#sadashi

While they debated on who would talk to Akira, Shoto’s mind was running wild. Something was causing Akira to act this way. Something that made her think she wasn’t as good as she was. His thoughts raced around clinging onto anything that might be a reason. His eyes stayed trained on her figure as she fought an invisible opponent. 

Since day one Akira had attached herself to him. Since day one she had been there for him, going so far as to stick up for him to his father. It took guts to do that. She was the one who helped him up when he fell down. She was the one who had gone with him to visit his mother for the first time. Since day one, Akira had cared about him. 

Before Shoto could stop himself the words had already left his mouth, “I’ll go,” he muttered. 

1-A went silent and each student had an individually different expression on their face. Some with more of an understanding one and others a little confused. Everyone knew how Akira and Shoto were always with each other so it made sense. With that, Shoto headed toward the front door of the dorms only stopping in order to look over his shoulder and speak. 

“It would be appreciated if you’d mind our privacy and not stare out the window at us like children,” he said. 

Shoto turned back and exited the building. The students around the window instantly dispersed and went to find something else to do. After all they knew he was right. It wasn’t polite for them to just stare at her. 

The young Todoroki’s legs carried him down the steps and toward the area where Akira was. He didn’t entirely know what had caused him to do what he was doing. For some reason though, he knew that it was the right decision. He stopped when he was close enough that they could converse but not too close that she’d hit him on accident. 

“Akira,” Shoto’s deep voice sounded. 

Akira flinched but managed to hold in her scream. She turned to look at Shoto and he was taken back by the look. She looked so tired, her hairline was damp with sweat, and she looked like she’d collapse at any second. But somehow she still looked as amazing as she always did. Frizzled locked pulled back into a tight ponytail and wide eyes.

“What?” Akira asked before continuing her assault on the invisible opponent. 

Shoto wasn’t entirely sure what to say. He hadn’t planned anything. So he opted to say the first thing that came to his mind. Which, true to Todoroki nature, was blunt and honest. 

“You’re working yourself too hard,” Shoto responded. 

Akira froze for a second before shaking her head. 

“Not any harder than I need to be,” she said. 

Silence consumed the area while Shoto thought about what to say. He didn’t know how to say what he wanted to say without it sounding rude. He wasn’t the best with words and everyone knew that. 

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?” Shoto asked, stepping closer to Akira. 

Akira stopped what she was doing and stood still. Almost too still. Her back stayed to Shoto, arms straight at her sides, slightly hunched over. 

“If I want to be a hero I have to be better,” she spoke, her voice quieter since she was facing away from hmi. 

“You’re already good at fighting, I don’t understand-”

Akira interrupted him, “I have to be able to protect my friends, I have to be able to protect you Todoroki. If that practice fight taught me anything it’s that I’m nowhere near as good as I should be.” 

Shoto watched Akira with concern. The practice fight? Was she talking about when he got injured? Akira’s fist clenched at her sides, the sound of her knuckles cracking traveled over to Shoto. 

“I can protect myself Akira, you don’t have to bother-”

Akira whirled around to face Shoto and he went silent. Her eyes were glossed over and she looked like she was holding back a scream. He knew that look. And he knew he was screwed. This was bad. Shoto was terrible when it came to people’s emotions, never really learning how to deal with his own caused that. 

“No! I know you can protect yourself but if I can’t help you when I see you in trouble then what kind of hero am I? Forget hero, what kind of friend am I? I can’t stand the thought of my friends getting hurt because I couldn’t do something about it!” Akira yelled, her face was scrunched in frustration as tears rushed from her eyes. 

This was the first time Shoto had witnessed Akira crying. And it pained him. 

“When you got hurt during that practice fight I tried to push it off but it wouldn’t leave my mind! I just kept thinking about what I could have done differently and every time I thought of it I got more angry with myself!” Akira screwed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. 

The boy didn’t take his eyes off of her. He only stared and wondered what to do. Shoto walked the last few steps to reach Akira and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her orange irises met his different colored ones. She couldn’t tell if the look on his face was pity or concern. To be honest she didn’t care. 

“I’m not very good at this, you should know that, but I want you to know that I don’t need you to protect me,” Shoto gripped both of her shoulders gently, “If we’re friends like you say then we should have each other's backs. We’re learning and training one day at a time, you don’t have to force yourself to grow.” 

