Shinso opened the door.
He frowned.
"Who's there, Shinso?!" Uraraka called from across the room.
Shinso tore his gaze away from the empty space before him, "...No one – I don't see anyone here," he replied, his brow furrowed.
"I definitely heard a knock..." Jiro muttered to no one in particular.
"As did I," Shoji nodded to her.
Shinso shook his head – maybe all these board games were getting to their heads. Or perhaps someone had decided to do a prank – knock on the underneath of a table to grab their attentions or something – maybe it really was a member of class 1-B, knocking and then fleeing in fits of giggles.
Shinso sighed and went to close the door again. It had been a long night. He was looking forward to it being over now.
But then something stopped the door from closing.
Shinso hesitated.
He stepped outside a little – was someone hiding behind the door?
Cautiously, he let go of the door, and let this hidden someone pull it, slowly but surely, further open.
And when Shinso saw the nervous, shivering person behind – well, he didn't know what to feel.
______________________
Finally, it was over.
Midoriya watched Shinso's face morph across every emotion in the Human spectrum.
The chain slipped out from under his sleeve as he lifted his arm to wave hello. He vaguely acknowledged Eri's hand slipping from his own, in favour of hiding behind his leg and hugging it tightly. But right now, all he could really focus on was the moment he'd been dreaming of for the past half a month –
The reunion.
Midoriya's hand hovered there for a moment as Shinso just stared. His hands were over his mouth. He shook his head and took a few steps back in disbelief.
Midoriya had been rather scared, at second thought. Was he in the right place? What would they say, even if he was? What would they do? He'd backed away as the door creaked open. His heart was beating far too fast too be healthy as he ducked out of sight, pulling Eri along with him. But when he heard Shinso's voice – well, he couldn't just stay hidden any longer.
He felt the tears welling at his eyes as he lifted his other hand to finally communicate properly with someone, [It's good to see you] was what he signed to his friend.
"Err, Shinso?" someone called from inside the new dorm building. "Is everything ok?"
But Shinso didn't bother answering them.
Midoriya hesitated, unsure of what to do, [Sorry for interrupting but I –]
He didn't finish, because Shinso didn't let him. And now it was even harder to stop himself from crying, because Shinso most certainly was – over his shoulder as he hugged him tightly.
"Shinso?!" someone else yelled after him.
Shinso suddenly let go of Midoriya, walking backwards into the dorms with his hands pulling at his hair, still staring at Midoriya.
"What's going on?" the class, hidden just out of Midoriya's sight, persisted to question.
Again, Shinso didn't reply, but instead, broke into a brilliant smile and swore at the top of his voice, "No, no, no – this isn't happening. No freaking WAY!"
After a moment of shocked silence, Midoriya couldn't help but laugh.
Shinso tried to rub the tears away from his eyes, but to no avail, "D-Don't laugh at me you bastard."
But he didn't stop; he was just so happy.
And the moment got even better – when from around the corner, a little creature rocketed towards him, stopping inches from Midoriya's face and chirped loudly.
'Siren!' he thought with an unbridled glee. Midoriya held his hands out for her to land upon and stroked the top of her tiny head with his finger fondly.
It wasn't long before curiosity got the better of class 1-A, but the first around the corner to peer out the door, was Kaminari.
His jaw practically dropped to the ground, "Holy smokes – Canary?!"
"WHAT?!" was the chorus from within the dorms.
There was the sound of scraping chairs and the thunder of footsteps, as Kaminari reached out and pulled Midoriya inside, with Eri scampering along behind him nervously.
Midoriya turned around and closed the doors. He didn't know why – but the feeling of having them shut behind him was somewhat... comforting.
"CANARY!" Jiro cried. She was the next to literally throw herself in Midoriya's direction, being a little less secretive about her sobs. Midoriya was forced to toss Siren into the air so she wouldn't be squished between them.
There was a mixture of reactions across the class. Of course, Midoriya still didn't really know all of them incredibly well, since he never had the chance to spend much time with them during the summer camp, but his sudden appearance still seemed to have quite the effect on them.
