Limits

The class of 1A surrounded the kitchen and living room as the day neared mealtime. The students hadn't seen Estelle in two days since she joined them for sugertime. They weren't entirely sure if she even came back to the dorms at all, considering the meals that the class usually left out for her had been left uneaten the next day. They were worried about her lack of presence and turned to Mr Aizawa for answers in class. He was pretty cryptic with his response, though.

"She is just busy doing hero work, that's all."

The class couldn't help but feel uneasy at the answer, considering hero work was not something you do twenty-four-seven.

Estelle walked through the entrance doors not long before dinner to their collective relief. She was still in her hero outfit and strolled in with a slump. The bags under her eyes were evident, and the lack of sleep could be seen on her face. Overlooking the rest of the class, Estelle plopped down onto the sofa with a grunt.

"Estelle!" Izuku yelled out cheerfully as he strolled over to her quickly. The class heard him yell out, and with brightened eyes and strange relief, they all made their way to the otherworldly girl. Estelle was startled by their reactions. She was only gone two days; it wasn't a big deal.

They didn't seem to think so since they all began rambling over each other to try to make their voices heard. "You seem tired. Is everything okay?"

"Did you fight other bad guys?"

"You left your meals!"

Before Estelle could tell them to shut up. Her tired brain registered the sound of ringing from her phone. Realising pretty quickly that it was her own mobile, Estelle raised a finger for them to hold off and be quiet so she could answer.

"Estelle here."

The class waited patiently as Estelle quietly listened to the person on the other end of the phone. Looking down at the floor, Estelle let out a depleted sigh before nodding, forgetting that the person on the line couldn't see.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be right there. Leave it to me."

Clicking the red button on her phone, Estelle placed the device back into her pocket and stood up. The class's excitement dropped when they figured out that she was already leaving. Aware of the people watching her, Estelle lifted her gaze up to her fellow students.

"Duty calls, I'll see you later", She muttered whilst making her way to the door.

"But you haven't eaten", Shoto stated with narrowed eyes.

"I'll eat once I've taken care of this."

"So, you'll come back after?" Yaoyorozu asked.

Astonishment fluttered through Estelle's face from her question. To her, it felt unnatural for the class to care.

"If I can spare the time, sure," Estelle responded at the exit. The class raised their heads up in protest. They could see how overrun she was making herself. Before they could raise their concerns, Estelle was already gone.

"Always making an exit", Bakugo groused as he marched into the kitchen.

She didn't come back that night.

They went to bed aware that she hadn't arrived and saw the uneaten meal wrapped in foil the following day. The class glanced at each other in silence when they saw it during breakfast. They continued their mindless chatter about their work studies and school, ignoring that fact.

Going to class, they began to get to work.

Estelle was really missing her bed. The past couple of days had been hectic with dark spirits, and since the commission gave out Estelle's number, the number of calls had increased tenfold. The frustrating thing for her, though, were the heroes.

The commission had ordered heroes to contact Estelle if they encountered anything otherworldly or strange. Estelle hoped they gave a better explanation than that because the majority of heroes had called her in suspicion, but nothing was ever found.

Estelle reprimanded every hero that called her with every suspicion of spirits and no evidence to back it up.

"This house fire was due to the gas tank exploding under the house; there were no spirits involved."

"Ah, thank you for checking."

"I would like to emphasise the fact that you are only to call me if you actually see a spirit involved in an attack. Unless you see one. Don't call me."

Estelle wanted to cuss out each and every one of them. There had only been one confirmed case of a spirit with a hero calling, and it was by the woods. The most likely place they would be.

There was one upside to all the work she was doing. Estelle had figured out an idea, and she was excited to test it out. The justified hero who had called her had a high-grade machine that detected frequencies. She had never bothered to ask why they had the device, but it sparked an idea when the device went crazy when it came near the spirit.

Hope rumbled in the pit of Estelle's stomach. The breakthrough was the only thing keeping her going.

