I Promise We Are Professionals

Chapter 13

   "She seems pretty exhausted."  commented Todoroki as they had finally gotten back to the apartment.  

    "She seems a little bit better than she did before after she practically slept on your back the whole way home."  pointed out Izuku.

   "That's true.  She almost passed out in the locker room, and I would've felt bad if I didn't do anything."  replied Todoroki.  "Also, she's going to need a new top for her hero costume and new gloves as her left side was pretty much destroyed.   I already helped her put a request in for new ones.  She told me that she only has one extra one otherwise."  Izuku nodded as he looked over to Aoko who was now sitting on the couch, curled up in a ball as she leaned on the arm of the couch watching an anime he had never seen before on the TV.  

    "Where did Bakugo go?"  wondered Todoroki as he didn't see him in the living room.

    "Kitchen.  I'm pretty sure he is making Aoko something to eat since he feels bad about injuring her...although if you asked him, he would probably deny it."  replied Izuku with a sigh before he walked towards the couch where Aoko was.  

    "Is it okay if I sit here?"  Izuku asked her.  She looked up at him and nodded.  Aoko had changed out of the blue dress into a pair of grey sweatpants and a large navy-blue hoodie that was multiple sized too big for her.  She was practically swimming in it.   Izuku sat down on the other end of the couch from her.   Aoko hesitated for moment before letting out a small sigh and crawling across the couch to sit next to him.  Izuku looked at her confused.

    "Can... can I lean against you to recharge, please?"  she asked him quietly so that the other boys who were talking in the entryway to the kitchen didn't hear her.  Izuku looked down at her feeling kind of stupid that he didn't think of offering to do that in the first place now that he thought about it and what she had told him in the car yesterday about her quirk.  

    "Uh, yeah.  Yes!"  he declared. She looked at him questioningly.

 "Are you sure?  I don't have to.  I don't want to make you feel like you have to do anything you don't want..."  

    "No, no!  It's totally fine.  I don't mind at all.  You're a part of the team and if this is what it takes for you to be at full power for your quirk then do whatever you need."  reassured Izuku.  He didn't want to admit that he felt nervous as Aoko smiled at him before curling up right next to him and leaning her head against his shoulder.  Her body relaxed against his as he felt rigid.  

    "Relax, Midoriya.  I'm not going to do anything weird or suck all the energy out of you.  I promise."  giggled Aoko.  

    "Ah, right."  he replied nervously as he tried to relax himself and not be all tense.   After he started focusing on watching the anime in front of him instead of the young woman leaning onto his side.   Unfortunately, after about twenty minutes the arm that was trapped between Aoko and himself started to go numb and he was scared to move it in fear of disturbing Aoko and because he was unsure what to do with it anyways.   Aoko could feel Izuku's arm beginning to twitch and shift slightly under her head.  Without a word she took his wrist and moved his arm from being trapped to move it around behind her head and shoulders before letting go of his wrist and now leaning more onto his chest in this new position than his shoulder.    Her eyes were now closed as she was trying to let sleep set in so that she could recharge more efficiently.  She wasn't sure how long Izuku would be able to sit there and let her lean on and she wanted to take advantage of whatever amount of time he would give her.  She did this a lot with her classmates when in school, her friends, and her family.   

    Izuku was bright red in the face as he looked around in a slight panic of what was happening.  He not had time for a partner ever or ever held anyone like this or had someone on him like Aoko was now.  He had to admit though...it felt kind of nice.   She was really warm, soft, and something about her trusting him so much was really comforting.