Over the next few days, you fell into a comfortable routine.
Wake up in the morning, make breakfast for whoever was in the kitchen and wanted some, head to class with Jirou and Yaoyorozu, learn and train, head back to the dorms, make some dinner and relax in the common room.
Throughout the days, you felt yourself slowly gravitating more and more towards Bakugo.
He was the sun.
Hot and explosive, quite literally.
During training, you sometimes had to pause and just look at him. The ferocious grin on his face as he soared through the air, exploding his opponent and taking home the win.
He was the definition of victory.
It left you at awe, he was truly a masterpiece.
There wasn't much that had changed between the both of you. You were both taking it slow. You were trying to adjust to the new environment and school, while he tried to adjust to the new wave of emotions he got every time he thought of you.
Even if nothing had really changed, it didn't stop you from enjoying the perks of being soulmates.
A gentle kick from where you're sitting during lunch, a squeeze on the arm during training, a pat on the head as you walk by in the common room, a head on his shoulder when there's no one around.
The casual acts of intimacy were blissful.
Bakugo didn't realize how much he craved affection until he met you. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to lay his head on your lap as you played with his hair. He wanted nothing more than to hug you close and rest his eyes and listen to the beat of your heart.
He wanted more more more.
The touches were reminders that you existed, and that as promised, you were there with him.
A promise.
...
As you reached the door, there was a note plastered on it, directions to a different room where class would be conducted. Confused, you only shrugged and walked down a different hallway, taking a deep breath as you opened the door to the new room.
There were no regular desks inside the classroom, in fact it didn't seem like a classroom at all.
Beanbags were scattered across the room, with two chairs settled in the front. It looked like you were one of the last ones to arrive as various beanbags were occupied.
Jirou raised her hand up, gently waving at you to come sit on the empty bag near her.
Smiling, you plopped down on the seat, dropping your book bag by your feet. Leaning in, you whispered to them both.
"What's going on?"
It was the Yaoyorozu who answered, "Part of the healing process is to attend counseling with Hound Dog, but on certain occasions, we come here to face our fears/nightmares/bad memories. About a year ago, we experienced the attack at the USJ, and it's bound to stir up some nightmares."
Jirou took over, explaining the rest. "The class gathers together in which we each sit in the front and Counselor Takahashi has a quirk that lets her project any 'bad dreams' we have on the screen as a way to face it. And by doing this as a class, it helps bring us together and helps identify any triggers that we may face."
Before they could explain more, Aizawa stepped into the room, followed by who you supposed was the counselor.
Standing in front of the two chairs placed, Aizawa's tired eyes roamed over the class, doing a sweep to get an insight on how his class was feeling. Various tired eyes stared back at him- a sign that his kids were hurting.
"You all know the drill. I'll be in the back, if any of you feel uncomfortable or wish not to participate, you can always step outside. Take it away Takahashi."
Moving towards the back, the teacher took a seat, putting his sleeping bag on the side.
The counselor clasped her hands together, a cheery smile on her face, wishing to brighten up the mood but failing. "Who would like to start?"
Uneasiness waved over them, nobody really wanted to start off the session. But it was Asui who raised her hand as she stood up, taking a seat on the chair.
You watched as the woman placed a hand on Asui's forehead, the girl closing her eye as the screen behind them began to light up with various images.
Her worst nightmare, or a fear that plagued her, was Shigaraki. It was the USJ all over again, only this time Aizawa didn't manage to erase Shigaraki's quirk on time.
As time went on and various classmates took a seat on the chair, you understood what Jirou meant about coming closer as a class.
There was a certain vulnerability that came from sharing your darkest secrets in front of the entire class. Tears were shed, hugs were given- and everybody seemed to be healing little by little together.
Several instances popped out to you.
A recurring theme to the bad dreams was the League of Villains. After their constant attacks, it was obvious that they left an everlasting impact on Class 2-A.
Some seemed more personal, like Tokoyami being afraid of losing control of Dark Shadow and thus fearing the dark. Others, like Hagakure, feared being abandoned and forgotten. Shinso was afraid of being silenced forever, his worst fear was being called a villain by the same people he considered his friends. Kirishima's nightmare was the kidnapping all over again, feeling useless and incapable of saving his friends.
