Caged Bird - BNHA Band AU

[5]

- feel free to listen to the music while you read-

Dinner had come faster than he'd wished, spending the rest of the day stretching out his vocal cords and stressing over the outcomes. He'd never sung in front of someone purposely before, he wasn't sure if he'd even know the song Kiri planned for him to sing. If only he'd been more aware this morning, Bakugo wouldn't have heard him humming and Kirishima wouldn't have gotten jealous.

Izuku wasn't one to cuss, but he honestly felt like shit. He was scared about the reaction his roommates would have, even if Bakugo had complemented his pointless humming, he still had his doubts. But that wasn't the only problem, he still struggled to eat around others, he'd gotten used to barely eating as he grew older. His mother was always too occupied with arguing or pleasing Hisashi that she'd sometimes forget that the greenette was there. He'd never learnt on his own due to Hisashi getting in a bad mood every time he saw the boy, so he decided to eat at midnight, only when he was certain Hisashi was asleep. He'd need to get over his worries before the others started catching on, he was already a little shaken from that incident with Kaminari at the park.

His thoughts were cut off by a rough knock on his door, "dinners ready you fucking nerd," he heard Bakugo grumble, "and stop worrying, I can feel your anxiety from here and it's ticking me off..." the angry blonde trailed off, giving time for thick tension to settle, there was shuffling before the boy spoke up, "stop fuckin' worrying, it's not like those damn extras could find you annoying, they've been drooling over you ever since you arrived! So hurry the fuck up!" Bakugo growled, leaving Izuku to his thoughts once again.

He wasn't stupid, he could tell the others were warming up to him, but Bakugo's starting to sound like he cares. That got a light chuckle out of the nervous teen. He stood up, his hand hovering hesitantly over the silver door knob, he sucked in a deep breath before he opened his door and walked down the hall towards the dining table. All eyes shifted to him, Kirishima gave him a bright smile, patting the empty seat next to him.

Izuku returned the smile, sitting in the seat chosen. He'd noticed that he was always the last to arrive at the table, he still hasn't gotten used to having so much peace and quiet, sometimes he thought it was almost too good to be true. He'd gotten amazing roommates, they all had such different personalities, yet they seemed to be rather close. It caused him to wonder how long they'd been living together.

Once again, he was brought out of his thoughts by Kirishima clearing his through. "So Mido, you wanna eat first or..." The red head trailed off, staring at Izuku with the same bright smile as before. "Uh... could we eat first... i-if that's ok with you guys..." there was a series of agreements around the table, reassuring the broccoli that he still had a small amount of time before the inevitable. He stared intently at his plate, the sound of clanking from the cutlery and small talk that went around the table filled the boys ears. He was sweating like crazy as seconds turned to minutes, time was sadly moving quickly, yet so slowly as everyone's plate grew emptier and emptier. Kirishima kept sending glances at the boy, looking from his full plate of crumbed chicken, mayo and salad, to the nervous look on the poor boys face. Kirishima nudged Izuku while the others were locked in a conversation about god knows what. "Are you ok?" Kiri whispered, to which Izuku swallowed thickly, nodding his head. "You haven't eaten anything, you don't need to sing if you don't want to..." Kirishima sent the small boy next to him a reassuring smile. Izuku immediately shook his head, "it's fine," he knew that if he backed out now, Kirishima would be sad, disappointed, he might not want to talk to him ever again. Izuku was aware that he was exaggerating, but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind, there was absolutely no way Izuku would back out now.

He glanced up at the others, who were still talking about something to do with musical instruments, the first thing he noticed was that their plates were finished. Kirishima said he'd bring the dishes to the sink, asking if Izuku was done with his, causing the boy to nod, "yeah... I'm done," he answered, knowing fair well he hadn't eaten anything in fear he'd throw up. He watched his hands as they shook in his lap, Kirishima sat back down which caught the others attention.

Silence danced through air, taunting the entire group. He felt awkward, and quite embarrassed as everyone's eyes were trained on him. He clasped his hands together, trying desperately to stop them shaking, fearing that someone would notice, which would cause a big fuss. He'd feel terrible, for Kirishima at least, if he were to hide away now. Izuku had already told the spikey haired boy he'd sing, and he knew for sure that he wouldn't let himself freeze up. He'd have to trust in his musical mindset to distract him from the staring eyes of his roommates.

"S-so... um, do you have a request..?" Izuku's mind filled with another wave of nerves. If he didn't know the lyrics to the song, would the others be angry, they didn't seem like those sort of people, well apart from Bakugo of course. Kirishima smirked, "yeah, I asked the whole group for at least one song suggestion, just in case you didn't know the song I chose!" Izuku let out a small sigh in relief, one out of the many worries filling his head had been dealt with. He was thankful that Kirishima was a kind person, if it were Bakugo, he'd probably give Izuku one suggestion, yelling if Izuku didn't want to or couldn't sing it.

"I guess I just pick the first one I recognise?" Izuku asked, tilting his head slightly, Kirishima nodded happily, handing the green haired boy a piece of paper. "I even asked Kaminari for a suggestion, it should be obvious which ones his," he chuckled excitedly to himself. He looked down the list, immediately spotting the one Kaminari had asked for, 'repeat stuff' by Bo Burnham. He giggled at the song choice, feeling slightly embarrassed that he knew the lyrics, but there wasn't a chance he'd say that aloud.

As he scanned the rest of the list, one song in particular stood out to him. He smiled fondly as he remembered how he listened to this song on repeat for god knows how long. 'Play Date' by Melanie Martinez, he was surprised and slightly curious as to who suggested such a song. But he wasn't one to judge, it was a good song.

He sucked in another breath of air, looking up at the slightly taller red haired boy. "I'm familiar with play date..." he mumbled, " but I'm not swearing!" He huffed playfully, earning a few laughs from the others. "How much do I have to sing..?" Kirishima shrugged, looking around the table, "he could sing until the end of the first chorus?" Shinso suggested, everyone agreed. Izuku hesitantly opened his mouth, no words would escape, causing him to immediately close it again. He couldn't find the courage to start, "hey, do you wanna listen to the music with earplugs to help distract yourself?" Kirishima suggested, I nodded in relief, "yeah, that'd be great."

After a few minutes, Izuku came back with headphones, they were black with neon green accents and horns sticking out of the top. He connected them to his phone and started playing the song, he almost instantly got sucked in with the beat and the lyrics. He flew through the song without any hesitation, it was as if he was floating gently in an insulated area, his voice was drifting through the air elegantly as he finished the first part of the song.

He was about to start singing the next when he heard clapping, which snapped him out of his mind. He slowly slid his headphones around his neck as the others were staring at him with flabbergasted expressions. "See Mido, it wasn't that bad was it?" Kirishima asked happily, he was bouncing in his seat, "I didn't realise your voice could go that high!" Izuku blushed, hiding his face in his hands. He hated how everyone was still staring at him, it was starting to get to him.

"T-thank you," he stuttered out, still hiding behind his hands. He hadn't expected to be praised, so he was left a blushing mess when he finally dragged himself to his room. He sat on his bed, daydreaming about what happened half an hour ago, the way it played out wasn't anything like he thought it would have been. After he showered and got ready to sleep, his thoughts drifted back to what Bakugo had said, it was nice to know Bakugo didn't completely hate him. Hopefully none of the others hated him either, the last thing he wanted was for his roommates and their friends to despise him.