p style="text-align: justify;"Izuku had spent twelve hours in a cell, receiving only three small meals through it. He had nothing to keep himself busy, and the room was completely dark. He was laying on the harsh cement, as he wondered what would have happened if he had told Shouto not to put up any kind of fight, since it would only make things worse. As the hours had gone on, he kept crying, but gave up on screaming for help, after realizing, that after all, he did deserve this punishment. He was not only a murder but a cheater, and he had allowed his friend to fall into the claws of the authority by agreeing with his plan, instead of telling him to just follow the rules. He had been a bad boy, once again. Bad memories rushed through his conscience, and he couldn't put them away, not without any kind of way to distract himself in the dark room. He felt so terribly guilty, while he wondered desperately if Shouto was alright, if he was being fed, if they had applied physical punishment to him... Shouto didn't deserve any of this. It was all Izuku's fault. /p
p style="text-align: justify;"He thought about melting away the walls, but he couldn't use his quirk due to the bracelets he had been forced to wear. It was probably for the best. If he defied the authority, he was going to be punished once again./p
p style="text-align: justify;"Suddenly, the door opened, and Izuku gasped as he finally saw light after all these hours. A woman was standing there, looking at the boy with a /br /"You're free to go to your room" that was all she said, her voice unaffected by Izuku's worn down appearence. /p
p style="text-align: justify;"*/p
p style="text-align: justify;"Shouto hadn't arrived yet to his room, which confirmed Izuku's suspicions about him receiving a harsher punishment. Would Shouto even want to look at him after that? He probably wouldn't even want to talk to him, not since he was the source of his troubles. He probably wouldn't want his reputation to be worse by sticking with the kid that agreed to cheat with him. /p
p style="text-align: justify;"As he was met with an empty room, he wondered how the instructors had even caught on them teaming up. Maybe they had just concluded that Shouto was aware that he was letting Izuku go past him, and didn't try to stop him to save more civilians by himself. /p
p style="text-align: justify;"Izuku wondered how could he even apologize to Shouto, but as he found crayons in his table and white sheets, an idea raced through his mind./p
p style="text-align: justify;"*/p
p style="text-align: justify;"Izuku heard slow footsteps outside of his room, and he knew they couldn't belong to anyone but his friend. He grabbed his drawings and ran to meet him, opening the door./p
p style="text-align: justify;"He found his friend accross the hallway, each step looking like a major effort for the boy, as he walked, wobbly. He was staring at the ground, apparently unaware of Izuku's presence despite all the noise he must have made from running. His normally kept appearence was replaced by dishiveled hair sticking to his forehead with sweat, and a completely soaked t-shirt. He looked exhausted. His movements were terribly slow, lacking their usual grace and fluidity, and it seemed like even moving was a monumental task./p
p style="text-align: justify;" /p
p style="text-align: justify;"Izuku ran towards him and stopped once he was very close to Shouto. He couldn't dare to look at his eyes, though./p
p style="text-align: justify;""Shouto?" Izuku asked, unsure of what he should do now. He probably hated Izuku now. "I... m-made you a drawing... I know you must hate me, but you're the only good person I know... I'm so sorry for being the reason you got punished, and I know, I should've asked in that moment for me to be the only one to receive a consequence, but I wasn't thinking and..." before he could go on, he was met with skinny arms envelopping him into a hug. Izuku cried in relief as he realized he wasn't met with rage, and hugged him back, feeling Shouto's soaked shirt and wondering if it was sweat or just water./p
p style="text-align: justify;" /p
p style="text-align: justify;""You have nothing to apologize for, Izuku." His friend whispered as they still hugged. Izuku couldn't see it, but he felt Shouto's tears in his shoulder. "We will take revenge, Izuku. We're weak now, but it will happen. You're a good friend, you've got nothing to worry about. You fought these bastards with me..." He paused. Izuku could feel his anger, and hugged him tighter. "We will make justice, one day." /p
p style="text-align: justify;"After that, Izuku had invited Shouto into his room, helping the boy walk. It seemed he didn't want to speak about what kind of torture he had gone through, and Izuku didn't want to ask either. Instead, he showed the double quirk user his drawing./p
p style="text-align: justify;" /p
p style="text-align: justify;"It depicted them both outside of a house. The institute was depicted as a building in fire./p
p style="text-align: justify;"br /"That will be you and me when we're free" Izuku explained to Shouto, who had kept the drawing in his pocket, nodding in silent agreement, his heart heavy in his chest like a rock./p