It was Wednesday.

Izuku was just waking up from his sleep, which had been restless; filled with nightmares of Tenya Iida's face. The location changed between variations, but the same core idea was the same. One minute, they were in class, or training, or something like that, and the next, the Hero Killer appeared out of nowhere and incapacitated Iida. The Hero Killer always gave Izuku a choice between himself and Iida. This nightmare version of himself, judgment clouded by the fog of unconsciousness, always chose himself. It was enough that Izuku eventually woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard in his bed at UA.

He looked around, making sure he was safe. Izuku was no stranger to nightmares. Shigaraki, Kurogiri and All for One chasing him down and killing his family and friends so that he'd give up One for All. The old Kacchan, merciless and cruel, staring him down across the room as he told him to kill himself. All Might, though a much more callous and mean-spirited version of his kind mentor, telling him to give up his dreams. Those were all nightmares that Izuku was familiar with. This one was different, however, because this nightmare followed Izuku when he woke up.

As he calmed down from his panicked state, Izuku's phone buzzed on his bedside table. He looked over at it and saw that it was a notification for a message from Ochaco. Izuku hadn't spoken with Ochaco since his breakdown on Monday. He was kind of embarrassed about it, to be honest. Realizing after a moment that he was just staring at his phone, Izuku grabbed it, hating how his hands shook, and slowly read the message on his lock screen.

'Hey. How are you feeling?' the message read.

He opened his phone and navigated to the messaging app, replying with his own, 'I'm alright. You?'.

'I guess I'm still kind of reeling from Monday. Are you able to meet up at all today?' she answered.

'Of course. What did you have in mind?' Izuku asked.

After hitting send on that message, Izuku sat up in bed. He needed to shower if he was going out. He was perfectly content to just stay in his room all day and work on his personal projects , but if Ochaco needed help, Izuku was more than ready to offer it. As he picked out clothes to wear that were at least somewhat presentable, his phone buzzed again. As he read it, Izuku found that his hands had stopped shaking as extremely.

Ochaco's reply was, 'I was thinking that we could meet up at Utsukushi Park. Do you know it?'.

As Izuku read the latest message, he laid the components of his outfit on his bed and straightened them out. He replied, 'That's right near both of us. Sounds good. What time do you want to meet up?'.

The reply didn't come immediately. As Izuku waited, he bundled up all of his planned clothes into a bag and gathered his shampoo and conditioner. He came back to his phone as it buzzed once more, and the message read, 'As soon as you can? I don't want to sound pushy or anything, but I'd really like to see you. Oh, and do you mind if Shinso and Tsu tag along? I just really need to see all my friends right now,'.

'Of course. Whatever you need,' was Izuku's response.

If Izuku was being honest, he didn't know where he stood with Shinso. The taller boy had caught on to his reason for wanting to see the Iidas. He'd caught onto the rage Izuku had held in him, the rage that was slowly bubbling to the surface. The anger at the Hero Killer he was barely containing. Shinso was incredibly smart, Izuku knew that. He knew how to read people, and that made him all the better as a Hero. But, as a friend, it was honestly kind of annoying to have every emotion he was feeling be told to him like he was an open book. Was this what people felt like when he analyzed them? So … vulnerable?

Regardless, it would be nice to see Ochaco and Tsu. Maybe he'd enjoy himself. It was hard to describe, but he'd been feeling this strange sensation ever since he'd learned Iida had died. It was like this tingling in his chest, which he was sure was there every waking second, but only really was noticeable in situations where he was reminded of Iida and the circumstances that lead to his death. It was like this kind of static in his heart. He didn't have a name for this feeling, and that made him even more confused. Whenever he thought he'd enjoy something, like watching a Hero fight on the news, or reading an article about Quirk science, or even speaking with Ochaco as he had been, it just felt like nothing. There wasn't any satisfaction with doing the things he liked. Maybe this would finally get him to feel good, or even just not bad, for the first time since Monday morning.

