Simple Misunderstanding

11 | Reunion

Izuku stood in the doorway of the hallway, eyes wide as he examined the scene before him. He couldn't process what he was seeing, the scene before him blurry and surreal.

Uraraka pulled herself away from the red and white-haired teenager, looking at Izuku's sullen figure before running up to him, throwing her arms around the boy.

"Izuku!" She said finally, tightly hugging the boy. "I--"

She cut herself off, small tears running down her cheeks. Iida and Todoroki began to walk over too, both happy to see their friend was awake. Shoto was more joyous than Iida, the urge to hug and hold on to the boy hard to resist.

Yet, Izuku seemed off. His eyes kept darting all over the place, avoiding the people in front of him. Additionally, he seemed more tense than normal, his shoulders tensed up as he looked at the people in front of him cautiously.

"Izuku, we're glad to see you're alright." Iida smiled, hugging him as well as Todoroki joined him.

Tears brimmed in the boy's eyes, unsure of what was happening. For the past four days, he'd thought his friends hated him. Why else would they play such a cruel prank on him?

"I-I thought you ha-hated me.." he whispered, choking on a sob, "y-you were ig-ignoring me.. it was hor-horrible!"

Uraraka pulled herself away from him, wiping his tears as she spoke. "We would never hate you. Who else would tell us all there is to know about pro heroes then?" He chuckled softly, small tears still flowing down his cheeks. She took Izuku's hands in her own. "We only ignored you because Mina made us think it'd help you. But, when we realized it wouldn't, she wouldn't let us opt out of it."

She had told him the truth. The one thing she wanted to do ever since she'd wanted out. Izuku wore a small (but sad) smile, somewhat happy that his nightmares hadn't become his reality. If they were, he didn't know what he'd do.

They sat in his room, or rather, the guest room. They all sat on the bed together, finding it more comfortable than the floor or a wooden desk chair. Todoroki was basically stuck to Izuku like glue, hugging him or touching some part of his clothing to reassure himself Midoriya was there.

"So, Izuku," Uraraka began. "What's it like to live with our teachers?"

He put an arm around Shoto. "Well.. it's nice.." He tried to think of how to word his thoughts. "But, um.. you know how I have those panic attacks sometimes?" They nodded, having been told about them before when they'd first gotten the dorms. "Well, I'm certain Mr Aizawa's been helping me with them recently."

"How so, Midoriya?" Iida asked curiously.

"I've been kind of waking up in different places compared to where I blacked out, like in my bed or on a sofa, covered with blankets. I even woke up in teachers' dorms the other day." he explained. "I know it's not really a valid point, but it's all I have to go on."

Ochako smiled. "At least now you have someone else to help you as well as us."

"Yeah.." he trailed off, eyes averting to the floor.

Iida straightened up. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask.." he looked at Iida directly, "are the others.. really guilty?"

Todoroki began playing with the hems of Izuku's sleeve, having put on a hoodie when they'd entered his room. He seemed zoned out, stressed even. Midoriya began to caress the boy's hair, having found it helped before in a similar situation.

Uraraka nodded. "Mina didn't know it'd make you this upset."

"Yes, but," Iida's voice was stern as he frowned, "it doesn't excuse her actions. She put Izuku through pain instead of helping him, even when we'd told her it'd come to this. She crossed the line when she didn't let us opt out."

Izuku chuckled softly, feeling his eyes begin to water again. "I really thought you guys hated me."

Uraraka gave him a quick hug before asking their most important question of the day. "Izuku.. where'd you disappear to the other day? Mr Aizawa said he'd found you but refused to tell us where you'd gone to."

"Oh.. um.." He took a deep breath. "I kind of blamed myself for everyone ignoring me.. I thought I had to train more and get stronger but I ended up overworking myself. I was training in Gym Gamma when Mr Aizawa found me and took me here."

He couldn't bring himself to tell them the full truth. He couldn't tell them about the panic attack he'd remembered having. He knew they'd blame themselves. He knew they'd feel guilty about being part of the cause.

Memories of the incident played in his head, the image getting more and more vague.

Izuku, what are you doing?

N-nothing sir.. j-just training...

Problem child, are you okay? I heard what you were muttering.

Y-yeah! I j-just need to f-fix something..

Fix what?

I-I.. I-it's my fa-fault everything's hap-happened!

Izuku, look at me. Nothing is your fault, okay? It's not and will never be your fault that the villains attack us.

A sudden force knocked him out of his thoughts as his friends hugged him all at once. He tried to move his arms to hug them back, but found they were stuck where they'd just jumped on him. He chuckled at the sight, smiling slightly as he felt a warm liquid run down his cheeks.

"Never do that again!" Uraraka said, hugging him the tightest as she buried her head into his shoulder.

He averted his eyes. "O-Okay.."

His voice had come out small, barely audible to his ears. But, his friends had heard it and that was all that mattered. He moved his arms a little, moving them from their fixed position. He hugged his friends back, closing his eyes as he let the moment last.

Maybe this was all just a simple misunderstanding.