Seeking Comfort ( Izuku X Uraraka)

Chapter 13

Here's another chapter! (:

It was Saturday afternoon and the students of class 1A were either studying or enjoying their day off. Izuku had met up with Iida, Todoroki and Uraraka earlier that morning to study ahead for the following week and help each other prepare for the upcoming quizzes. Currently Izuku was staring at his pencil case, completely lost in thought.

"-oriya-kun! Midoriya-kun! You mustn't zone out!" Iida shook the green-haired boy out of his stupor. The class president put on a stern expression, but it softened when he noticed his friend's puffy eyes and dark circles that contrasted with his pale skin.

"Ah sorry. What were you saying?" Izuku tried to shake himself awake, but ended up yawning instead. He had tried his best to stay focused while they studied, but for the past half hour, he had been on the verge of falling asleep.

"Are you getting enough sleep Midoriya?" Todoroki asked and regarded him for a few seconds. The ice-user had noticed signs of exhaustion on his friend's face for a few days now and figured Midoriya stayed up late to study or just had trouble sleeping in general.

"I kept waking up last night. It usually doesn't happen that often." Izuku explained and suppressed another yawn. Iida put a hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him, an unspoken question hanging in the air between them. Nightmares? Izuku looked away and instead caught Uraraka's gaze and saw her guilty expression, but also how her brow furrowed in concern.

"Deku-kun you should have said you were too tired to study!" She scolded him mildly. Ochaco felt bad that he had taken time to help her study when he was that tired. She couldn't help but feel responsible for his fatigue. He had, after all, spent so much time with her the previous day that he could have used to relax. He could even have slept in this morning if it hadn't been for their study session.

"I'm okay..." The freckled boy defended weakly. He averted his gaze from all of his friends' and twirled the pen in his hand around, hoping they would believe him.

Iida looked over at Uraraka, whose expression spoke volumes about her concern for their tired friend, and then at Todoroki, who also looked just as uneasy as Tenya felt. He hadn't been able to bring up Midoriya's mental health since the boy's panic attack the previous week, but Iida knew that Todoroki also had picked up on Midoriya's odd behavior. The class president didn't know how many people his friend had confided in, but he guessed that aside form himself and Uraraka, not many knew what was troubling the hero fanboy.

"Maybe we should call it a day?" Todoroki suggested after looking at his hunched over friend. He wasn't sure exactly what Midoriya was dealing with, but from the way Uraraka and Iida were fretting over him, they at least seemed to know what was going on with him.

Shoto had suspected that Midoriya suffered from anxiety for a while now and had tried asking about it once. He had been shut down pretty quickly with Midoriya telling him that he was skittish by nature, but the dual quirk holder wasn't convinced any longer.

"I agree. We covered a lot of ground anyway, so it would be wise to take the rest of the day off. A good hero should always know how to balance work and rest." Iida announced, his hand still hovering over Midoriya's shoulder. Shoto nodded in agreement and Uraraka silently started putting her books away.

"I can go on guys, it's fine." Izuku insisted, but his study group had already started packing up.

"You should take a nap, Midoriya. You look horrible." Shoto stated bluntly. It was obvious that Midoriya was pushing himself. The bags under his eyes and his pale complexion made it obvious that he needed to sleep. The pale boy looked irked at the prospect, but sighed in defeat when he saw the expressions on their faces.