Izuku went and showered. He cleaned himself, washed his hair, dried off and was dressed for the day in about half an hour. It was a strange feeling, getting ready for this meetup. Normally, he'd be excited, but today, he was kind of just going through the motions of getting ready. He caught himself staring blankly at the wall while about ten minutes into his shower, apparently having zoned out. He hurriedly went through with the rest of his shower after that, not wanting to waste any more time.

While dressing himself, Izuku was futilely trying to brush his hair into any semblance of conformity. He'd been living on campus for a little over a month at this point, Izuku realized, and with that time away from his mother, his hair had begun to grow a little bit too long for comfort. His curls dropped in front of his eyes now, which had never really happened before. He brushed it all back, deciding to ask someone if there were any barbers close to UA.

As he got ready, Izuku began gathering his things to leave campus. He had his phone and wallet in his pockets. Izuku had put on a black shirt and matching black pants, with a dark green hoodie he'd had his mother deliver to him when the move to UA had been official. It was kind of a comfort to him now, knowing that there were still people that loved him, but that had been tainted somewhat, as they didn't know what he'd done. What he'd allowed to happen. Izuku had been having the silent argument in his head over whether or not to tell Ochaco what he had done. He had confessed to Aizawa while she was present, but she didn't know the full story. She had only heard him say something like 'I killed Iida' on Monday, and then he ran off with Aizawa. She was owed an explanation for that, he decided, and Izuku set off.

Izuku checked out at the gates, and made his way down to the train station. He passed by the place where he and Ochaco had performed the smallest bit of Hero work they could legally get away with after the Sports Festival and smiled, remembering the night they'd had together. He'd finally come out to her as asexual that night, even though he'd kissed her, and lead her on a bit. Izuku felt bad about that part, and had wanted to make it up to her in some way, but just didn't see how. He'd apologized in the moment, reassured her that it wasn't any of her qualities that was driving him away from a relationship with her, but Izuku had felt the way Ochaco had kissed him back. She'd enjoyed herself too much for it to be anything else but the obvious: she was crushing on him, and Izuku didn't think she'd stopped when he'd come out.

As Izuku kept walking down the street, he took note of how many loose ends he'd allowed to pile up. First, there was the matter of Ochaco's feelings for him. He wasn't dumb. He knew that she wanted him. He'd deal with it soon. Then, there was Kacchan's whole deal. He knew he had a borrowed power, and Izuku had remembered later that he'd blurted out the name of his Quirk to his classmates in his fugue state during the Sports Festival. So, he knew the basics of One for All. That wasn't good. He'd have to talk to Kacchan at some other time. Then , there was the matter of Shoto Todoroki. Izuku really didn't know what to do with Todoroki. He knew all about his story, his life, and his trauma. His father. He knew, but he wasn't doing anything to help Todoroki escape the shackles of his past and blossom into the incredible Hero Izuku knew he could be if he just let it all go and became who he decided to become.

He was sitting around, not doing anything when he could help so many people .

Just like with Iida.

With that grim thought fueling his determination, Izuku began to plan as he finally arrived at the train station. He'd speak with Ochaco today. Get that out of the way and sort out their relationship. Then, he'd give himself a rest from the whole 'being social' thing on Thursday so that he could put all of his energy into talking to Kacchan on Friday. Give himself another rest and then, on Monday, talk to Todoroki. It was a solid to-do list. He could get through it all in less than a week. It was only three things.

It couldn't go wrong.

The moment it started to go wrong was when he made eye contact with Ochaco from across the small pond in the center of the park. He waved to her shyly, and she smiled brightly. For a moment, Izuku held his breath, because he had forgotten just how much he loved that smile. He smiled back, watching as she ran to meet him in the middle as he made his way around the body of water between them. When they finally did bridge that gap, Ochaco launched herself into a hug that was completely and totally the only reason why Izuku started breathlessly laughing. He really had missed her.

"Hey! How was your trip over?" Ochaco asked, pulling out of their hug to hold his hands.

"It was alright. How have you been?" he asked. Izuku was aware he'd asked it on the phone, but it wasn't the same as speaking with each other in person. Ochaco's smile had alway been infectious, and Izuku always enjoyed basking in the light it shone on him.