Akira’s eyes were burning from the crying but the tears had stopped flowing. It was an odd experience to hear Todoroki trying to make her feel better. He was never the best at it and would avoid it if he could. Something about him taking the time to at least attempt to say something to help. 

Akira sniffed the running snot back up and leaned forward to rest her head. Her forehead landed on Todoroki’s shoulder. She wasn’t hugging him but she was seeking comfort from him. Her head was on his fireside which was warm through his shirt. Shoto stood completely still, stiff as a board, and stared down at Akira’s brown locks. 

After a second he lifted his left hand and gave her back a couple of pats. She had stopped crying, that was all Shoto could have asked for. Something about seeing her cry made him feel almost...upset. He didn’t want to see her cry, ever again. 

Maemi & Bakugo (Song inspo; Roslyn - Bon Iver & St. Vincent)

Torn. 

That’s how Maemi felt. She was sitting on her bed in her dorm room and staring at the wall in front of her. Silence encased the space around her and the gears in her head were working to answer her questions. Why?

Why wasn’t she good enough? Why did her parents hate her? And why did she feel like she deserved it? 

She ignored any buzzing from her phone, she knew who it was and she wasn’t in the mood to talk. She was supposed to meet the Bakusquad in the living room for movie night. But she didn’t want to. As much as Mae was grateful for her friends she didn’t want to bother them with her problems. Usually she’d go and just act normal but tonight. 

Tonight everything was weighing heavily on her shoulders and she didn’t know if she could keep her emotions hidden. Mae pulled her feet up onto the bed with her and hugged them. Her chin rested on her knees. With a sigh she closed her eyes as she felt them watering up. All she had to do was tell herself that she was fine, that’s all she ever told herself. 

A pounding on her door made her jolt in surprise and her eyes locked on it. It was probably Kaminari considering he was usually the one that the squad sent to look for her. She ignored it. But the person didn’t take the hint and only pounded on the door again. 

“Hey curls open the door! The idiots are getting antsy,” Bakugo’s gravelly voice yelled from the hallway. 

Mae felt a twinge in her chest. It wasn’t Kaminari. It was Bakugo. Why was it him? He was never the one to go looking for her. She took a moment to wipe her eyes of any possible tears - though there were none - before she got off of the bed and opened her door. She knew better than to ignore him because he would simply just walk in if she didn’t answer. 

Bakugo’s frame blocked most of the light from the hallway but he didn’t stop every bit from shining into the dark bedroom. Mae brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the sudden rays in her face. 

“The hell are you doing in here? If I have to hear those idiots complain for one more second I’m gonna blast you all to hell,” Bakugo asked, albeit rudely. 

“Oh,” Mae’s voice came out as a soft whisper, “I don’t really feel like...um...I don’t feel good,” she lied. 

All it took was a lift of Katsuki’s eyebrow for her to know she wouldn’t get away with that. She didn’t want to bother him with her issues. It wasn’t like he’d care anyway. Mae pushed her door and quickly swept herself back onto her bed, unfortunately for her Bakugo wasn’t letting that happen. He stopped the door before it closed and followed her inside. 

Bakugo would never admit it but he did pay attention to his friends. And by paying attention to them he’d learned how to notice the signs if one of them was hiding something or having a bad day. Normally Bakugo might have walked away, scoffed and rolled his eyes while mumbling something about Mae being dumb, but not this time. 

The bedroom door shut and Bakugo squinted to try and see in the dark room. The only light was coming from the moon that shone through her window. Mae was sitting on her bed again, knees back up only this time her head was in the dip between her knees and chest. She was hiding her face. Bakugo opened his mouth to say something only for Mae to speak quietly.

“You should go. Hang out with your friends.”

Bakugo felt anger at her words. What did she mean “your friends”? They were her friends too. 

“Tell me what’s wrong with you,” It was more of an order than a request and Mae knew that. 

She let out a tiny pained sob. Even the slightest bit of concern shown from Bakugo was enough to make her break. Her head lifted and she looked directly at the wall across from her. Suddenly there were tears streaming from her eyes. She huffed as she tried to speak, but besides the occasional deep breath in she was silently crying. 