And then, it was Midoriya who went up. It was like a movie that played on, with All Might's words haunting him, saying how Midoriya failed him over and over again. He was afraid of not living up to his idol's name and failing to save those that needed him.
When it was Bakugo's turn, you had to remind yourself to breathe, to relax as you loosened the grip you had on your skirt.
It starts with a villain attack, goo clouding his vision. It's not the attack itself that is symbolic, but the feeling that comes from it. You can feel the despair coming off of Bakugo, the fear of being weak, of not being good enough. The scene shifts and suddenly shadows look over Bakugo, shifting until various faces become clear: the League of Villains, with a particular scarred man reaching out to him. But there's nothing he can do. He's chained, no quirk coming to his rescue, and fear paralyzes him.
Seconds... maybe minutes... you watch Bakugo's kidnapping from his point of view.
Pain blooms in your chest.
You want to look away, but it wouldn't be fair to Bakugo. He was sitting there, purposely allowing himself to feel in front of his class, the least you could do is watch and understand.
When it's finally over, his gaze is averted, shrugging off any comfort that he gets from his friends. He doesn't turn to look at you, strictly staring down at his shoes.
"Aizawa Y/n."
It almost feels like an out of body experience, you know you're moving, you can feel the metal coolness from the desk, but you're not really there. You don't even flinch when the counselor's cold hand touches your forehead.
One minute you were at U.A, and the next you're back at the warehouse.
The stench of vomit fills your nostrils as you cough, your small hands on the mat of the training room. Looking up, your eyes meet the cold ones of the boss. This was an old memory, back when he was alive, one of the first training sessions you had with him, and probably one of the worst.
You were young, probably not older than 7 or so. There were no scars on your eyes, but there were faint lines on your arms, not as bad as the scars that stretched over your skin now, but still too many for a small child.
"Please... I just want to go back."
"No, you won't leave this room until you do what I asked you to do. I don't care if you're tired or you're hungry, if you're going to win the war, you have to be strong and push through the pain."
"But it hurts..." you whimper as you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand.
Your whines do nothing as the man drags you up by your hair, pushing you in front of the dummy again.
"Do it." His voice is venomous as you flinch back, timidly nodding. He wanted you decapitate the dummy using your quirk. The closest you've gotten is tearing off their limbs but it wasn't good enough.
It was only a dummy, but anytime you ripped the plastic body parts off, nausea hit you. This only angered the boss, calling you a failure for having a weak stomach. How were you meant to be a god killing machine if you couldn't stand the sight of broken dummy pieces?
The process repeated itself.
And finally he couldn't take it anymore.
His words echoed through your mind, "Useless. Worthless. Can't do anything right. Waste of my time. Shouldn't exist. Failure failure failure."
Cries echoed through the room as your pain resonated.
The scene shifted again- you were older now, probably a pre-teen based on the baby features you had. Trapped in a glass cage, your only view was Overhaul and Eri.
This was the first 'Bad Day.'
He had Eri strapped to a metal table, a surgical knife in hand as he planned out where to cut the child next. The young girl looked daze, they probably drugged her in order to prevent her from moving or making a sound.
It served as torture too.
Watching the blade sink into Eri's pale skin caused you to yell out in anger, frustration and pain.
Trying to use your quirk, your malnourished body shuddered as shock waves rocked your body, causing you to double over as your limbs spasmed.
Realizing that your quirk wasn't going to help, you stopped trying to reach for it. Instead, fists began to pound against the glass, each hit harder than the previous one. Slamming into the glass, you didn't falter at all, even when you felt the pop of you shoulder as it became dislocated.
But it was pointless.
Blood smeared the clear material, making it look like a scene straight out of a horror movie. The foul scent of blood filled your nose as you reached up to wipe the bead of sweat trickling down your forehead. The taste of salt was bitter as your tears reached your mouth.
Were you crying or yelling? Or was it both?
Shouting profanities at Overhaul, begging him to let her go, promising that you were going to kill him for doing this- it didn't faze Overhaul at all.