"I've been … I've been managing," Ochaco said, her smile being pulled down by the weight of the pain in her eyes. "Honestly, I'm kind of just getting by from day to day. I was getting kind of bummed out about sitting alone in my crummy little apartment, so I hope you don't mind coming all the way out here just for me," she continued.

"You say that like you're not my best friend. Ochaco, I'd do almost anything for you. Buddies who fight crime together aren't so easily separated, y'know!" Izuku said, trying to put on his best smile for her.

Izuku was more relieved than he'd admit when that smile that he loved came back and Ochaco laughed. It was a light sound, and he'd give anything so that she could make that sound forever. He smiled, genuinely, for maybe the first time since Monday morning. It was a weird sensation. He could still feel that part of his heart that was weighing him down, filling his veins with that static and his mind with images of Tenya in a bloodied heap. That was still there, but when he was seeing Ochaco like this, all lit up with laughter and joy, it almost made that weight go away. It was like the sensation he got when he used Float. Everything holding him down kind of just fell away and he was able to do anything. It was the same feeling he got when Ochaco negated his gravity. Strange.

The perfect scene was interrupted, though maybe that wasn't the right word, by a gruff voice calling their names. Izuku looked to the source of the sound to see Shinso, standing in an outfit similar, but not identical, to his own. Shinso was wearing a pair of black pants with a lilac sweatshirt on. He had his cat-ear headphones wrapped around his neck, the cord of which snaked its way into his pocket. He was standing next to Tsu, who Izuku always balked at when compared to Shinso height-wise, who was wearing a large blue poncho thing. Izuku smiled at them, though he had to force it all the way.

"Hey, nerds. You wanna stop making heart-eyes at each other so we can get this thing started?" Shinso said, a smug smile on his face.

"Funny that you and Tsu arrived at the same time, huh? Nothing weird about that," Izuku asked, looking Shinso right in the eye and returning his smirk. It felt like a hollow smile, but he pushed that thought away for later.

Shinso went wide eyed, and Izuku thought he could see a small bit of pink on his cheeks. Deciding not to go too overboard with it, he left Shinso alone about it, knowing that if he said what he really wanted to, he'd probably end up Brainwashed. Shinso was adamantly looking at his phone, which he'd pulled out of his pocket, and decidedly not giving that little remark a response.

"We met up on the train," Tsu said, clearly not picking up on why it was brought up. She turned to Ochaco and asked, "What did you have in mind for today?".

"Um, I know there's a few things around here, but I was thinking that if we couldn't decide we could just … hang out. It feels like forever since we've just talked," Ochaco said, shrugging.

"That's fair," Shinso said, sighing the words out.

Ochaco smiled, and clapped her hands together. It was then that Izuku really took note of what she was wearing. She had a very pretty pink sundress on, and Izuku internally berated himself over not complimenting it and her when he first saw her. He put it into his brain to do that as soon as he could without Shinso coming up with some comment about it. He really should stop picking on people for being close, Izuku thought, if he was going to be so clearly interested in Tsu the way he was. He'd have to start returning some of those jabs.

"So, should we sit?" Ochaco said, pointing to a table meant for picnics, but was currently not in use.

"Let's go," Shinso said, turning to make his way over.

The four of them walked to the table and sat, Izuku next to Shinso and across from Ochaco, who sat next to Tsu. Izuku waited for a few moments to see if anybody was going to say something. It seemed they were all waiting for that same thing, looking at each other awkwardly as if they all knew something but were trying to hide it from the others. Izuku figured that was accurate enough for himself, and Shinso knew what he'd done the day before, so he took a breath to speak.

"How is everyone? After Monday, I mean," Izuku asked.

Tsu's wide eyes went even wider, and Shinso coughed into his hand with a similar expression on his face. Shinso looked over at Tsu with a strange expression on his face, and seemed to be holding his breath. Izuku looked over at her and saw a strange, far off look in her eye, and immediately regretted asking.

"I think we're all dealing with it in our own ways. I've taken up journaling my feelings. We all saw how you reacted to the news of Iida's … passing. Are you okay?" Tsu explained, turning to look at Izuku near the end.