“I just don’t understand what I ever did wrong. My parents, my siblings, it’s like I did something to deserve it. D-do I deserve them treating me the way they do?” Mae’s voice was so quiet, breaking as it bounced from a whisper to a normal speaking tone. 

Bakugo stared. That certainly wasn’t what he had expected. He knew all about her abusive family. Emotional, verbal, even physical sometimes. He had witnessed firsthand what she’d gone through and although Bakugo himself was used to not being treated the best by his mom he always seemed to get angry when he thought about Mae’s family. 

Mae was silent, her shoulder shook as she continued to cry. It was the first time in forever that she’d let herself break down. Mae was one to stop herself from crying as much as possible. It didn’t embarrass her or anything. She just didn’t like to cry. That was another thing her parents had beaten her into doing. Not expressing her feelings because no one cared. 

Something about the look on Mae’s face kept Bakugo from yelling like he normally might. Bakugo wanted to yell at her about how ‘they don’t matter anymore, so stop whining’ but he kept it to himself. For one of the only times ever in his life, he kept his mouth shut. Only examining Mae. Her shaking form, the way she kept digging her nail into her knees, the tears, her eyes that were probably red. 

He needed to do something. And leaving at this point didn’t feel like an option. Bakugo walked over to the bed and stopped beside Mae. She glanced up at him and when she met his eyes she quickly averted them to the floor instead. Mae waited for him to yell, waited for him to tell her she was being a loser or something. 

Instead she felt the palm of his hand press against the top of her head. She sat frozen and waited for something, was he going to push her? Maybe knock her off the bed? Or reel back and smack her in the back of the head? But nothing happened. His hand just sat there, resting. 

Was he trying to comfort her? 

Mae blinked a few times in confusion but for some odd reason it almost made her feel better. Even if Bakugo wasn’t trying to, Mae could imagine that his intent was to cheer her up. She felt his hand start to move. He was...scratching her head? Bakugo’s calloused fingers moved her hair as he scratched. Mae found herself leaning into his touch and eventually her head was against his chest. 

As much as Bakugo wanted to back up, take his hand from her head and yell, at the same time he didn’t. If this was making her stop crying then it was worth it. Crying was for wimps, and Mae wasn’t a wimp. Not in Bakugo’s eyes. So for just this once, he was going to let her head stay where it was. Just once. 

Sadashi & Kirishima (Song inspo; As The World Caves In - Matt Maltese)

Lost. 

Sadashi felt like she was at a crossroads. She didn’t know how to handle her current situation. A late night canvas of the town the previous night had ended in a fight with some muggers and a dead citizen. She knew that something like that might happen in her time as a vigilante but she didn’t think that it would bother her so much. 

Kirishima knew something was up when he climbed up the vines to get to her window and she wasn’t in her room. They always met up at her house before going to the rooftop where they hung out. It was daytime, where was she? Kirishima dropped back to the ground and went to Sadashi’s front door. He asked one of her older siblings where she was and they informed him that they didn’t know. So Kirishima went on a search. 

Meanwhile, Sadashi sat with her head in her hands on the very rooftop that Kirishima was heading towards. She’d already gotten the anger out on the brick wall she was leaning against and was now just sitting there. Everytime she closed her eyes she saw the person who had died. She could see the woman bleeding, crying out to her for help and all Sadashi could do was hold her. Sadashi’s hero uniform had been covered in blood by the time she’d returned home so it was currently residing in her bathtub soaking in water. 

The girl wanted to scream. That’s all she wanted to do. 

Her knuckles stung from the assault she’d placed upon the wall, fresh blood dripping from the torn skin. It didn’t bother her though. A little pain was nothing compared to the feeling she got whenever she thought about a life that was taken because of her. Because she couldn’t move fast enough. Sadashi heard the sound of someone on the ladder that led to the roof and turned her gaze towards it. The second she saw the spikes of red hair she went back to sulking. 

When Kirishima was all the way up he scanned the rooftop for Sadashi, quickly finding her curled up against the wall. He could see drops of what appeared to be blood on the roof in front of her and her magenta hair cascading around her face as it sat in her palms. Worry filled him, something was definitely wrong. The redhead made his way over to his friend and knelt down in front of her. 

“Are you alright?” Kirishima asked in a soft voice. 

Sadashi lifted her head and gave him an obviously forced smile. 

