Slowly blinking her eyes open she was greeted with the sight of the white ceiling of her bedroom. Light was streaming in from around the curtain of the window and was lighting up the otherwise dark room. It was morning. But when had she made it to her bed? She could remember laying on the couch. Izuku messaging her legs while keeping an ice pack to her sore ankle. She let out a long exhale. She had never planned to fall asleep on him. He must have carried her to her bed some time after she fell asleep. And she must have been deep asleep if being picked up and moved never woke her up. Nor had she had any dreams during the night.
She let out a heavy sigh, it was a little embarrassing knowing the man had carried her to bed and tucked her in. Yet she was thankful for the full night's sleep, she wished it had lasted longer. But her sore body was starting to hurt enough it forced her awake. Trying to push herself to sit up she let out a low whine. It hurt all over. Her back, her arms, a stress headache had her temples throb, her entire body hurt it felt like. She wished she could have just laid back down in her bed. But the urge to pee was too strong. She had to get up and get to the bathroom, even if she needed to crawl there.
She couldn't help but whimper softly to herself as she was ever so careful as she pushed herself to sit up and ever so slowly move to sit at the edge of the bed. Her body wanted to shake under the simplest of her own weight. And all her limbs felt like they had an extra ten pound weight added to them. Even as she made it to sit on the edge of the bed she was having to pause and take a few deep breaths.
Now for the next hurdle, standing up. The floor felt cold against her bare feet but she could not bring herself to go looking for her slippers. Barefoot it would have to be. Looking down at her right ankle it was swollen and a little purple in areas. But it did not throb like it had the night before. She only hoped that meant it would be able to bare her weight. With a hesitant count to three in her head she gave herself a little push with her hands off of the bed.
That had not been the best idea. It sent a jolt of pain through her arms, into her shoulders and struck her in two spots in her back. The pain had her upper body lock up for fear that moving could cause the pain again. But it didn't matter. New pain was shooting up through her feet. Her right ankle shot the first jolt of pain up her leg. Her left hip is the next though not as bad as the right. But the twisted ankle refused to hold her weight.
With the momentum she had from pushing herself up she continued to go forwards and there was no way she could step forwards to hold herself up. But she still tried as her body fumbled in an odd way to try and step forwards with the aching right ankle only for it to refuse the abuse and give way to her tumbling down to meet the floor along the side of her bed. There was no stopping her body as she crashed to the floor.
She let out a groan and was carefully starting to push herself up a little before the door to her bedroom nearly blew open. Poor Izuku looked around with hard eyes, a slight crackle almost seemed to be running along his skin. But as his eyes landed on the woman who was a crumpled mess on the floor his hard expression softened quickly. Had it been any other time Aoi would have found it interesting how the hero Deku was a completely opposite side to Izuku Midoriya.
"Aoi is everything okay?" The question was not surprising as Izuku rushed to her side and large hands easily lifted her up and were about to move her back to the bed before she stopped him.
"I am a little sore. My twisted ankle did not approve of my trying to get to the bathroom," she said, grabbing onto his shirt as he placed her on the bed and tried to step away. Her face felt like it was on fire as she looked away embarrassed before asking her question, "could you help me?"
Izuku blinked at her a few times, registering her plea for help. She truly must have been unable to walk if she was being forced to ask him for help. If there was one thing Izuku had learned while getting to know the woman. It was that she did not enjoy asking for help. So the fact that she was asking now must have meant she was really hurt. She had never even asked for his help while she had been laid up in the hospital after being kidnapped.
"Of course," Izuku beamed at her as his hands were so careful as he tucked one arm under her knees and the other finding a spot on her back that did not earn him a hiss from the woman when he touched her. Effortlessly he picked her up as if she weighed nothing and strolled out of her bedroom and carried her to the bathroom before he was ever so careful as he placed her down on her feet. Her hands clung to his biceps as she found her footing the best she could before letting go of him. Though his hands still hovered at her sides ready to grab her if she started to fall again. But this time she seemed able to keep her slightly better left side to bare her weight.
"Thanks," she mumbled with a still flaming bright red face.
"No problem. I'll wait outside once your done I'll help you out," he said before doing as he said and walking out of the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
It was a little weird knowing he was purposefully standing at the door, most likely listening in on her, though she knew it was that he was listening to hear if she was to fall again. But it was still embarrassing that he was going to be listening to her pee. Oh well nothing she could do about it now. Nor did she have time to think about it. Her bladder was screaming at her and pissing herself would only be more embarrassing.
It was slow and painful just to get her shorts down and get herself seated on the toilet. Next hurdle was dragging herself to the sink where she clung to the counter to hold herself up as she washed her hands after using the toilet and flushing. She could hear Izuku soft shuffles from the other side of the door as she held herself up with the counter.
"Alright I'm done," she called out as she was drying her hands. The door cracked open as if he was unsure if he was allowed back in just yet. Even though she had just told him he could enter and get her. It was a little cute how hesitant he was.
Izuku gave her one of his typical wide bright smiles as he walked over and once again scooped her up like a doll before strolling out of the bathroom. She had expected to be taken back to her bedroom. So she was a bit surprised when they just walked right past her room.
"You passed my bedroom," she said simply as she looked from her bedroom to the man carrying her.
"I know. But I figured you may like being in the living room. You can watch tv and I'll get some breakfast started," he said as he took a few steps through the home to reach the living room and to the nice soft couch. Where he ever so carefully placed her down.
"Do you need another ice pack for your ankle?" He asked her as he looked down at her right ankle still concerned.
"No it's okay it only hurts if I try to walk on it," she said honestly. Which was mostly true, it barely hurt when she was not standing. Though maybe the pain was just easier to ignore when the rest of her body was in agony. Izuku of course still looked concerned as he hesitated. Which just made her feel a little guilty, "but a painkiller would be nice."