"I'm …" Izuku started, knowing that Shinso had begun to openly stare at him. " … fine. It hurts, and I'm not sleeping so well anymore, but it isn't anything extreme to worry about," Izuku said.

"And how are you after yesterday ?" Shinso asked, looking at him with a smug expression.

Izuku looked at Shinso with anger in his staring eyes. He frowned, and felt his first curl in on itself. That was crazy, though, and he unfurled it. Izuku took a moment to check himself, wondering where that burst of anger had come from. He was a bit upset that Shinso had forced him into a corner, but his body had reacted like he was going to fight his friend. That was insane. Where had that come from? Maybe he was more frazzled by his nightmares than he knew.

Looking over at Ochaco and Tsu told him that they were concerned. Ochaco was looking at him with a kind of distant worry, and Tsu's eyes held that curiosity that sometimes unnerved him. She was so emotionally mature, much more than most of the class, that sometimes it felt like Tsu could see his soul. It was the same kind of annoying as Shinso's ability to read him, and Izuku felt something awful and bitter inside him at those thoughts.

"Just fine , Shinso. Thank you for asking," he replied, tense.

"What happened yesterday?" Tsu asked, tilting her head in the way that Izuku would normally think was cute, but now it felt like she was trying to get a better look at him, and it was unbearable.

"Nothing major. Shinso and I talked yesterday. No big deal," Izuku immediately said, not giving a chance for Shinso to tell the truth.

"What?" Shinso breathed, a concerned look on his face.

Tsu looked between Izuku, wide eyed and smiling an empty grin, and Shinso, looking at him with a worried gaze. Izuku knew she was trying to puzzle things out, but she didn't have all the pieces. She never would, if things went to plan. Izuku looked over at Ochaco, who looked the most confused of the bunch.

"Really, I'm fine. I had a little bit of a panic attack that morning, but only because it was such a shock to me that he'd really be gone. Especially in the way that he did … pass. I freaked out a little, but I'm okay now," Izuku said.

"If you say so. Just remember that we're here for you, alright? You said you'd do almost anything for me, but you've gotta remember that same sentiment goes both ways. If you're not okay, you can tell us and we won't judge; we're only interested in building you up, not breaking you down," Ochaco said, that worried expression still playing on her face.

"I get that. I'm really fine. If something does come up, I won't hesitate to confide in any of you. You're all the best friends I've ever had. Well, you're really the only friends I've ever had, but that's not the point," Izuku said, able to chuckle at himself at the end.

"Right, 'cause of that asshat, Bakugo," Shinso spat.

Across from Izuku, Ochaco tensed. He saw her fist clench and her eyes unfocus for a brief moment at the mention of Bakugo. He had seen the same thing happen in school, after the Sports Festival. It felt like so long ago, and he'd meant to talk with her about it, but he hadn't had a lot of time between everything going on. He looked over at her, seeing a bead of sweat rolling down her face.

"Haha, yep. What a big old meanie!" Ochaco said, voice strained.

"Are you okay, Ochaco?" Tsu asked before Izuku could.

Ochaco snapped her attention to Tsu. The smaller girl flinched back slightly at the aggressive motion, but leaned back in to put her hand on Ochaco's shoulder. She looked Ochaco in the eyes, her eyebrows furrowed, and tilted her head in the same way she did when she was confused or inquisitive. Izuku, out from under her stare, knew that it wasn't a malicious thing; Tsu didn't have a mean bone in her body. It felt different when she looked at him like that, though. It was as if she was out to get him with those big, wide eyes. That was a thought for later.

"Totally! I'm A-Okay, guys! Just peachy!" Ochaco said, pumping a shaking fist in the air.

"You don't look 'just peachy'. Remember that whole spiel about trusting your friends and telling them if something goes wrong?" Shinso said.

She looked torn. Ochaco was moving her eyes from Tsu, to Shinso and Izuku, her eyes becoming slightly unfocused and hazy. Izuku could hear that her breathing was speeding up, and it was getting more shallow as it did. This wasn't good. She was panicking. He looked over at Tsu, who nodded to Izuku and began to rub small circles on Ochaco's back. Izuku looked at the scene, wishing he could do something, but decided to let Tsu take the lead here. She knew what to do, and she did it well. He remembered what she'd done for Shinso at the USJ, and how Shinso had applied that to Izuku during the Sports Festival. She really was the most mature person in their class.

