than that, I think. I just...ugh I don't know how to say it without giving you context and if I give you context then I could be possibly putting you in danger and I don't want to do that to you, but I also don't want to lie to you and-" Izuku started a muttering spree.

"Deku, it's alright." Uraraka tried.

"-and every time I think about it, I can't stop thinking about her. Every time I close my eyes, I see her. It's like the guilt is hanging over my shoulder, and I just can't do anything about it!"

"Deku, calm down." It was pointless

"I couldn't do anything! I made the best choice based on my situation, but I still can't stop beating myself up for it. I just can't! Who knows what they're doing to her? All because I couldn't just hold on!"

Uraraka decided it was futile trying to get through to him with words. Instead, she reached out and put her hand on Izuku's shoulder. Suddenly, he stopped mid sentence, turning to look at Uraraka.

He looked like a mess. He was crying now, tears running down his cheeks uncontrollably. His eyes were glazed over and he had a look of mild shock on his face, like he was only just realizing Uraraka was there listening to him.

"I'm-I'm sorry. I'll just-" Izuku tried to stand up, wanting to eject himself from the situation. To remove himself to wallow once again in his misery. Yet, there was an iron grip around his arm, keeping him anchored, both physically and mentally.

"Deku, please. I'm here to help, don't just run away." Uraraka pleaded. She looked like she was sad, probably for him.

Get away, get away, get away. You don't deserve to have a friend like her The back of his mind told him. Every fiber of his being just wanted to leave and deal with his problems on his own and not burden his friend with them.

Every fiber except for the part of his arm that she was still gripping. That hand was his anchor point, keeping him from floating away. Izuku's legs gave out under him and he fell into a sitting position on the ground, slouching.

"I guess I should start from the beginning." Izuku said. Part of his mind was telling him that he needed to leave, but the logical part of his mind was finally gaining some control. He knew that it would be a good idea to let it all out.

Izuku told the story of what had happened two days prior. He started from when he left school to go looking for pokemon all the way up until he met Eri. He had to take a break halfway through to gather his thoughts, but Uraraka had stayed completely respectful the whole time, leaving her hand gripping his arm, which helped. He finished the story, making special note to exclude Mew from the details, making up excuses in its stead.

Then, he described the problems he'd been having dealing with the guilt. He told her about how he couldn't stop thinking about it and how it was beginning to affect his health, as evidenced by his nightmare. When he finished, Uraraka nodded to him, and she looked like she was on the verge of crying, herself.

"I'm probably not the best person to talk to you about this type of thing, but I'm going to give it a shot." Uraraka said after a long while of silence, "What you've gone through in the last two days is probably more than what the entirety of our class has had to go through in their entire lives."

Uraraka continued, "I can't tell you anything you haven't already told yourself. 'It's not your fault' and 'that's horrible that happened to you!' won't help you, just based on what you've told me. There is something I can tell you, and it's the best advice I can offer you."

"What's that?" Izuku whispered softly.

"Get help."

Izuku nearly did a double take at how blatant the statement was.

"You're trying to fight this all on your own, and you can't do that anymore, you just can't." Uraraka explained, "There are so many people that are willing to help you. Your friends, your family, even the support systems at school! There's so much help you can get to deal with these issues, but you can't just close yourself off and try to take it on your own."

Izuku didn't know what to say. Deep down, he probably knew all of what Uraraka was saying, but what made the difference was hearing it out loud. Getting called out on his terrible coping mechanisms seemed to shed light on how unhealthy he was being.

"I'm sorry…" He muttered.

"...Sorry?"

"I'm sorry for being so dumb. I've been so stupid with this whole situation. The first thing I should have done was get help from the school, but I chose to bottle it up. So I'm sorry, and thank you." Izuku explained.

Uraraka let go of Izuku's arms, and he didn't feel like he was slipping away. He was grounded again. "No need to thank me! That's what friends do, right?"

Izuku laughed. By now it was practically a catchphrase of hers, every time she helped him out of a tough spot, which was all too often. "Thank you anyways."

"Oh, it's raining!" Uraraka said, instantly distracted and pointing away from them. Izuku turned his head, and sure enough, it was raining. The raindrops were small and far between at first, but as Izuku looked out at the rest of the park, it started to pick up. It wasn't long before it was full blown raining, Izuku and Uraraka only safe by the tree shielding them.

"Here they come!" Uraraka giggled, pointing to their pokemon who were all running in from the field where they'd been playing, trying to stay dry to no avail. The scrambled under the tree, all barely fitting onto the tablecloth Izuku brought for the picnic.

"Riolu, you're wet." Izuku said. The pokemon just shrugged, unphased.

"Eevee, your fur is soaked!" Uraraka said, more concerned than Izuku had been. Eevee seemed to be in a similar state, obviously distraught at her ruined fur coat. Uraraka was using a corner of the tablecloth to try to dry her off as much as possible, all while the little fox pokemon was shaking vigorously to get try. All that accomplished was making her fur a lot more poofy, causing her to look like a little brown puffball.

"I'll just do it again when we get home." Uraraka said, giving up. The entire situation was hilarious to Izuku, who couldn't contain his laughter. He sat there, laughing at his friend and pokemon, waiting for the rain to let up so that he could get home.

And that was perfectly fine by him.