Of course that seemed to make Izuku feel a little better as he nodded his head and proceeded to tell her he would get her the painkillers and a drink. And that's what he did as he dashed from the living room and back to the bathroom to grab a couple of pills before he hit the kitchen for a glass of water. Walking towards her he offered the pills in one hand and the water in another. Like a worried mother hen he watched her swallow down the pills and some water before she was carefully relaxing back on the couch.
"I'll go make some breakfast. You shouldn't take painkillers on an empty stomach," he had said before heading to the kitchen where Aoi proceeded to listen to Izuku pull out pots and pans and start cooking.
She paid no attention to the sounds that came from the kitchen. Even though she barely ate the night before she still did not feel overly hungry. But she knew telling Izuku that would probably just make him worry more. And she didn't want that. Instead she couldn't help but wish he didn't care so much. That he would just leave her alone to hide from him and wallow in her misery till all these feelings would pass. But Izuku would never allow that.
The smell of fresh cooked food drew her out of her mind as she blinked her eyes and looked at the coffee table before her. A plate of fresh fried fish, a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso sat before her. It was light and simple, barely a complete breakfast but maybe Izuku knew cooking more would be a waste or maybe he wasn't sure how to cook the other normalities. Either way she was not going to complain. She grabbed the bowl of miso soup first. A slow sip alone seemed to help her feel more relaxed.
She still did not feel hungry but the warm soup was soothing on her nerves as she forced at least most of it down. She turned her attention to the fish next as she picked at it slowly. She could feel Izuku's eyes on her from his position on the couch beside her as he was scarfing down his own army sized portion of food while she struggled with a tiny bowl of soup, a small bit of fish and some rice.
"Are you feeling okay?" There was the question she was expecting as she pushed her fish around more than ate it.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just not overly hungry. Maybe the painkillers just keep me from feeling hungry," she knew it was a stupid and weak attempt at an excuse. And one glance over at him told her that he did not believe her. She feared he would push more but he never did. And she was thankful for that.
"Well if you get hungry later let me know," he said, flashing her a soft smile. He was genuinely concerned for her. And it only served to make her stomach clench up even more. He was a hero, a truly nice guy. And yet her mind still struggled to just accept it. Accept that there were no strings attached, that he did not expect anything in return nor would he hold this over her head. There was not a mean or malice bone in that man's body. And yet self doubt, and fear chewed away at her.
Aoi had long ago assumed she had issues with trust and abandonment some of the most. Also some issues with authority. And even though she would like to think she was aware of these issues and could manage them. But in reality it was not that easy. She let negative thoughts consume and fester in her mind like a disease. She knew the thoughts and concerns she had were stupid and highly unlikely to ever come true, and yet it was not that easy to force them away.
Forcing down a few mouthfuls of fish and rice she found herself pushing her bowl over towards Izuku to finish off for her. Which he did with ease. She would probably never get used to seeing the amount of food that man could pack away. Then again he was far bulkier than any person she had ever met before. Dabi had always been lean that she could remember. Though she wasn't sure if that was simply due to years on the street as a teen with little food, or the fact his quirk destroyed his body. Or maybe his leaner build came from his mother? She wasn't completely sure as Aoi had only ever seen the woman through the tv or in the pages of news blogs online.
Shifting slightly Aoi tried to pull her legs up off the floor and pull her knees into her chest. But the tight muscles of her body refused to allow such simple actions and with a soft groan she gave up and put her feet down before just letting her body slump into Izuku's side. He was warm, he was comfortable, he was an odd sort of safety. She could feel his body tense up before his head had whipped over to look down at her and see she was fine. Though his body relaxed a little bit seeing her okay, it had not completely relaxed. She assumed he was uncomfortable with her leaning into him. And yet he never said anything. She knew she should have pulled away, but leaning into him was comfortable.
"Can we watch a movie?" She asked softly as she looked up at the man who seemed a bit nervous all of the sudden.
"Uh y..yeah," he actually stuttered and the tip of his ears were red. Poor sugar cookie seemed so shy with her leaning against his side. She couldn't help it, he was warm and comforting even if her mind also chose him to be a source of her annoying anxiety.
Izuku was careful as he leaned over to grab the tv remote and turn it on before he was flipping through the tv to pull up a streaming service he had. Some of the newer movies were foreign to her. Then again she could never afford streaming services and didn't have friends to steal theirs from. Hell half the time she couldn't even afford internet.
"What do you want to watch?" He asked turning those wide bright green eyes of his to her.
"Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want," she said softly as she snuggled into Izuku's side. She felt tired again. As if she could go back to sleep already. And the odd comfort he could bring her only helped in letting the exhaustion take hold on her.
She didn't even pay any attention to what show Izuku turned on. She couldn't bring herself to actually pay attention. Keeping her eyes open felt like it was taking all of her strength. Should she be concerned that she was tired while it was still morning? Probably but she could not bring herself to actually worry. Maybe she should have tried to do something that would keep her mind functioning and awake since she could not get up and walk.
Instead she let her brain wonder. How was it that Izuku could be both a comfort while also a source of anxiety and stress for her mind? Okay that was not fair. It was not Izuku himself who was doing anything to cause the issues. It was her mind that decided to choose him to be the most recent stresser for her own issues.
Quickly keeping her eyes open became hard and even though Izuku was frozen like a statue he was still a nice pillow to lean into as she found her eyes drifting close. Izuku never tried to keep her awake either, whether he was trying to be nice or just did not know how to react to her using him as a human body pillow she did not know. She should have thanked him for allowing her to drift back to sleep again as the morning continued on. She would have to try and remember to do that later.