Whilst others hung back, mouths agape, many began to cry. Shinso seemed so distraught that he was now sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. Jiro's mascara had started to run down her face already, but she didn't seem to take any notice. Iida had to hold onto the side of the kitchen counter as he hung his head, also crying. Then there was Uraraka, who had joined in on what was becoming a group hug now, sobbing almost as loudly as Jiro, if that were possible. Then there was Todoroki, who just stood there, too shocked to move. Kacchan seemed to be doing the same, standing right at the back of the group and staring.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Shinso eventually screamed as the others began to pull away from the embrace. He grasped Midoriya's shoulders and repeated those words, "What. The. Hell?"
Midoriya just sniffed loudly, his vision blurry as he waved hello again.
But then Shinso's eyes zeroed in on the chain on his wrist. He backed away a little. "O-Ok, let's... let's get that off –"
Iida walked over and put one hand on Midoriya's shoulder, "I'm going to find Mr Aizawa. They were having a staff meeting."
Midoriya nodded – but didn't let him go without a quick hug too.
Iida's glasses were all steamed up as he left, taking off at a run with the aid of his Quirk.
"Come on," Shinso insisted, grabbing his arm to lead him towards the seating area – the dorms seemed quite nice. But they didn't get that far, because Midoriya pulled away as he met Eri's worried gaze, as she still hung onto his leg.
Midoriya pointed down at her, and the gases of his classmates slowly lowered to her level.
"Who is...?" began Mina, before trailing off.
Yaoyorozu crouched down to her. Eri backed away a little, hiding behind Midoriya.
"Hello there," said Yaoyorozu, "and who might you be?"
Eri was hesitant – glancing up at Midoriya, who gave her a swift nod. "E-Eri," she stammered.
"Hello, Eri," Yaoyorozu smiled, "I'm Yaoyorozu – but you can call me Momo."
Eri held her hands close to her chest as she glanced between them all. It was probably a little overwhelming for her. "A-Are you Canary's friends?"
Yaoyorozu blinked at her, "Y-Yes. Yes, we are."
Eri pointed up at Midoriya determinedly, "H-He needs help. He's hurt; he can't talk... I-I-I can't h-help him..."
There was a moment of silence as either the others tried to deduce what she meant or frowned at Midoriya with worry. Of course, they could have easily concluded that he wasn't talking because, well, he often didn't anyways – but the bandages sticking out underneath his surgical mask was a bit of a giveaway for those who were capable of noticing them, despite their debilitating emotions.
"Can we just..." Shinso started, rubbing the rest of the tears away from his eyes, "Can we just sit down? Y-You need to explain – please."
Midoriya picked at his bandages nervously as he nodded. Honestly, he'd been so focused on getting to UA, that he hadn't at all considered what would happen after this initial wave of relief.
So, the class cautiously started to migrate back to the sitting area. Midoriya followed them whilst making sure Eri was coming too. He did notice he hadn't ended up taking his shoes off, but even as he swerved to turn around and do just that, Shinso grabbed a hold of his shoulders again and steered him towards a sofa, plonking him right in the middle.
Eri, a little confused about the whole ordeal, ended up sitting with Yaoyorozu on the armchair next to the sofa.
"I can't believe you're here," Jiro wheezed as she accepted a tissue from Yaoyorozu, dabbing at her running makeup, only to make it worse. "W-We thought you were dead," she wept, sitting down next to him, on the other side to Shinso.
Midoriya cocked his head to one side. Well, it was expected, of course – Overhaul had thought the same thing. But then there was what Midoriya had heard over the radio...
So, with singing being something beyond his current capabilities, he resorted to the next best thing, and he hummed the chorus of the song he'd heard her sing, staring at the ceiling and swinging his legs back and forth as he did so, trying not to think about what else had happened on the day that this music had reached his ears.
"You... heard?" Uraraka realised, her hands over her mouth.
Midoriya smiled beneath his mask and nodded.
