absolution.

blindfold.

a/n this is about 9k of pure build up. any mistakes are mine ecause this is not beta'd but i will not edit any of it until im done w the next 5 chapters or smth because . research is exhausting an thhis is the 4th update this month

denki has implied adhd; if i misrepresent ti please lmk

anyway enjoy smile :]

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Tsuyu hasn't been able to stop watching the news in days. Her mentor's worried, especially when she doesn't come down to eat sometimes because she thinks her fear will churn the food out anyway. Her peers are worried, too, knocking on her room's door to make sure she's even living. She's glad, sometimes, that everyone's internships are being lengthened due to this so that her family never has to see her wallowing away like this. It's not healthy, Tsuyu knows, and yet. And yet.

The newscaster's voice rings in her ears. Tsuyu can remember their every word: "Stain the Hero Killer was found dead in Ekou Street District Four during the Hosu Pandemonium, as people are now dubbing the terrorist attacks done just a few days ago. Police believe three of U.A.'s hero course students are at fault; specifically Iida Tenya, known as Tenya, Todoroki Shoto, known simply as Shoto, and Midoriya Izuku, known as Valor or Deku. As of now, they are recovering from the injuries they have sustained from the incident in Hosu's General Hospital, and—"

Because Tsuyu doesn't want to know more, she stops the memory there. Zoning back into the present, Tsuyu finds her eyes burning, for once, having been staring at the light of her phone so much the world seems too dark when she looks up. Her hands are shaking as they set her phone face-down; they have been ever since this all began, and it's only worsened with time.

She knows what will happen to them, anyways, from snippets of audio and lines of text weaving into her ears and infecting her mind. Iida, Todoroki, and Midoriya will be detained as soon as they are released from the hospital. Despite everything, they will go to court. Of course they will; they've broken the law, even though following the rules in their circumstances would've led to death, and their fates are in the hands of a judge.

Tsuyu has never felt this terrified for those outside her family in her life.

She isn't even close to any of them, she knows. Tsuyu knows the girls better than any of the boys. She's more accustomed to calmer nights spent visiting each other and painting their nails and talking about heroes than, than a fraction of anything Midoriya's been through. And yet. And yet...

God, Tsuyu's just so tired of her class being in danger like this. She's sure that her year is abnormal for U.A., even compared to other years, but she's also positive third years don't feel the same heartache she does. They've just—everyone, Midoriya especially, have been in danger several times in these first few months of U.A., most definitely more than what an average hero goes through in half a decade, and they're fifteen and sixteen, God, they're all fifteen and sixteen and they've all almost died and Tsuyu's heart hurts.

Tsuyu's scared. Tsuyu's terrified. Tsuyu wants nothing more than Mom to wrap her in blankets and Dad to make her favorite drink and her younger siblings to give them their favorite plushies, even when Samidere* says that he has no favorite and that he's too old for them, and for them all to hug her, and give hugs to everyone else, too.

(If this is what heroes feel constantly, she... Tsuyu feels a little less sure that she wants to be a hero.)

Tsuyu sniffles, hugging her own plush to her chest: a large frog with an oversized pastel cardigan. She buries her face in its head, breathing in the scent of home. And then she looks up with a face of determination, clutching her beloved toy closer to her, thin tear tracks drying on her face. Tsuyu squeezes it once, twice, and then sets it down gently on her bed, gets up, and starts walking out her room.