You stared at the principal, unsure whether you'd heard his words correctly.
There was no way they were allowed to accept that deal without your consent. And now they wanted you to talk to him tomorrow night? Without giving you any time to think about it?
"Absolutely not." Aizawa was staring ahead and spoke with a level voice, but the anger brimming in his eyes was unmistakable.
"I understand your concerns, Eraserhead. I can assure you that we would not have made this decision if we felt as though we had other options. The League has become increasingly more dangerous over the months and if there is even the slightest possibility that we can gain information that can be used to defeat them we must take it."
"That was not your decision to make, the only person in the position to accept that deal is her. Do you truly believe that the man is going to give up any information? For all we know, this could be a trap."
"We have had numerous people visit the villain while he has been in custody, including All Might himself. There is no possibility of a trap. Tartarus is our most secure prison location, All For One is completely powerless. Guards will also be present for the entirety of the visit."
Aizawa opened his mouth to speak once again, but you cut him off. "I'll do it."
He looked over, "what?"
"The League needs to be brought down, and if we have an opportunity then we might as well take it. If it seems like he's not gonna give up any information then I'll leave."
Principal Nezu lowered his head. "I appreciate your cooperation, this will be for the good of-"
"I'm not doing it for you, or for any of the people who thought that they could make a decision like this without talking to me. I'm agreeing to this because there's a small chance that doing it could give us information to make the world a safer place for the people that I care about."
As long as the villains were still around, nobody in your life was safe. It was only a matter of time before they used one of your friends against you, or someone they knew that you truly cared about.
If there was even a slight chance that you could keep that from happening you had to take it.
"Of course, we all appreciate it nonetheless."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Aizawa asked. "If you don't want to do this then you don't have to. We can find another way."
"At this point, I really don't see any other way."
Nezu cleared his throat. "We'll have a car sent for you tomorrow night at eight o'clock. The driver is a professional so there is no need-"
"I'll drive her, I'm not letting a random chaperone take her to a prison filled with the worlds most dangerous criminals."
"Eraserhead, it may be best for you-" the principal shut his eyes for a moment, seeming conflicted. "Alright, I'll make the arrangements for you to accompany her during the visit."
"Thank you."
It was difficult to wrap your head around what this meant. In just one day, you'd be seeing him again.
"Can we leave now?" You asked Aizawa. "I'm hungry."
He seemed as if there were still things that he wanted to say, but nodded. "Nezu, send me the details and I'll get it all figured out."
You both began walking out of the office but he paused once more. "And you'd do well to remember that I am her primary guardian. It would be unwise for you to make a decision like this without consulting me first, again."
"Of course, my apologies."
The door shut behind you and you began walking in the direction of Aizawa's place, staring down at the ground, not sure of what to say.
When you got to the door, Aizawa stopped in front of it. "Are you sure that you're ok with this?"
"No, but I also feel like I have to. I knew having a conversation with him would be inevitable, but I didn't think that it would be so soon."
"I'll be there the entire time, nothing bad will happen. You just give me the word and we'll leave as soon as you'd like to."
"Yeah, I know it'll be fine. It's just weird to think about. For now, I just want to eat dinner and distract myself with a lame movie, you down?"
"That is not necessarily the best way to cope."
"I never said that it was."
He sighed and went to open the door. "Oh, didn't you say that there was something that you needed to tell me?"
Thinking about it, you really didn't want to deal with the whole vigilante talk right now. You'd tell him as soon as this mess was over with, and then after he inevitably grounded you forever, you both could figure out a way to expose Hawks.
"It can wait. I don't really feel like talking about it right now."
"Alright then."
--------------------
The next morning you actually managed to get out of bed and make it to class.
Again, the night had passed without giving you a chance to sleep. The thought of waking Eri up with the remnants of your nightmares kept your eyes open.
You knew that you'd have to sleep eventually. The longest you'd managed to stay awake before this had been around six days and that had caused some pretty severe issues. You'd just need to get yourself to a point where your brain wouldn't have enough energy for nightmares.
You were hardly able to focus throughout the duration of your classes. The thought of what you had to do later that night remaining at the forefront of your mind.
When it came time for lunch, you found yourself walking past the dining area. Choosing instead to sit on one of the steps outside of the school building.
You didn't want to be afraid, there was no reason to be. But you hadn't seen All For One since that night so many months ago, the night that had changed nearly every aspect of your life.
The thought of seeing him again, of speaking to him alone, you didn't know what to expect.
You turned your head to the side when the sound of footsteps pulled you from your worries.
Shinsou took a seat to your right, holding a small bag of chips and a bottle of water.