"They gave you a radio..." Todoroki concluded, retrieving a discarded cup of coffee from the side of the – hey, is that Siren's nest?
Midoriya picked it up as the bird in question finished her loop-de-loops around the room and settled down in it.
"Midoriya –" He turned his head back to Shinso – his face was all red and his eyes bloodshot after his tears, "How did you get here?"
"Oh!" he exclaimed, passing the nest to Shinso and delving into his pockets again to reveal his phone. He carefully removed the ruined device from the case, and then flashed the three cards hidden behind it to the others.
Shinso took each of them from him in turn, frowning at them. "You got into UA with your ID... No, I-I got that but just... How – How...?"
Midoriya blinked at him for a moment, before pointing to his train card once more.
He stared at him, "You took the train?!"
Midoriya let out a small laugh and nodded.
"But from where?" questioned Todoroki, perching on the arm of the sofa, beside Shinso.
"Um..." Midoriya started, [About an hour from UA]
"You were an hour away?!" Shinso exclaimed.
"You were so close..." Jiro realised, covering her face with her hands again. "But no one ever found you..." she sobbed.
Midoriya just hugged her again – hopefully conveying that it was ok.
"W-We need to get that chain off," Jiro insisted after feeling the cold metal against her skin.
"Right," Shinso nodded, "Err... how do we do that?"
"I can do it," insisted Todoroki. He hurried forwards and examined the cuff. "Sato, I'm going to melt through the metal, and then freeze it as soon as I can so it won't hurt Midoriya – can you pull it apart as I do this?"
Sato, with the strength enhancing ability, nodded confidently. He pulled a singular sugar cube from his pocket – the fuel for his power, as he stepped forwards and grasped the sides of the metal, "Ok, go now!"
Todoroki's left hand glowed with fire as he carefully begun to heat the metal.
In a slight fear that it would accidently burn him, Midoriya winced and looked away. But after a surprising increase in temperature, quickly followed by a drop so drastic that he let out a gasp – there was the distinct sound of snapping metal. The cuff fractured and fell into two clean pieces, breaking at where Todoroki had melted into it, and through the seam on the other side. Once free, Midoriya rubbed at the skin that had been hidden under it in utter relief. Todoroki took the chain out of Midoriya's sight – and he was happy for it.
There were a few minutes of silence after that, whilst everyone exchanged nervous whispers, tried to comfort Midoriya or just stood there, lost in their thoughts.
"How did you get away from them?" that was Kacchan. Everyone turned to stare at him for a moment, a strange mixture of emotions on their expressions.
Midoriya tried to ignore it as he turned to Shinso to sign an explanation, relishing in the improved mobility of his wrist, [I've gotten out quite a few times, actually. This was just the only time I got lucky enough for it to be successful]
"You've gotten out before?" was all Shinso translated. "How many times?"
"Err..." Midoriya frowned, thinking back to how many times he'd managed to flee, including that night's happenings, [Six, I believe]
"You got out six times?"
"But... What made this time any different?" questioned Mina. She was curled up on the sofa opposite him now, in her pyjamas, the wet on her cheeks making her pink skin glisten strangely in the light.
Midoriya nodded towards the little, rag-clad girl by Yaoyorozu, "Eri," he managed; it was a nice, simple name. [I had to get her out]
Another, brief moment of silence followed. It was Mina who broke it with a cry of frustration through her heavy sobs. Midoriya flinched dramatically at it as she spoke.
"Oh, come on, please – speak to us!" Mina begged. "I-I know you find it hard sometimes, and I understand b-but y-you're saying bits and pieces and I just want to understand what –"
"Don't force him," Shinso snapped protectively.
"I'm not!" protested Mina.
"But... he can't..." Everyone turned back to Eri, "He can't speak..." she whispered, trailing off as she gazed into Midoriya's eyes.
"Midoriya – what happened?" asked Todoroki, wavering with his question, as he glanced between him and Shinso, as if unsure if asking was pushing any limits.
Midoriya hesitated – he didn't want to make them worry...