Estelle rushed through the doors of UA's heights alliance. She was aware that the class would be training so she would be able to work in peace. Not even bothering to trek to her dorm room. Estelle took a seat on the sofa after grabbing a pen and paper from the cupboard nearby and set out to work.

Lost in her own mind and calculations, Estelle started to work on a bigger and better frequency reader to allow her to pinpoint the exact rate the spirits numbers were at. The hero's machine she used did not have enough to record it as it remained at its max the whole time when near. Estelle deduced it was likely going to need double the power.

Writing down her ideas and plans. Estelle drew a diagram for her makeshift creation. She would need the support gear's department's help in making it come to fruition, but it was better than just going to them with the idea. Estelle's focus was solely on the hope that it may even locate the bridge. She knew that it would be a long shot, but it would be an asset either way when hunting. She almost wished she had the device when she was back at home.

Lost in the haze of planning and theorising, Estelle used all her paper before getting back up for more. Honestly, if she took a step back, she would've thought it was a table that belonged to a mad scientist. Regardless, Estelle rushed back and continued working.

The class finished the day and made their way back to the dorms. They informed Mr Aizawa about Estelle's brief visit yesterday and her tired state, but he only acknowledged quickly before directing everyone back to their work.

The class was surprised to find a frenzied and worn-out Estelle in the living room, still in her hero outfit, frantically writing on various pieces of paper.

"Estelle!" The class unanimously stated in wonderment. The focused girl sitting in front of them gave no acknowledgement as she continued to work on the papers. The students turned to each other in bafflement at her non-existent reaction. Turning to the girl in concern, they all stepped forward to see what she was doing.

The class gazed in surprise at the papers that lay on the table. A lot of it didn't make sense to them because her writing seemed illegible, but they could surmise that it was some form of blueprint.

Bakugo gritted his teeth and turned to the class abruptly. Estelle continued working with focused determination, her fingers shaking slightly from her lack of sleep. She still hadn't noticed the people ten feet away from her.

"Leave her be for now. Let's go make some dinner," Bakugo barked before stomping into the kitchen and throwing his bag to the side of the room. The class uneasily went to their dorms to get changed and drop off their things before travelling downstairs to the kitchen and dining area.

The class discovered Bakugo frantically making food. He was a quick cooker anyway, considering he could chop vegetables in less than a minute. But the Bakugo they saw at this moment was faster than they had ever seen him.

He was foaming at the mouth as he violently threw various ingredients into a pan. He muttered about frustrating people, chopping vegetables before they could blink and mixing the pan with a spoon.

A few classmates joined in to help when they saw his resolution to have the food made, and soon enough, it was. Taking two plates, Bakugo filled them both up before heading to the living room. Turning back to the class who were taking out their dishes, he stated, "Leave us alone; I'll deal with Estelle."

The class soon realised that Estelle had gotten him so riled up. Knowing this, they collectively agreed to leave the pair alone.

They would like to not die.

Shoto and Izuku watched begrudgingly as Bakugo walked out of the kitchen doors.

Bakugo stewed in the heat surrounding him whilst he walked over to the living room. He was pissed. He had been pissed off ever since she walked into the dorms yesterday and left without any regard for her health. Bakugo always liked to make sure he was at peak condition for his training. He went to bed early every night, so he was ready to beat the next day to hell and back. He ate well, he trained well, and he hated it when someone who could so easily beat his ass wasn't taking care of themselves. Bakugo also couldn't ignore the fact she didn't eat his food for the last two days; it was like icing on the cake for him.

'Tch, typical. I wonder how she survived if she was like this back home,' He thought as he saw her sitting in the same spot the class left her in.

Storming over, Bakugo slammed the two plates onto the table and shuffled the papers out of the way. Despite his temper, he was impressed by the work she was doing. From what he could gather, it was immaculate. She could be a support engineer if she wanted to.

When the table was set, Bakugo snatched the paper Estelle was focused on out of her hand. He slammed the sheet on the pile at the far end of the table, which finally caught her attention.

"Hey!" Estelle sputtered from the interruption and turned towards the blond with pursed lips. The male's jaw was clenched shut, so he gave no verbal response as he slid her plate towards her and took a seat to her right.