"You look like you may want to be alone, but this is the second time you've skipped out on lunch so I figured I'd bring you something."
He held out the bag of chips to you and you took it, a small smile appearing on your face. "Thanks."
"Of course." He took a sip of his water as you opened the bag.
"If I'm being too nosey you can tell me to screw off, but is everything alright? You weren't here yesterday and today you've seemed... out of it."
You let out a huff of amusement, "these past couple of days have been pretty messy."
"Does it have anything to do with the angry blonde one nearly killing the dumb blonde one when he asked about you at breakfast yesterday?"
That caused you to laugh. "Yeah, that's a part of it."
"I was surprised to find out the two of you were so close, when you and I talked you made it seem like the two of you hated each other."
"Oh, we did." You shrugged, "things just changed. I ended up believing he was a lot less of an asshole than people thought."
You said that last line with amusement and Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "You say it as if you were wrong in thinking that."
"Yeah, well when things came down he was finally able to show his real feelings."
A look of understanding crossed over his face. "Ah, so in the end he turned out to be like everyone else, huh? I've dealt with quite a few people like that in my life. They tell you that they aren't afraid or that they don't see you as a bad guy, until one day you realize that they'd been lying to your face."
"Exactly, people really suck sometimes. There are only a few exceptions."
"I can't disagree with that statement."
You both sat on the steps for the remainder of the lunch period, making idle conversation while other students would occasionally pass by.
When lunch came to an end, Shinsou stood and looked down at the now-empty bag of chips. "Damn, you seriously didn't save any for me?"
"You gave me the bag, asshole. If you wanted some then you could've asked."
He shrugged and began walking inside. "I figured it would be offered out of consideration."
"Well, that's on you for assuming things."
The two of you walked back into the classroom, but you were stopped in front of the door.
Jirou took her hand from your shoulder and looked around. "Hey."
Shit, in the heat of your argument you'd completely forgotten that Jirou was next door.
"Hey," you responded warily, trying to quickly prepare an explanation for the things she may have heard.
"So, the other night I was up pretty late..."
Great.
You pressed your lips together and shut your eyes for a second. "Listen, what you heard-"
"Oh!" She waved her hands in front of her, "I didn't hear anything. Bakugou came by the dorm and told me to put on headphones or something. My mind went to some other places, but now I'm thinking that something went down between the two of you, and not something good. I just wanted to check in on you."
The relief that settled over you was instant. "Oh, gotcha. Yeah, some things happened but I'm good."
"Ok, I was just making sure. I just got worried when you didn't show up to class yesterday."
With a smile, you thanked her and she turned to walk inside.
"Oh, wait!" You called after her. "You wanna come hang out later? Mina and some others are coming over and we're gonna decorate and kinda chill for a little bit."
"That sounds cool, I think Kaminari mentioned something about it this morning. I'll be there."
As if the sound of his name caught the boys attention, Kaminari looked up from inside the classroom and waved.
You laughed and waved back. "Alright, awesome."
Your mood shifted as the rest of the school day went by. Yesterday had pulled you into some pretty dark thoughts, but being reminded of how much your friends actually cared about you really allowed for some of the darkness to disappear.
Ignoring Bakugou was easy enough, although you caught your eyes straying to where he sat multiple times.
This was a weird dynamic, one you weren't used to. Even in the beginning when you had constantly been at each other's throats, there would be some form of acknowledgment between you two.
Now there was only silence, not even a hint of emotion coming from him.
At the end of the day, Aizawa stopped you outside of the classroom, waiting until the other students had passed by before speaking. "For safety reasons, there's a pretty limited window for when we can be at the prison. They've granted us two hours to speak with him, and we have to check-in at nine o clock. It's a bit of a drive so we have to leave around seven-thirty."
Seven-thirty? That meant you only had a little over an hour to spend time with your friends.
"Ok, I'll meet you at your place before that."
Worry shone in his eyes. "You're absolutely sure about this? If you aren't comfortable speaking with him then please don't feel as if you have to."
You tried to sound reassuring. "Yeah, I know it'll be ok. And it makes it better that you're coming too, going alone would not have been fun."
"Of course, I wouldn't make you do something like this on your own. I'll be there the entire time."
You gave an appreciative smile, "thanks. I'll see you in a little bit."
Turning and making your way to the dorm building, you felt a knot of unease forming in your stomach.
In just a few hours, you would be speaking with the man who was responsible for it all, the man who had taken everything from you.
-------------------
Outside of your door, your friends waited for you to let them inside. Mina and Shinsou both held boxes of supplies in their hands, while Jirou and Kaminari stood next to them. Kaminari seemed to be excitedly speaking to Shinsou about something.