The powerlessness that you felt, it was something that scared you. You hated feeling weak, you hated not being able to do something, you hated watching your sister get hurt.
Like earlier, the boss' words rang through your ears "Failure... failure... failure... you promised to protect her... your fault... you failed me... your fault... your fault."
Sobbing hysterically, you continue to rage against the glass, feeling suffocated in the small cage. Whimpers escaped you, "I know... I'm so sorry. I promised to protect her and he's killing her. I'm sorry."
There was no response, no words of comfort whispered, no blanket of safety.
Instead, what flooded your ears was the sound of Overhaul's maniac laughter as he cut out pieces of Eri to create his weapons. Glancing up from where he was cutting, his dark eyes stared straight into your teary ones.
"You already killed one sibling, are you going to kill the other?"
Through the pain and damage, his words ring clear in your ears and confusion swoops over you.
"What?" The statement is weak as the words scratch against your sore throat from all the yelling and crying.
"Don't you know? Your brother... you killed him."
The scene shifts again, but your once free body was restrained, tied down to a chair as Overhaul stands in front of you, clearly angry based on the way he was gripping his hair so tightly.
"You'll pay for that traitor." A slap follows his statement, eyes wide in a crazy look. Pacing back and forth, he brings out a knife from the pocket of his coat, the metal catching the light in the empty room.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
This you is still young, but not by much. Maybe a year or two younger, the scars on your face still missing... but something wasn't right.
"Traitor, a filthy fucking traitor! It was you, you orchestrated it all."
When he catches the look of confusion on his face, he snaps as he snarls, getting up close to your face. "The plan to escape, you planned it all. But guess what, your planned failed. He's dead." Overhaul laughs, completely out of his mind.
It registers now. The mission your brother and you had planned to try and escape. It wasn't supposed to happen yet, there were still some equipment you needed to get. So how did he know? And who was dead?
He couldn't mean... no there's no way... he can't be dead right?
Right?
Panic weighs in your chest as your breathing gets heavy, your fingers dig into your thighs as you tried to relax, no reason to get worked up, this was just some sick plan from Overhaul, another of his torture sessions.
Overhaul was mumbling, his back turned to you but as he gripped the knife harder, you began to pick up on his words. "Traitor... must pay for it... teach you a lesson... never can escape me."
Tensing, you watch him get closer as he brings the knife up, gently tracing the side of your jaw but not deep enough to leave a mark.
"Get the hell away from me."
"No, I think it's time you realize that you can't leave me Y/n."
Growing confident now, Overhaul slashes the knife with enough force to cause you to flinch away in pain. He reaches up, holding your chin in place as he slashes again, giving you a matching cut.
Two cuts. One on each eye.
The cuts were deep- he had one mission in mind.
He wanted you to feel pain, to be afraid-afraid enough to never want to leave.
There was no way you can escape now, not without your eyesight. Yeah, that's right, the cuts will bleed, get infected and he will prohibit you from using medical supplies, you will lose your eyes and then solely depend on him. It was a perfect plan.
Feeling the blood trickle down your face, you try to open your eyes, to reassure yourself that Overhaul wouldn't do this- that even though he was a monster, there was still a hint of Kai in there. He wouldn't go this far.
No.
It hurts to even try to move the muscles on your face. Trying to open your eyes nearly causes you to pass out from the pain. Even with the high pain tolerance that you had built up, the physical and emotional pain was too much. He was punishing you, that you understood. But your mind was still trying to catch up with everything else.
He said... he was dead... and you needed to know the truth.
"Where is he? What did you do to him?!" You shout, ignoring the way your head pounded at the volume of your voice.
It's dark. You can't see anything. But you can sense him, like a sixth sense.
"I told you traitor. You killed him!" He begins to say as he grips your chin again, feeling his nails dig into your skin. "We caught him trying to leave through one of the vents and he's dead. Nothing more than a pile of ashes and it's your fault. He was following your orders and it got him killed."
no no no no no no no no no
What was this feeling? Everything hurt and you couldn't breathe, your chest tightened painfully. This was all wrong. A nightmare. These were your doubts about the plan haunting you. There was no way he could be dead...