"Eat" was all he finally responded once he could relax his jugulars.

Estelle gazed at him in a stupor before looking towards the dish like some foreign object. The heat in Bakugo's stomach flared up at her reaction, but he forced himself to keep it contained.

"Do I have to tell you twice? Eat."

The surprise was next on the list of Estelle's expressions, and she nodded before turning towards the food. By the look in his eyes, she could tell that he wasn't kidding - the flurry of emotions she could see in his eyes made her feel strange.

Estelle picked up the spoon and dug into the rice he had made. Her shoulders slackened as soon as the food entered her stomach. She was so busy, she never realised how hungry she was. The meal sparked her appetite, and Estelle continued to eat in the silence. Bakugo stopped watching her like a hawk when she made some headway into her food.

"Tell me, are you an idiot?" Bakugo asked, evident frustration underlying his tone. Estelle frowned at the question but understood where he was going with this.

"No."

"Then why have you been working for the last three days straight?" Bakugo snapped with his spoon clattering into his bowl.

Estelle didn't reply for a moment and took another bite to formulate an answer. She was taken aback by the whole situation. Why does it matter if she's gone for days at a time? She was just following orders. Why was he so bothered by this?

"Well? Answer me" Bakugo spoke up when the silence dragged out for too long. Estelle sighed with closed eyes before gazing back up at the blonde who was acting like he doing an intervention.

"What do you want me to say? I have a lot of work to do. I don't understand why this is a big deal."

"Because - " Bakugo started to answer before he was cut off by the phone ringing. Estelle gazed down at her pockets before looking at the blonde almost apologetically. She went to her pouch to dig the mobile out as Bakugo tried to scorch the device with his eyes.

"Estelle here," She said once she answered. There was a few moments of quietness while Estelle listened to the person on the line. Bakugo scanned her as she did so, the pit in his stomach building with the situation.

"Of course, I'll be there - Hey!" Estelle started only to be cut off by Bakugo's hand snatching the mobile off her.

Glaring at the stubborn girl, Bakugo lifted the device to his ear and snarled, "She's busy. Bye," clicking the phone shut, Bakugo and Estelle stared each other down. The two of them were too difficult to back down. Bakugo eventually relented and slumped slightly on the sofa.

He let out a prominent sigh before looking back up at the frustrating but fascinating girl before him and stating, "Listen, this may be normal for you. But you're in a class with those dorks. When you go missing, they all wonder where you are and when you come back all overrun like you did yesterday and today, it only made them worry."

Estelle felt a punch in her gut with his response. This was what she was trying so hard to prevent. How did they manage to get attached?

"Shit", She muttered to herself quietly. Bakugo raised an eyebrow at her odd answer. She sounded like it was a bad thing. He quickly remembered Estelle's love of keeping them all at a distance. How she tended to deal with things alone. He could only guess that it was how she thought with everything.

"What is it?" Bakugo asked with forced calmness.

"They aren't my friends. I have a job to do. Why do they care?" Estelle thought out loud with slight aggravation.

"They aren't my friends either. Look - just do them a favour and come during dinner and sleep like a human being. They stop whining, and you can do your thing with breaks. It's a win-win."

Estelle sighed, she could see where he was coming from, but she wasn't happy about it. Nodding in agreement, Estelle muttered out an "I'll try."

"If you don't, I'll drag you here and force-feed you myself! At least take care of yourself like a regular human being! You aren't an alien," Bakugo snapped back unexpectedly. Clearly, he had been holding that emotion back. "And also! Don't think for a second that I'm doing this to be nice! I was getting sick of hearing those idiots whining about you! A pain in my ass!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." Estelle taunted back with a smirk before putting another spoonful into her mouth.

"What did you say!? I'll kill you, Lioness!"

Estelle snorted. "Haven't we gathered that you can't? You need some more training, Ruby."

"You're asking for it!"

"I sure am."

"Gahh! Come here!"

"Too slow! You need to work on your speed next."

"Lioness!"