Seeking Comfort ( Izuku X Uraraka)

Chapter 24

All the thoughts were muddling together in his head and Izuku turned to his side on the bed. In doing so, the green-haired teenager could have sworn he caught a whiff of Uraraka's scent and found himself inhaling deeply to locate its source, but he could only smell the scent of his own soap. The stirring in his chest returned and Izuku pictured her smile in his mind. Her laughter echoed in his ears and the sound actually calmed him. When had she become such a fixture in his life that the thought of her could soothe his nerves? And when did he start spending so much time thinking about her, when there was so much going on in his life?

With his mind swirling with thoughts about a scared young girl, a smiling brunette and All Might, Izuku fell into a restless slumber.

The following day Izuku was in a slightly better mood and was actually able to pay attention to his class for all of an hour. His sleep had been horrible and he had dreamt of being a bird locked in a cage and doctors wearing gloves and masks had plucked him clean of feathers and sliced off his flesh with ice cold scalpels. The doctors had used his flesh to make poison for All Might and he had died with a single trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth – the blood had been black.

Despite such a grotesque nightmare, Izuku was feeling surprisingly fine. There were instances where chills would run down his spine as he remembered the horrible images, but the freckled teen was able to shake them off. When it came down to it, Izuku had realized his nightmares were projections of his worst fears mixed in with whatever was nagging his sub consciousness and not the absolute truth. Did the dreams still strike fear into his heart? Absolutely. But had they also loosened their hold on him? Slowly, but surely. It had taken a while, but he was finally getting better. Or he was at least getting better at telling apart his nightmares from reality.

How Izuku had managed to numb his mind from the horrors of the previous day was a mystery he would never solve. Now that it was a new day, he remembered all the details much more clearly and was having trouble sitting still. Izuku itched to do something for Eri, but since he and the rest of the interns were on standby, there was nothing he could do. He just had to be patient. It didn't help that it dawned on him that he had missed his chance to talk to talk to Nighteye about All Might and ask some more questions. It had completely been pushed to the back of his mind to make room for the onslaught of information at the meeting.

Izuku had been pondering the meeting for the umpteenth time that day when Todoroki brought his attention to the forgotten food in front of him. He hadn't meant to zone out like that and judging from Iida's and Todoroki's worried glances he had been distant for longer than he thought.

He had worried both of them again and Iida's gentle reminder that they were friends and could always talk to each other made tears spring to Izuku's eyes. He had been so caught up in the mess that was his situation that he hadn't realized how lonely he had felt. He had forgotten about his friends and although they had reached out to him numerous times, he wanted to repay them for their concern, which was why he hastily wiped away the remains of his tears.

Izuku felt the back of his neck prickle and looked around him, only to catch Uraraka's eyes. She was sitting on the row opposite him, but with the rest of the girls a few paces down. The brunette raised her brows a little and tilted her head slightly in his direction, and Izuku managed to smile at her weakly and shake his head. He could feel her regarding him for a few seconds and felt relieved when she nodded and returned to the conversation around her. Izuku felt a fluttering in his stomach, which stopped again when Asui looked at him curiously from beside Uraraka.

It wasn't until Todoroki spoke and offered Izuku some of his yakisoba that the freckled boy realized others might have watched the silent exchange between him and Uraraka. Asui was no longer looking his way, but Izuku didn't want her to misunderstand the short interaction that had taken place, though there wasn't anything to misunderstand. Uraraka was his friend and she was just looking out for him, right? Izuku shook his head clear of the thought and tried to return his focus to his friends and their lunch. He could analyze his and Uraraka's shifting dynamics later.