The Hope Barely Found

The Great Escape

Aizawa watched the whole exchange with his arms crossed in the doorway. Before they could see him he slipped away, heading back inside. This report would be a pain to explain. And a pain to keep a closer eye on the two.

***

Who ever created the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' is a fucking idiot who's obviously never been tortured, Izuku decided with a glare focused on the ground.

Izuku's had fucking enough of the fucking beatings. New lashes streaked his back, on top of the bruises that made up every inch of his skin, and red where his fingernails were missing. On the bright side, he was a purple boy! A small grin lit up his face, making Shigaraki glare at him from across the room.

"What's so funny?" He snarled. "Didn't get enough?"

Izuku wheezed. "I'm a purple boy!"

Shigaraki just stared in a almost confused awe before turning away while muttering something inaudible.

Izuku couldn't help but burst into laughter as he caught sight of his purple arm and swollen broken fingers once again.

***

Todoroki sat up on the couch very suddenly, making Mina jump from besides him. He got the sudden urge to smack Izuku, wherever he was.

"Come on~" Mina whined for the millionth time. "Come practice with us!"

Todoroki sighed since he was already up. "Fine. If it makes you shut up."

The squeal that followed already made Todoroki regret that decision.

***

"Step, right, step, left, twist, jump, land!" Mina sang, showing her classmates how to do it in front.

Jiro was messing with the mic and guitar, with Katsuki on the drums, and Kaminari with a keyboard. They were all wearing matching orange shirts that Kaminari had to shove over Katsuki's face to get him to wear.

Shinso, Sero, and Iida would be working on the effects throughout the dance, with everyone else doing the actual dancing routine. Some were more thrilled then others.

Todoroki grumbled as he did the footing perfectly. He could do it right and still complain. Katsuki was banging some tune on his drums, and it sounded surprisingly good. Todoroki didn't voice those thoughts but Kaminari did.

"Wow, that's actually really good, Bakugo!"

"Pfft, of fucking course it is. What did you expect?" To be honest, Katsuki had been surprised too. He didn't remember being able to play the drums.

Before they knew it, the festival was upon them. Mixed feelings filled the bus as they drove, excitement and anxiety being the main two. A nervous excitement.

They arrived early to be able to set up as their turn would be first. Getting everything together would be... interesting to say the least, with Katsuki getting into a fight with Todoroki about the location of the drums before they even started unpacking.

Neither of them ended up being right, as Shinso so kindly pointed out. He had to duck as one of the drumming sticks got throw in his direction. He hid behind Kaminari as a bigger, full drum got thrown too. Then Katsuki was right back on Todoroki for throwing one of his fucking drums.

Jiro facepalmed from the side in exasperation, slowly sighing.

"Count down from ten," Aizawa advised, walking by. "You'd be surprised."

***

Izuku pulled against his restraints relentlessly, the need to see Eri overwhelming. It had been too long, too long without her. His wrists were raw and bleeding already and he had barely started. His bruises had turned more of a red brown color at this point but were still bright and vibrant. Izuku thought they were pretty.

Shigaraki had left the bar with Kurogiri for some mission forever ago, leaving Toga, Spinner and Compress who found his struggling hilarious. Izuku wouldn't complain as long as they wouldn't try and stop him.

They didn't, instead actually promoting to record and cheer him on, Toga every now and then stopping to sneak it and grab his wrists, sucking off some of the blood. It made Izuku nauseous, but unless he wanted another beating it was easier to just go along with it.

Except he had a secret. One of the chains had come loose after accidentally getting struck during the whippings. He just had to wait for the right moment...

***

Uraraka and Katsuki were currently fighting over something like "which job was more important" or some shit, and Jiro honestly felt ready to throw hands as she rubbed her face tiredly. Kaminari handed her a coffee that she gratefully accepted.

"Thank you."

"I thought you'd need it," Kaminari snickered. Plus, he'd been grabbing one for Shinso anyways, might as well get one for Aizawa and Jiro too.

Aizawa sat in the corner at the moment looking ready to curl up and die as he watched the chaos unfold around him. He felt the urge to smack some sense into these fucking kids.

Mic on the other hand, was having the time of his life swinging around everywhere and making a mess for the kids to infuriatingly clean up. Definitely not helping Jiro's stress levels though Shinso found the whole thing hilarious.

Uraraka and Tsuyu were throwing streamers everywhere, and at one point tied Kaminari in the for fun, presenting him to Shinso with a giggle.

All in all, it had been a really good day.