“Course I am,” she lied through her teeth. 

Now that her head was lifted and her hair went with it Kirishima could see the blood all over her knuckles. He grabbed her wrists quickly, pulling them towards him so he could see better. 

“Oh my god what happened? Are you hurt?” Kirishima’s concerned tone made Sadashi almost actually smile. 

She shrugged, “I’m fine,” she glanced at the brick wall, “you can ask the wall though if you’d like,” she joked. 

Kirishima let out a nervous chuckle at her attempt to lighten the mood. She pulled her hands out of his and sighed. The boy gave his friend a long and worried look. She was clearly not in the mood to talk but this was Kirishima. He had to know what was wrong so he could cheer her up. 

As if Sadashi could read his thoughts she spoke up, “There was an accident last night. I went in to save a woman from being mugged and she didn’t make it.”

She was staring at her bloodied knuckles and clenched her fists shut. 

“So I’ve got more on my mind right now than some torn skin,” Sadashi muttered.

“I’m sure it wasn’t your fau-”

“But it was. If I would have-if-I should have gotten-I should-” Sadashi ran her finger through her hair and gripped it tightly, “If I-if I would have been faster then she wouldn’t have died. It’s my fault for not being good enough.” 

Kirishima watched with pained eyes as Sadashi tugged at her hair angrily. He grabbed her wrists as he spoke

“Dashi,” it came out so soft, so calming, “you tried your best, you know you can’t save everyone.” her hands relaxed enough for Kirishima to pull her arms and set her hands in her lap. 

Sadashi was staring at Kirishima with a look so full of raw emotion. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. 

“But if-”

“Stop with the ifs. No ifs. This stuff happens, it’s something that heroes have to deal with all the time,” Kirishima said. 

When Sadashi remained silent Kirishima moved beside her and leaned against the wall. It was quiet for a few moments. Sadashi leaned fully back, letting her head hit the wall and she stared up into the blue sky. She let out a loud noise, something that was like a mix between a sob and a laugh. Kirishima turned his head to look at her. The dam broke. 

Sadashi began to cry, small laughs laced in as if she was trying to make herself stop by laughing instead. Tears slid down her cheeks quickly, her eyes were shut tight now. Kirishima reached over and took one of her hands in his

“Come on. Don’t do that please, I don’t like seeing my friends cry,” he said. 

Her sobs got a little quieter but didn’t stop. Pulling her hand from his she slid against the wall until she was resting on his shoulder. Kirishima made the decision then and there that he wouldn’t move. Not until she did first. If he was going to be her comfort then he was going to stay there. He’d be her rock (if you will) during the raging storm in her head. 

Tatsuo & Shinso (Song inspo; Where Is My Mind - The Pixies)

Scatter-brained. 

The only word to describe Tatsuo as she stared at the mess. After being told that there was an accident in the workshop she ran over immediately with Shinso (who she’d been talking to) hot on her tail. After ripping the door open Tatsuo was met with a nearly destroyed workspace. Pieces and parts were scattered all over the room, tools and blueprints damaged and ripped, and in the center of it all was her most recent project. Completely destroyed. 

One of the other support students was helping Hatsume around the rubble. They had told Tatsuo on the phone call that it was one of Hatsume’s machines that went out of control causing the catastrophe. Tatsuo’s workspace wasn’t the only one destroyed, it looked like the ones directly around hers were destroyed too. 

“Tatsuo! Oh gosh I’m so sorry,” Hatsume said when she noticed the girl and her friend standing there. 

A mutter came from Tatsuo. Only Shinso could hear the word, “out” from her. When Hatsume gave her a confused look Tatsuo shook her head. 

“You should go see Recovery Girl, that cut looks bad,” Tatsuo said, it was almost as if she was gritting her teeth in anger. 

The student helped Hatsume out of the room quickly and Tatsuo walked over to her recent project. Shinso simply watched, not wanting to say anything unless he knew she wanted to talk. Tatsuo eyes were shooting all over the project, calculating the worst damage and trying to figure out what she could do to salvage it. 

“I can fix this,” Tatsuo spoke to herself. 

She began to turn in her spot, her eyes darting around the room at different pieces of machinery. Tools, damaged projects, her eyes were moving so quickly Shinso wasn’t even sure she was really looking at the objects. He felt like he could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she repeated over and over. 