"Your face," interjected Kacchan, walking a little closer to him, but still hovering at the edge of the group. He glanced at the others as their stares returned to him. He ended up focusing his gaze on Midoriya, "Shigaraki... did something to you – back at Kamino."
Midoriya had almost forgotten that Kacchan had seen it happen. He was just so relieved to see that he really had made it out ok – that everyone had – him included. However, there was still one, rather major problem...
Shinso turned back to him with wide eyes, "Can you... speak at all?"
Midoriya did nothing for a moment but stare back at him, a lump rising in his throat. His hand twitched at the thought of reaching up and undoing his bandages, to show them all what had really happened, but... he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he just lowered his head, staring at his feet.
He should have taken his shoes off – he'd traipsed some mud in with him...
In the corner of his eye, he saw Shinso hesitantly reach out to pat him on the shoulder or something – but he decided against it; his hand just hovered there instead.
Midoriya didn't even realise he was crying until he saw the tears drip down onto his shoes.
It was in that moment that the front door was thrown open again. Midoriya didn't look up; he only heard it; saw when Mr Aizawa's black boots appear before him, and he crouched down to look him in the eyes.
Midoriya tried not to reach his gaze, simply staring unblinkingly at the floor.
The others tried to explain to him in hushed voices what had happened. Midoriya paid little attention.
"Midoriya, we're going to go up to Recovery Girl," Mr Aizawa insisted after a moment, "and we'll see where we go from there."
He stood up again and, with more confidence than Shinso, put his hand on Midoriya's shoulder, pulling him to his feet firmly. But before they went any further, Mr Aizawa sighed and knelt down again, positioning himself so he was right in Midoriya's line of vision.
"Alright there, Problem Child?" it was a trivial question. Of course, he wasn't alright – how could he be? He had been so happy to be back; to be out; to be safe – but... now? Now, it had really dawned on him – nothing would ever be the same again.
Midoriya nodded.
Siren flew from her nest, that Shinso had moved from his lap at some point, and landed on top of Midoriya's head. He smiled, trying to push all these negative thoughts away for just a little longer.
Eri hurried over to him, grasping his hand again as Mr Aizawa led them back towards the door. He opened it, letting the cool night air drift inside.
There was a nagging thought in the back of Midoriya's mind –
Stay here – here is safe – don't go outside – don't go outside!
"Shinso," Mr Aizawa called, and Midoriya blinked, tearing his eyes away from the open door and back to his teacher. "You know sign language, could you come with us for a while?"
"Of course," Shinso replied, seemingly trying to keep the enthusiasm out of his tone as he hurried over to them and pulled on his shoes.
Midoriya waved goodbye to the others glumly as he left, and Eri did too.
"Wait!" Uraraka suddenly called. She ran forwards, tapping something into her flip phone – which she promptly thrust into Midoriya's free hand. "I've taken the passcode off – I-I know it's not a great phone, but this way you can talk to us!"
Midoriya smiled and gently tucked the pink device into his hoody pocket, only to be painfully reminded that the jumper used to belong to whichever villain through it at him when he got too cold in just a T-shirt and shorts. Honestly, he was rather looking forward to disposing of it. Maybe just straight up burning it...
[Thank you] he signed, something that Uraraka had come to recognise over the amount of times that he had used the sign for her.
And after one last hug, he left them behind again, and trudged back down that path, all the way to the main UA building.
Glancing over his shoulder a few times, he could see them all at the door, silhouetted against the warm light of the dorms, watching him leave as quickly as he'd arrived.
They were silent as they walked. Eri was almost jogging to keep up at times. Her little legs were taking far too many strides to just one of Midoriya's, and he was shorter than both Mr Aizawa and Shinso, who insisted on moving at a rather fast pace towards Recovery Girl's office, not that Midoriya minded much.
Consequently, they arrived rather quickly, and Mr Aizawa knocked hastily on the door.
"I told Recovery Girl that she might need to be expecting us," he explained as they heard her footsteps approach the door, "But Iida didn't explain that the problem at 1-A was you until we were about halfway there."