In the empty room, you began to cry out for the brother you lost. Sobbing his name over and over again like it'll miraculously bring him back.
"Touya."
Gasping, your sight returns but at what cost?
Standing in the center of a field, there's fires raging on in the background, the scent of death heavy in the air. The ground was reduced to nothing but dirt and pieces of debris. Broken buildings are visible for the corner of your eyes. The area doesn't seem familiar, but it doesn't matter.
What matters is what happens next.
Someone is walking up to you, just a silhouette but the closer it gets, the clearer their features get. It's the man that's haunted you your entire life- Kai Chisaki.
"I always knew you were a monster. I mean, just take a look around. You bring nothing but pain and misery, and those that get close to you die. Your brother, your sister, your dad, your soulmate, your friends... their blood is on your hands."
There is no quirk suppressant. Nothing to hold you back from killing him. And yet, you stand there, frozen in fear, watching him with wide eyes. Any words you tried to say get caught in your throat.
He stops a few feet away as he extends his arms out, in a 'look around you' type of manner.
You don't want to look down because you know whatever you see will break you, it will tear you into a million fucking pieces... but you have to look.
It's enough to bring you to your knees as you fall to the ground.
There's screaming.
So much screaming.
It takes a second for you to realize that it's in fact you screaming. It's your agony cries that echo through the empty battlefield.
Surrounding you were the bodies of everyone you ever cared for. Silver locks of hair. A grey capture weapon. A green suit. Blond hair no longer spiky- instead gelled down with soot and blood.
And it was all your fault.
Your fault.
your
fault
Class 2-A was watching it all unfold from the comfort of their seat. They didn't know what to think. They had been doing this a few times already, majority of them were accustomed to each other's fears. But with the new addition- being you- they weren't expecting anything remotely close to what they witnessed.
Horror flooded their faces.
The quirk allowed them to see it all displayed on the screen from a third person point of view, but it let them feel whatever you were feeling as well.
The gut wrenching pain. The heaviness of grief. The abuse from Overhaul. Your fear of yourself.
They felt it all.
"Get her the fuck out of there!" Bakugo snarled as he stood up from his seat, hands popping with sparks, only to be restricted by Aizawa's capture weapon.
"Sit down."
"What the hell do you mean sit down, my goddamn soulmate is in pain right now and you're not letting me-"
Whatever rant Bakugo was about to go on was cut short as a chair screeched, the jarring noise silencing him. The class turned forward to see you standing up, shoving the counselor's hand away from your forehead. The movements were stiff.
And then you turned around to face them.
Face blank. Mouth set to a straight line. Eyes brimming with tears.
It took Bakugo less than a second to reach you and hold you tight, your face smashed against his chest as your body began to shake. There was no painful sobbing like they witnessed on the screen, but he can feel his shirt dampen with your tears.
Getting confirmation from Aizawa, he begins to gently lead you away from the classroom, only for him to be stopped by someone else.
Todoroki.
"Y/n, your brother's name... it was Touya?"
Bakugo can feel you go rigid in his arms. He was ready to yell at Icy Hot, to ask him in what fucking world was it okay to question you after everything you just experienced. But the look Todoroki had, it was the most vulnerable he's seen the boy ever.
Shifting, your eyes peeked from above Bakugo's arms. They looked so broken, completely exhausted after suffering so much.
"It was."
Turning around, ready to leave the classroom, Todoroki's statement rings clear. "My older brother, his name was Touya too."
"What?" It scratches against your throat, so small and weak.
His eyes stare into yours, and the longer you stare, the more familiar that turquoise eye feels. Realization sinks in.
"The boss took in Touya when he was around 9. Found him scrambling for food, doing some dumpster diving. What caught his attention was the burnt skin, it was getting infected, so he brought him to the warehouse. Feeling in debt, Touya stayed and became one of his prisoners. That's when I met him. We quickly bonded, spending the days training and hiding away from Overhual, he was older than us and was going through a mean teenage phase."
The room was silent as they listened to you speak, but your gaze was strictly on Todoroki, gauging his reaction.