When Ochaco's breathing came back down to a reasonable pace, she hung her head low and began to sob. Her tears dropped onto her dress, wetting the material. Izuku felt his heart break for her. Ochaco didn't break down like this. She was usually so cheery and full of love that seeing her like this, so run down and … broken was almost enough to get Izuku's own waterworks going. All Might had told him that he'd need to stop crying so much if he was going to be a Symbol, and he'd come a long way in that regard, but he was a lost cause when it came to his friends. His mother always told him that he was too empathetic for his own good. Maybe that was true, but Izuku wouldn't give that up for the world.

"Ochaco, is something wrong?" Tsu asked.

"I think so. I don't know what this feeling is, but whenever I see Bakugo, or hear him, or even just hear his name , it makes me feel so … small. Weak. Unsafe. It's so stupid, because I know that nothing would happen in the classroom, or the lunchroom, or the hallway, and even in training, because I know he's trying to be better about causing unnecessary harm. His Hero name is a shining example of that. But, every time he gets near to me, it feels like I'm back in that cramped, dark room looking for the fake bomb. The … the scars his attack left on me start … burning and I feel like I can't breathe. This is probably really dumb, but I can't help panic when I hear his Quirk go off. I'm so jumpy around him now, and I hate it. It's like one look at him makes me a scared little girl. That's not me, but I can't help it," Ochaco explained, holding his face in her hands.

Izuku knew what she was talking about. He knew the feeling of not being able to control his hands. Of being left on the floor not because of Bakugo's fists, but because his legs refused to hold him any longer. Of not being able to focus on class because Bakugo was right there . Sitting on the roof at lunch because Bakugo didn't know how to get up there. Izuku knew these things very well. They still looked so foreign on his sweet, cheerful, happy-go-lucky friend, though. A year ago, before he'd met All Might—and had it really been a year ?—Izuku figured that it was just him. That he was a wimp, and weak, and worthless, because that's all he'd ever been. That's all he'd ever been told he was. But, with All Might's help, as well as the further encouragement of the people around him at UA, he'd realized that all that nonsense had been drilled into him by the world, by the school and by one Katsuki Bakugo. He was trying to be better now, but that still didn't erase what he did. He was a terrible person in the past, and no matter how good he was trying to be now, he was still instilling fear into the hearts of the people around him. Izuku couldn't let that slide.

"Seventy-four percent of Heroes, when asked, say that they attend regular therapy sessions. I think you should talk to someone about this. You're talking about it now, of course, but you should get help for those feelings. Did you read the packet we got at the beginning of the term? Heroics is a profession with a lot of potentially traumatic events happening at very quick intervals. That's a bit too much for most people, I think," Shinso said.

"Yeah, Hound Dog is …" Izuku trailed off. What he was about to say was eerily similar to what Kyuyu Iida had told him the day before. "Hound Dog's a professional. He can help you, and he knows what it's like to go through this same thing. I think you should talk to him when you can," he said, trying to word it differently than how he'd been told.

Ochaco looked overwhelmed by several different emotions. She was still kind of shaky, with her hands resting on the table. She was nodding along, but there was a far off look in her eye, like she was thinking of something. But, there was a small smile on her face, and Izuku breathed a sigh of relief at that. He tried not to think too hard about how easily he was giving the same advice he'd received not even twenty-four hours ago, while still not taking that advice for himself. Izuku's situation was a bit different. He was at fault for something massive, and he wasn't exactly breaking down like Ochaco. That sounded mean, Izuku thought, as he tried to rephrase that better. Everybody dealt with things in their own way. Ochaco wasn't able to apply her methods to this particular problem, but Izuku was. He was able to just push down the pain, and the weird numbness in his heart for later and work on the problem: finding some way to confront the Hero Killer. He could do that. He could also help Ochaco.

Izuku could fix it all.

He would.