The door swung open, only to reveal the short stature of yet another kind face that Midoriya was more than happy to see again.
"Oh dear," were Recovery Girl's first words to him since the Sports Festival. "What a pleasant surprise!" she continued after an awkward minute of shocked silence between the group. "Come in, come in!"
Midoriya urged Eri to be checked over first, lifting her up onto the bed as Midoriya sat down beside her.
"And what would your name be?" questioned Recovery Girl. Midoriya admired her ability to remain so calm.
"E-Eri," she stammered.
"How old are you, Eri?"
She hesitated, as if unsure, "S-Six..."
"Oh! A big strong girl like you must already have her Quirk already then," the nurse smiled, reaching out to unravel the bandages on Eri's arms.
But Eri flinched and pulled away, shuffling back towards Midoriya. "M-M-My Quirk is b-bad," she whimpered.
Midoriya blinked at her. He hadn't actually considered why Overhaul had her captive in the first place, but he was pretty convinced it wasn't because she was his daughter. Could it have been to do with her Quirk – whatever it was? He frowned; Overhaul had been very protective over Eri when she appeared before Midoriya – but not in a good way. She must have been an integral part of his plans...
"Midoriya, where did Eri come from?" Mr Aizawa interrogated.
Eager to explain, Midoriya turned to Shinso, [Be careful what you translate; I don't want to frighten her]
Shinso nodded.
[I don't know who Eri is; I only met her today] Midoriya continued. [I had tried to flee, but ultimately failed, until she ran into me. She was running from a second group of villains – other than the League. They'd had some... clashes – whilst I was with them. It didn't end well. I didn't trust them, and the League didn't either. There was a fight and Eri was scared; I used the confusion to escape with her]
With a frown and another nod, Shinso turned to Mr Aizawa and Recovery Girl and repeated everything he thought necessary, which was a good majority of it, but as promised, was cautious enough with his wording as to not set Eri off.
"We'll have to settle this matter at another time, with the police," Mr Aizawa sighed, "You too, Midoriya. I have a feeling you have a rather long story to tell."
Midoriya gulped and nodded, not feeling too keen to tell it.
Recovery Girl turned to Midoriya, "Now then, how are you feeling, young man? Is anything the matter physically?"
Midoriya twiddled his thumbs together, avoiding her gaze.
"He can't speak," Eri piped up. "He's hurt."
"Ok then, dearie – shall we take a look? It's your mouth, yes?"
Midoriya glanced over at Shinso. He wasn't sure if he wanted him to see just yet. But...
[You might not want to let Bluebird see this] Midoriya signed.
"Blue –" he began, but then glanced at Eri. Her petite figure and the blue-grey colour of her hair. Shinso smiled, despite it all. He turned to Mr Aizawa and whispered Midoriya's request to him.
"You like cats, Eri?" Mr Aizawa said, raising an eyebrow.
"...Cats?" Eri repeated with a frown.
"Come on, let's see some pictures of my cat. His name's Sushi." And so, Mr Aizawa took Eri's hand and led her to the other side of the office, pulling across a pale blue curtain to separate them from the rest of the group. The quite chatter between him and Eri filled the background.
Midoriya sighed and lifted his hands to his face, keeping an eye on Shinso the entire time. He took off his surgical mask and tossed it to one side, before picking at the bandages, finally locating an end, and slowly but surely, undoing them...
Recovery Girl took one look and then turned around to locate a torch. Shinso just stared.
Midoriya had his eyes closed now – refusing to take in the expression on Shinso's face for a moment longer. He felt... weirdly ashamed by it.
"Ok, Midoriya," Recovery Girl continued, "This looks surprisingly clean – not infected at all. That's good to see. Does it hurt much when you move your mouth?"
It did, from time to time. But Midoriya just shrugged.
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it," Recovery Girl sighed, turning off her torch now that she had done examining the darkened corners of his closed mouth. "It is fortunately something that could be fixed after surgery, and you will be able to speak again without any problem."