"You guys can go in." You said as you walked toward them.
Jirou opened the door and everyone followed behind. You turned on the light and did a quick sweep of the room to make sure you hadn't left anything out.
Kaminari went up and said hi to Bubbles, the boxes were placed on the ground, and Shinsou let out a breath. "Alright, where should we start?"
"I think we should change the bedset first," Mina stated.
The one you currently had was a traditional school-issued set, and your bed was the biggest source of discomfort for you in here so you figured she was right.
"Did you seriously bring me new blankets?" You asked her.
"Of course I did! We've got all sorts of stuff in here." She pulled the blanket from the bed and pointed to Jirou. "Start taking off the pillowcases. Boys, you two can go ahead and put up the lights that we brought."
Damn, she really had brought all sorts of stuff.
You helped remove all of the bedding and went to grab the new set that was in the box.
The sheets were grey, matching with the pillowcases, and had a rose-colored comforter to pair with them.
As you and Mina began putting them onto the bed, Jirou turned on a playlist of hers and began to examine your desk.
"You guys can do whatever you want with the place, just make it look nice." You said.
Kaminari worked with Shinsou to hang small string lights around your windows and Jirou began to rearrange the items on your desk, occasionally walking over to the boxes and pulling out something to be used for decoration.
After only forty five minutes, the room looked completely different.
Fake plants had been hung in different spots, Mina had said that she got the fake ones because she was unsure that you'd be able to handle anything real, which would have been offensive if it wasn't true.
Soft, glowing lights were strung around the window and Kaminari had brought a variety of posters to be put up on the wall next to your bed. One of them was a band that you recognized, the others consisted of movie and video game designs.
Todoroki even stopped by for a moment to bring you a book of his. He'd looked surprised to see everyone hanging out, but declined your offer to join.
When everyone seemed satisfied with the work that had been done, Kaminari sat down and held up the bag of items that Yaoyorozu had given you a few weeks ago.
"I kinda want to paint my nails." He said as he rummaged through the items.
"Oh my gosh, yes!" Mina stood up and went over next to him. He handed her a small tube of black nail polish and she nodded approvingly. "This would totally fit your vibe."
You eyed Shinsou. "You know, black nails would fit your vibe too."
"You want me to paint my nails?"
"No, I want you to let me paint your nails."
Jirou tilted her head, looking as if she was imagining what the end result would look like. "Yeah, you should definitely do it."
He still seemed unsure, but then Kaminari held out a hand, revealing two freshly-coated nails. "Look at how cool they look, dude."
Snatching his arm back, Mina pursed her lips. "I'm not finished yet!"
Jirou sat down next to you and gave Shinsou a look. "Don't be boring."
"Fine." He reluctantly gave you his hand. "Just try not to mess anything up."
"I would never. Mina, can you put the bottle between us?"
"I most definitely can."
As you painted, Shinsou kept surprisingly steady hands, allowing you to keep any of the polish from his skin. You couldn't say the same for Kaminari, though. The boy continued to move his fingers around and anytime Jirou would try and steady him it would only make it worse.
Music played in the background and everyone had smiles on their faces. And although he wouldn't admit it, you knew Shinsou liked the nails.
You were so caught up in the moment, that you didn't think about the time until the clock on top of your desk caught your eye.
Your face fell, the time had passed quicker than you'd expected.
"Everything alright?" Mina asked.
"Yeah, I just have to head out. I have something to take care of tonight." You looked around the room, "thank you, guys. I really needed this."
"No problem, dude!" Kaminari stood, giving a thumbs up with his paint-stained hands. "We've always got your back."
The rest of them nodded in agreement and began getting themselves ready to head out.
Mina hugged you on her way out and Jirou handed you a CD. "I put it together myself, I think you'll like it."
"Knowing your music taste, I know for sure that I'll like it."
She smiled and stepped outside, leaving you and Shinsou alone.
"Something changed in these last few minutes. Is everything alright?"
You tried to seem calm. "Yeah, I just have to do something that I'm not particularly looking forward to."
"Well, I hope it turns out alright." He looked down, "thank you for the nails. I guess you were right, it does kinda fit my vibe."
"You should learn that most of the time when I say something, I'm right."
He chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind, see you later."
"Yeah, see you."
After he'd left, you gave yourself a moment to breathe, trying to prepare yourself for what was about to happen.
When that didn't work, you gave up and opened the door.
You paused after stepping into the hallway, surprised to see Bakugou standing only a few feet from your door.
He didn't say anything as you stepped into view. You waited for a second before raising your eyebrows.
"Did you need something?"
His eyes narrowed, and you didn't miss the subtle clench of his jaw. "I saw the purple-haired kid leave your room, moving on pretty damn quickly aren't we?"