"He was family. Called me his little sister. He rarely spoke of his previous life. Only said that his father threw him away once his younger brother was born. But the damage was done, his father abandoned him and in an emotional outburst, his quirk got out of hand. When he gained conscious, it was all over the news. He was declared dead. That's all he ever said about his family, he said that they turned their backs on him, and that he never wanted to go back. That he was going to build a family of his own. And he did."
You watched as the boy took a step back, flinching as you retold his family's past. Touya's death was a taboo topic in his household, no one ever spoke of him, and there was never any sign that he even existed. In fact, Todoroki barely had any memories of his older brother.
"He was my brother, and always will be. And I miss him everyday. I'm sorry that you're finding out about him like this."
Bakugo was ready to drag you away from all of this crap, he should've known better. It had only been a little over a month since you've been free and your life in the warehouse still haunted you. But instead of walking out of the room with him like he had originally planned, a gentle shake of your head told him that you wanted to stay instead.
It was the least you could do. It wouldn't be fair of you to leave in the middle of everything. This was meant to help you get better and help you feel closer to your classmates.
You had to take a leap of faith here and live with the discomfort of being vulnerable.
Rather than letting you return to the beanbag by Jirou, Bakugo dragged you to his seat. Plopping down, he pat his lap as he nodded up to you. The logical side of you should say no, thinking it was inappropriate to sit on his lap during class, especially when your father was literally a few feet away.
But you were still dealing with the emotional aftermath of the quirk.
So fuck the logical side.
Getting comfortable, you sat on his lap, resting your head against his chest as one of his arms loosely wrapped itself around your waist.
Before the class could move forward, Todoroki was still seeking answers. He needed to know more. He spent his entire life growing up hating his father, hating that he was born as his 'perfect creation.' And now there was another reason to hate him- his father drove away his brother, a brother he would never get to know because this time, his brother was actually dead.
Todoroki didn't know how to feel.
"Was he happy?"
Pausing the fiddling you were doing with Bakugo's hands, you look up slowly, your eyes twinged red as the crying finally stopped.
"Absolutely."
...
The class was feeling the effects of their therapy session with the counselor. It felt like someone had scrubbed their soul, leaving it raw and vulnerable. In times like these, nobody wanted to be alone. And so when lunch came around, the class managed to snatch two tables together, having everybody squeeze into the tight space. The feeling of being surrounded by friends who would gladly take a bullet for you was comforting.
Seated next to your soulmate, the nightmares that have been plaguing you all day subsided, leaving you behind with a blank mind.
On the opposite end of the table, classmates began to whisper with each other, concerned about you.
"Guys, do you think Y/n will be okay? After what happened today? We all remember how bad the first time was right?" Jirou whispered lowly, causing a few heads to come close together to listen.
The first time they went through with this form of counseling didn't end so well- it ended with the entire class piled together in the common room, all sleep deprived with bloodshot eyes.
"We're not going to talk about what we saw in her nightmares? Or the fact that Todoroki and Y/n share the same brother?"
Murmurs erupted as they glanced over to you before looking away.
"Poor Y/n," Uraraka mumbled, pity coating her words. "I can't imagine what she's going through."
"We can always talk to her later, but I think we should let her be for now." Sero stated as he pointed his chin towards where you were seated.
Those that were whispering, stopped to look at what Sero was pointing out.
They had all expected you to be moping, to be distant and cold. That's how many of them were at the beginning, refusing to interact with anybody until the shock left.
And yet, the scene before them was far from what they expected.
You were tossing some grapes up towards Bakugo, who made it his personal mission to catch as many as possible. A rebellious grape ended up missing Bakugo's mouth, instead getting stuck in one of his big ass nostrils.
The fact that it happened caused you to immediately start laughing- and when Bakugo tried to get angry and yell, the grape flew out of his nostril and landed on his half-eaten plate of food- causing him to immediately whine about his food.
This action only caused you to laugh harder, to the point where you were hunched over, your shoulders shaking and tears of joy leaked out of the corner of your eyes.
Their gazes snapped up to Bakugo. They watched as he forgot about his grape-snot infected food, instead occupied with watching you, your laughter so infectious that it caused a small grin to appear on his face.
"Yeah... I think Y/n will be alright, she has Bakugo."