Midoriya shook his head, tears brimming at his eyes. He pointed back at his mouth and opened it slowly.
Frowning, Recovery Girl turned her torch back on and peered inside. "Ah," was all she said initially.
Midoriya had his eyes shut tight, refusing to open them to see the reactions on their faces. Because he could hear Shinso's sharp inhalation. He knew he had seen it too – the state of his tongue.
"Yes, that could... prove a little more problematic," Recovery Girl admitted after clearing her throat.
Midoriya closed his mouth, and cautiously opened his eyes. He took one look at the horror across Shinso's expression and had to avert them again.
Midoriya reached for his surgical mask again to hide his wounds, only for Recovery Girl to snatch it off him and toss it in a bin. She rummaged through her drawers and replaced it with a new one, coloured light blue. "It defeats the purpose if it's not clean," she insisted.
He nodded and pulled it over his head, tucking the straps behind his ears. This one was bigger; it fit better, and concealed the entirety of his damaged cheek, without having to use bandages to cover the rest of it up.
"Mr Aizawa?" Recovery Girl called out.
He pulled the curtain aside instantly.
"I'm going to contact the hero hospital. He may have to stay there for a few days," she explained.
Mr Aizawa nodded as Eri hurried back over to Midoriya.
"He has a cat and he's big and fluffy," she announced. Her enthusiasm was apparent, yet she lacked a smile on her face. It was like she was stating a fact, more than just being excited about a cute cat.
Midoriya smiled for her and nodded.
"Can... I show you?" she asked.
Midoriya nodded again as she shuffled up beside her. Mr Aizawa sighed as he handed over his phone so Eri could flick through the pictures contently.
For the next... however long it was, that was all they did – look at cats. Shinso sat next to them too – and the thought of the future was lost to the backs of their minds.
Mr Aizawa had announced that he would leave them in the care of Recovery Girl whilst he went and explained the situation to the rest of the teachers. So, perhaps Midoriya should have expected what happened next.
The door creaked open again. Midoriya thought it was just Mr Aizawa returning. He looked up, expecting him to say that their transport to the hospital was here and that he would need his phone back, but instead –
"Hey there, little co-host..."
– It was Present Mic.
They stared at each other for a moment.
Midoriya smiled and waved at him, [Hello, Cockatoo] he signed whilst trying not to cry.
And gradually, a smile spread across his teacher's face.
"Ok," sighed Mr Aizawa, "Since Mic knows sign, he'll be accompanying Midoriya and Eri to the hospital."
"Wait, can't I come too?" protested Shinso as he got to his feet.
Mr Aizawa hesitated, taking his phone back off his student, "I'm sorry, Shinso, but... this is serious. There needs to be a police investigation and, from what it sounds like, maybe even surgery. You'll have to stay here."
"Come on, C-Canary!" Present Mic exclaimed, reaching forwards to grab his shoulder. Which is when he broke down – the tears seeping out from underneath his hero costume's sunglasses.
Midoriya just grinned sadly and hugged the hero.
"I'm sorry we couldn't save you," he whispered.
Midoriya just buried his face in his jacket, unable to reply. He... wasn't sure if he could have thought of what to say, even if he could.
"Let's go," Present Mic insisted after a moment longer, patting Midoriya on the back.
And so, not long after he had arrived, Midoriya left UA in the back of an ambulance, an unease brewing within him. Perhaps it was just paranoia, but from the window, he could have sworn he saw faces in the shadows – familiar ones, waiting for him.
"Canary," Present Mic rested his hand on Midoriya's shoulder; it made him flinch. "Hey, it's alright; you're safe now!"
Midoriya glanced over at Eri –
Thoughts of a dangerous Quirk – a man who used it to his advantage. Then of that bullet... the golden ones fired at Magne and Compress not so long ago – those which erased Quirks.
He raised his hand to his cheek, his exposed teeth brushing against the inside of the new surgical mask. He thought of the man who took his voice; his power; his future...
No –
– this wasn't over yet.