“I can fix this. I can fix this. I can-” she swallowed a lump in her throat and continued, -”fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this…”

In a flash Tatsuo was moving around the room, collecting pieces of the rubble in her arms and continuing to repeat the words. She sat a pile of stuff on her work table and spun to scan the room again. Just listening to her made Shinso worried. She wasn’t stopping to breathe, she was simply speaking affirmations to herself to stop from breaking. 

Shinso knew that she was trying to hold herself back from freaking out. He would know the cracks in her voice from anywhere. Having had a few breakdowns himself in his life he understood that much. And he knew that he needed to do something before she hurt herself. 

“Hey, it’s alright just calm down,” Shinso called to her from where he still stood by the door. 

Ignoring him, Tatsuo turned back to her work table and wrung her hands in front of her anxiously. Shinso painfully watched as her eyes moved between each material she’d picked up from the floor. Was this how she did her work? No. Shinso knew that she could get super energetic while doing work but this wasn’t energy. This was overworking. She was forcing her brain to put things together faster than she was truly able. 

“Tatsuo?” Shinso asked with more authority than he’s previous tone, hoping maybe that’d get her attention. 

“What Shinso I’m fine this is fine this is-it’s-it’s okay,” Tatsuo only shot Shinso a glance before turning her back to him, and heading to pick up more materials. 

“Stop.” Shinso ordered. 

Tatsuo’s body froze. She couldn’t move, it was like Shinso order was forcing her to hold still. He had used his quirk on her. Shinso didn’t like using it on her as much as he did other people but this was for her sake. 

“Take a deep breath,” 

Tatsuo obeyed. After making her take a few deep breaths he released her from his quirk but she didn’t move. She stayed exactly where she was, her head tilted down as she stared at the ground. No movement, no words, no sounds whatsoever came from her. At least at first there wasn’t any. It wasn’t until Shinso noticed the way that her body was shaking that he knew she wasn’t okay. 

Turning around to look at Shinso she revealed her face. And her face was covered in tears, they streamed down her cheeks, they dripped onto her shirt, and there was no end to them. 

“It’s all destroyed, all of it…” Tatsuo whimpered as she brought her hands up to try and wipe the liquid away. 

Shinso had never seen someone look so upset. He’d seen his fair share of people cry but it never bothered him the way it was now. The image of her shaking and wiping her face while she took in small gasps of air. It was almost unsettling. Everytime she opened her mouth to say something her lip would tremble and nothing would come out. 

Eventually she spoke, “My brain it feel like...it feels like a jigsaw puzzle but the pieces they’re-they-they’re all over the place, and some are missing and others are to the wrong puzzle and-”

“Come on,” Shinso said. 

He walked toward her, stepping over debris as he went, and stopped directly in front of her. Tatsuo glanced up at him in confusion. Up close Shinso could see just how much of a mess she was. Her eyes were glossed over and starting to get red from her rubbing them. She was continuously sniffing to stop her nose from leaking. 

“Let’s stop for a minute and breathe okay?” Shinso asked. 

Tatsuo nodded vigorously, letting out a sharp sob as she did so. She took in staggered breaths and tried to calm herself down. Shinso tilted his head so that his hair was closer to Tatsuo. 

“Wanna play with my hair, golden-eye?” he asked. 

The girl in front of him let out a small chuckle at the nickname. She sniffed again and nodded. Looking at him like it was the one thing that might make her feel better almost made him smile. Tatsuo reached up and began to brush through his hair with her fingers. She combed through the tangles like a cat pawing at a ball of yarn and soon there was a smile on her face. 

Shinso let himself smile this time. On more than one occasion Tatsuo had taken it upon herself to play with Shinso’s hair. She didn’t even ask, she would just reach up and start playing with it. But Shinso couldn’t get mad about it. It seemed to be enjoyable for her and in some way it was also a nice feeling to him. He knew that he could get her to stop crying. 

The other thing he knew was that he didn’t want to see that look on her face. He understood that people got upset and cried but he hated the way it looked on her. She didn’t deserve to be upset, she was too nice, too happy for that. So Shinso stayed with her in the workshop. He helped her clean up and even helped her get started on fixing her project. Even if he didn’t really know what he was doing. He just wanted her to feel better.