To start again

Chapter Twenty Three : Return

Meliodas pov:

It has been six days since Yaoyorozu came to our house to study, two weeks since the incident and now I'm finally  returning to school.

Aizawa said that I was in good enough shape to go to class, the director however allowed me to skip or rather watch the P.E class for a little while longer and hell that angers me more than I'd like to admit.

The most feared demon after the demon king, heir of the throne, lider of the ten commandment, feared even by the four archangels reduced to... This.

A little kid way too sacred of fighting because I might get hurt, a kid that gets scared with loud sounds, a scary little brat unable to drink milk because it reminds me to that cursed room. Pathetic. That what anyone from our world would think if they see me now.

Maybe I'm not weak, maybe I'm not useless but I'm pathetic, but no matter how much I hate it, it's my reality now and the only thing I can do is accept it.

My self-loathing train of thought was interrupted when the sound of the car's engine disappeared. Taking a look at my surroundings I noticed we arrived to the school's parking. I'm finally here huh?

I opened the door and stepped outside the car while grabbing my backpack and waited for Zeldris and our dads to join me.

"Good luck you two!" Said Zashi with a big smile directed to us. It was nice to hear his loud nature again, after the Mineta incident he was being silent because the first days I would get scared with absolutely anything including Zashi's usual loud voice because you are weak.

Ignoring the hurtful voice in the back of my mind wearing our father's timbre I gave him the best smile I could and nodded taking my hands to my pockets to hide their shakiness, something that Zel noticed but thankfully said nothing.

"Have a nice day dad!" I said turning around and making our way to the classroom.

As we walked through the hallways people would stare at us and whisper things but I couldn't care any less. My mind right now was focused on something else. How will they react? Will it be like Yaoyorozu? I hope not, it would be way too uncomfortable.

Spotting the 1-A signal in the distance the wondering turned into nervousness and my walking pace slowed down. Feeling proud when a hand touched my shoulder without me flinching and angry at myself for feeling proud for such a thing I looked at Zeldris.

"It'll be fine" he said with a reassuring smile. God I don't deserve him... Unable to do anything else with the big mix of emotions I simply nodded and before I noticed, the door was in front of me. With a deep breath I took a shaky hand out of my pocket and slide the door open, feeling like my hearts were about to burst out of my chest.

Absolutely everyone turned to look at me, eyes wide with shock. My own eyes wandered the place until-

Mineta...

A shudder luckily unnoticed crawled in my back. My flight instincts winning over the fight one's as my body leaned back unconsciously.

"Uhhh... Hi?" I said waving the hand I used to open the door ever so slightly.

"Yeah yeah, he's here and fine" Said Zeldris grabbing gently but firmly the hand I still held up, pulling me with him towards our seats "Now go back to do whatever you were doing" He said moving his free hand in a dismissive motion sounding obviously annoyed.

"Don't be like that Zel" I said rolling my eyes at his overprotective behavior and turned around to face the rest of the classroom "Don't hear him, it's good to see you all!" I said smiling at everyone, my chest feeling warm when some returned the gesture. Soon enough they returned their attention back to their own business.

"Seriously, what a way to welcome someone" Zel muttered under his breath and as we sat down, I just chuckled "If something or someone bothers you, you will tell me alright?"

"Are you really ordering around your older brother?" I said playfully with a light smirk but he turned to look at me with seriousness. He's actually is...  "Alright alright, I will tell you" Looking satisfied he went back to contemplate the usual ruckus in the classroom. Damn I missed this more than I thought.

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The class went on normally and it was time for the first morning break, Zeldris asked permission to go to the bathroom just before the bell rang so I was waiting for him to return when Midoriya, Lida and Todoroki approached.

"Hello Meliodas, how are you feeling?" Asked Lida politely.

"Really good, thanks for asking. Anything important I missed?" I said leaning back on my desk feeling surprisingly at ease.

"Apart of the announcement of the summer training, nothing important" Said Todoroki-wait, "summer training?" I thought and said simultaneously.

"Oh you didn't know?" I shook my head at Midoriya's words.

"If you get good enough grades you get the chance to go to a special summer training" Said Lida again while doing his robo-hand thing, I tensed visibly, much to my dismay, at the sudden and rough movement as my flight instincts hit again, and the other two seemed to notice. Damn you scary little-

"Meliodas, let's go" Called Zeldris from the room's door. Just in time.

"Well thanks for telling me guys, see you later" I said leaving the three and walking over to Zel.

"You are tense" He pointed bluntly as we made our way to the café. Wow thanks I didn't notice "Did they-"

"No Zel, they didn't do anything" I stopped him before he began his overprotective rambling "I just have to get used to this all again"

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No one's pov:

"You guys noticed too right?" Asked Todoroki to the other two as they saw the brothers leave the place.

"Yeah..." Agreed the green haired kid.

"I should have guessed it could-"Lida was starting to blame himself when he noticed it was his action the one that caused the demon to tense so notoriously.

"You had no way to know, none of us did" He was interrupted by the half and half kid.

"To think it was this bad..." Stated Midoriya, they all knew the blonde wasn't in the best shape, but they never imagined the full extent of it "To react like that over such a thing even after two whole weeks away..."The trio went silent for a few seconds, each of them in their own thoughts.

"The only thing we can do is to be the best of friends" Todoroki said looking at the others with an unusual determination present in his features "And help him with everything we can"

I had a little bit of a problem with this chapter, I accidentally updated this a LOT earlier and kinda panicked so I erased it and lost everything. I tried to make it as similar as posible so I'm sorry if it's not good.