The festival was as grand as you'd expected with Aizawa's descriptions.
"More important than the Olympics," he'd said.
With the size of the crowds gathering that felt about right.
In fact with the size of the stadium alone, anxiety was already crawling up your spine. You shivered at the sight even before the sounds of thousands yelling stung your ears.
Once you and your class were led to the waiting room underneath the stands, you took to a folding chair and let your thoughts drown out the muffled spectators above.
Shoto and you were the first to get there.
Endeavor made sure of that.
The morning of this grand occasion, he spared no commands when giving you and Todoroki your lectures: How you had to do him proud, show his family was not full of weaklings, be even greater than All Might was at this age, all those things he'd been telling you since you were young only now with more threat behind the words.
Of course, they sort of went to waste as Shoto just took your earpieces from your hands and stuffed them in his own ears while looking at his father dead in the eyes.
That was just for a little show of rebellion.
In reality, you'd never seen Shoto so tense.
He hadn't spoken to you for a few days.
That was worrying.
But at once, it wasn't uncommon for him to fall into his own anxieties like you.
You didn't need to obsess over Shoto right now anyway.
You just needed to get him in the right headspace once the games actually started.
For now, he could lean against that wall and stare into nothing all he wanted.
As for Endeavor's lectures?
You were doing your best not to take his little commands too much to heart.
Instead, you stared down at the mask that came with your costume.
Though no one in the class was allowed to wear their hero costumes for the festival, you were allowed special accommodations. Other than your earpieces, you didn't think you'd need any.
But your bandaged up teacher didn't hesitate to put that mask in your hands when you walked through the door that morning.
"Thank you, but this doesn't actually help me with much sir," You'd said to him.
When you tried to give it back to him, he pushed your hand away.
"It may not enhance your powers, but I'd actually like for you to use your quirk today." He'd said. "Masks make you feel your own breaths. It'll remind you to keep breathing when you're anxious."
Oh.
That was thoughtful.
You blinked up at him, curling your fingers over the mask and bringing it down to your side.
Aizawa said one last thing before he left to join Present Mic.
But you weren't sure if you could really heed what he'd said.
"Don't be afraid of yourself. That's when bad things happen."
That was about an hour ago now.
And though the comfort of the mask was still there as you felt its material in your hand, the fear your teacher told you to avoid was still simmering without a moment of peace.
God. You thought. Adults suck.
Letting your thoughts run sometimes made you oblivious to your surroundings.
That is, until you heard the friction of a chair being pulled back at your table.
"Hey." You said, looking to the side only to see Bakugo taking his seat.
You would've thought he was about to be shipped off to war with the look on his face.
He seemed even more focused than Shoto did today, his face serious and stoic.
