Lost Bonds

Chapter 12: Shoto

A/N: I'm really sorry about the large break I took. I had no motivation or ideas to write. On top of that, personal issues have made my life chaotic. I'll hopefully be able to write more regularly, especially since I've had the idea for where this will go from this point for a while. Anyway here have a long chapter that I stayed up until 1:36am finishing

I couldn't sleep after he came to see me. I felt trapped again, and it was so much worse after having a taste of freedom. I felt like I was being choked, not tightly enough that it would kill me, but it was still a burden. As night passed and the sun rose, I pretended to sleep. I didn't want Toya thinking I was regretting joining him. He eventually woke up, and strode across the room to the blankets I was laying on. He kicked me on the shoulder lightly, "get up, motherfucker." I sat up. I was tired and had a huge headache.

"You don't look too good, Shoto. Something wrong?" He didn't look too concerned for an average person, but the softening in his face and voice told me the opposite. I moved some of my hair out of my face, tangling the red and white strands together. "I just haven't slept well. In case you haven't noticed, I'm on the floor sleeping on blankets that probably haven't been washed in weeks. They definitely smell like it," I lie. He frowns slightly, he's obviously not convinced. He doesn't press me further, but just says, "they don't smell."

I get up and push him playfully, "that's because you've been rotting in this shithole for so long you're desensitised to the smell." He pushes me back. We both smile, and the concern in his face dims slightly. He tells me that we're going to have to have breakfast with the rest of the League, since he can't be bothered to cook. We both go through into the bar. I sit down, as far from the rest of the members as possible. I don't want to talk out of fear of letting it slip that my father knew about our location and I would potentially end up betraying them.

They were slightly eccentric, but they were overall good people at heart. They were just misguided. I knew that they were probably influenced by Stain, but I didn't know their reasons for believing in him. If I stayed here, I'd probably find out why at some point. And I found myself wanting to. Wanting to get to know them. They went through the trouble to have a party, they couldn't be totally bad. They welcomed me, while at UA I was shunned just for getting angry. None of them could say that they'd never felt angry. They had no right to see my actions towards Iida as unreasonable. He had no idea about the hell I'd endured all my life.

I felt someone poking my face, and I frowned. It was the villain Mr. Compress. I blinked and looked at him, "what are you doing?" Twice, Toga and Spinner peered over his shoulder. Mr. Compress told me, "ah, you seemed to be in your own world. We were making sure you were okay." I nodded, smiling slightly. "Told you he wasn't dead," Toga said to Twice. He replied, "it was you who said that. I just said that we should make sure he wasn't falling asleep, and tell him that breakfast was ready." They keep politely debating who said what, so I just get up and pick up some food, along with a drink.

The food is disgusting and greasy and on a paper plate that says 'happy birthday'. It's pink and covered in sparkles. The drink I picked up is flat, warm coke in a wine glass. It's so absurd it's laughable. I go from a nice dorm room with a comfortable bed and good food to the floor of an abandoned bar eating off of a plate someone probably got out of a bin. I put the plate in a bin bag sat in the corner once I'm done, and put my glass on the bar with everyone else's.