You laughed as the door shut behind you. "You know, if it was any of your business I would give you the exact reason why he was there. Since it's not, though, I'll let you keep guessing."
He seemed ready to say something about that, but he seemed to let it go. He crossed his arms over his chest and spoke, his voice came out surprisingly calm. "You were trying to tell me something the other night, what was it?"
"Oh, so now you care?"
"I never said that I didn't care, it just didn't matter at that moment."
"Didn't matter? How the hell could you have known if it mattered or not? You didn't even give me two seconds to explain."
He stepped closer to you, "are you gonna tell me or not? I don't need to be wasting my time."
You followed his movement, taking a step closer as well. "No, I don't think I will. I doubt you'd believe me anyway. It would be stupid of you to trust a villain, wouldn't it?"
You attempted to sound normal, but as you spoke that last sentence you couldn't keep your voice from shaking.
It was difficult to read his expression, and you stared at him until he looked away, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Don't look at me like that."
"I wasn't looking at you like anything."
He turned his head back to you. "Don't play dumb, you're trying to make me feel bad. You're trying to get me to apologize for saying that shit."
You rolled your eyes. "I could not give less of a shit about how you feel right now. You saying that makes me think that you do feel bad, but won't admit it to yourself."
"Listen-"
"No. Why should I give you a chance to speak when you couldn't give that same chance to me? We both said some shitty things, we both lied to each other, this-" you gestured between the two of you, "obviously doesn't work."
"I never lied about shit."
You leaned closer, causing your faces to be inches apart from each other, and spoke. "Really? Because from what I can recall, you said that you believed in me, you said that I wasn't what all those people called me, you said that you would always be there for me, and you lied."
Pulling away, you began walking to the end of the hallway. "I'm done entertaining you. I have somewhere that I need to be."
"Where the hell are you going on a Wednesday night?" His tone insinuated that he thought that he knew what you would be doing.
"Not that it's any of your business, but It's not what you think." You turned and looked back to him. "All For One decided to cash in on that father-daughter lunch that I promised him."
His expressions changed, the anger quickly replaced by shock and something akin to worry. "You're meeting with him?"
You looked back ahead. "Yup, and I can't be late. Bye."
God, it took all of your strength to act like you didn't care. All you'd wanted to do was be comforted, tell him how absolutely terrified you were in this moment. But your anger outweighed those feelings, refusing to let you show any sort of weakness as he stood there and refused to admit that he'd been wrong in what he'd said.
Stepping onto the elevator without another word, you pressed the button to take you to the first floor, fidgeting with your hands as it made its way down.
As you walked to Aizawas place you continued to try and calm your nerves. This would be a perfectly safe visit, if All For One was able to get out or cause any harm to those inside then he would have done so when All Might went to visit him. This would simply be a conversation between the two of you in regards to the League, if he didn't give you anything useful then you would leave.
You repeated these thoughts to yourself throughout the entirety of your walk, hoping that eventually they would start sounding believable.
You approached Aizawas door and could faintly hear the sound of music coming from inside.
Turning the handle and opening the door, you were met with the view of Present Mic doing odd dance-moves while shouting different lyrics of the song playing, while Eri jumped in circles around him. Aizawa sat on the couch and was watching the both of them with a small smile.
He looked up when you walked inside and you gestured to the side, speaking in a lighthearted tone. "Was I really not invited to the party?"
"Mic showed up about ten minutes ago, I had no idea there would be a party, although I probably should have guessed." He stood from his seat and walked over to the door, Eri noticed and paused her jumping to run up behind him.
"Do you really have to go? We could all stay here tonight and have fun." She looked between the two of you hopefully.
Aizawa knelt down. "Sorry kid, but we've got some important business to take care of. I promise I'll be back in time to tuck you in, alright?"
Present Mic came over as well. "They'll be back in no time! Tonight me and you get to partayy!"
"Yeah, ok." Eri looked up at you. "Do you wanna have another sleepover when you come back tonight? We're gonna make pancakes in the morning."
"For sure, I'll have to be there to make sure he doesn't burn them."
"I have never burnt a pancake in my life." Aizawa stated.
Present Mic laughed, "alright we'll see you guys later."
Before Aizawa could stand, Eri held out her hand. "You pinky promise you'll be back to tuck me in?"
You smiled as he ruffled her hair and linked his pinky with hers.
"Yes, I pinky promise."
------------------
First off, thank you @darkxdolan for the room decorating idea! It was a perfect little wholesome scene before shit starts to hit the fan once more.
Next chapter's about to go crazy, I don't even know if I'm ready.