It took Izuku three seconds to react. One second to realize what Uraraka had just told him, another to notice her sobbing hysterically and a third to figure out that he was supposed to console her when she was crying on his shoulder. Slowly, his brain started functioning again and he tentatively put his arms around her and pulled her closer so she wasn't hanging on him. Given their position, she was halfway sitting on his lap with her head buried in his chest as sobs wracked through her body.
Other than his mom, Izuku had never comforted another crying person before. In the Midoriya household, crying was used to express feelings both good and bad, and he and his mother often cried together. This situation was so different from anything he had experienced before, so the poor boy was at a loss for what he could do to comfort Uraraka. For now, he could only hold her as she cried. Hesitating slightly, Izuku gently rubbed circles on her back to soothe her. He remembered his mother doing the same for him when he was a child, and she would even speak words of comfort in a soothing voice, so naturally, he tried to do the same thing.
Ochaco had lost all control of herself and she had to let out all her pent out frustrations. She felt powerless. She had been robbed of her quirk and she had never felt so vulnerable before. Recalling the events from earlier that day did nothing to calm her down, it just made her cry harder onto Deku's chest. She faintly registered that she was getting tears and snot all over his shirt, but she didn't care about that right now. She wanted to scream until her lungs burst and she wanted to be stronger and not feel so goddamn miserable. She wanted to be able to stand proud and show everyone that she was strong and capable, but it was impossible when she was so weak.
How could she become a hero and help others when she couldn't help herself? Her quirk had been taken away from her and she could do nothing. A part of her was missing and she could only cry. She felt so empty, like a shell of herself. So she cried. She cried and cried until there were no more tears left in her. Ochaco didn't know how long she spent crying, she only knew that Deku stayed with her through it all. It could have been an hour or it could have been ten minutes, she just knew he was there, holding her close and not letting go. Not once did he stop rubbing her back and he didn't stop muttering comforting words either, unless she spoke.
All of the horrible thoughts and feelings she had been suppressing came rushing out of her and she poured her heart out to him, telling him about her doubts and fears. She admitted feeling lost and not knowing if she was strong enough to continue. Her heart ached so much from all her negative feelings, but she was finally letting them all out and Midoriya just sat there and listened, his hold on her tightening once in a while.
"I'm s-sorry! I'm sorry!" She hiccupped against his soaked chest. She felt horrible for ruining his shirt, but crying had released so much of her tension and she was finally able to breathe again. Her eyes burned and her face felt wet.
"Don't worry. It's not your fault." She didn't know if he meant soaking his shirt in her bodily fluids or the whole mess they were in. It didn't matter anyway, Ochaco just wanted to hear those words. That it wasn't her fault and that it was okay to be afraid.
"I was so scared." She whispered hoarsely. Fear had been one of the feelings she had been overwhelmed by ever since waking up at the hospital. When she woke up among the beeping machines and nurses bustling around her, a terrible fear gripped at her heart and she instantly knew that something was wrong.
"Yeah." Midoriya breathed next to her ear and made her lift her head. She looked up at him somewhat fearfully. His hand came to a rest on her back, but his eyes were alert.
"Deku-kun, what if I've l-lost my quirk?" Ochaco stammered, letting fear engulf her once more. The question had burned in the back of her mind for hours, but she had refused to acknowledge it. Now, she couldn't stop herself.
"I'm sure it will return eventually, Uraraka-san. You'll just have to believe in your own power." Izuku reasoned and brought a hand up to wipe away some stray tears. She whimpered a little and hid her face in his chest once more, which left Izuku to stroke the top of her head. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Ochaco finally calmed down. She decided that she would let herself indulge in this moment of selfishness, before picking herself back up. After all, she couldn't do it by herself.
"They told me to report to Ryukyu and the doctors tomorrow morning." She finally pulled back and looked up at him. She was sure her face was messed up, but she also knew it didn't matter to Izuku. He still kept one of his arms loosely around her, now that she was sitting next to him.
"I'll go with you if you want." The freckled boy offered. He felt her take some deep breaths and nod once. Ochaco swiped at her eyes with her sleeve and sighed loudly.
"Man, I feel so much better after getting all that out!" She claimed and leaned her head on Izuku's shoulder. They boy seemed lost in thought for a moment, but then leaned his head ever so lightly down, so their heads were touching. Ochaco was still feeling woozy, so she closed her eyes to stop her head from spinning. She inhaled deeply and let it all out again a couple of times, before addressing him again.
"Thank you for listening." She whispered and nudged him lightly with her shoulder, which caused their heads to knock together slightly. Izuku just smiled at the gesture of affection.
"Thank you for telling me." He replied softly and nuzzled her head with his own. He was happy he had helped her let out her feelings and that she had leaned on him as support. Wait, leaned on him. It was only then he realized how close they were sitting and how much of their bodies were touching each other and he stopped breathing. Uraraka was pressed flush against his side. Her leg was aligned with his, their arms were pressed together and her head was resting on his shoulder.
"I'll also have to tell Tsuyu-chan that I'm fine." Ochaco suppressed a yawn and lifted her head from his shoulder to look for her cell phone. She got up from the floor, still a little shaky and grabbed the phone, quickly texting her friend. She didn't notice her friend had frozen beside her.
Izuku was finally able to breathe again and frantically tried to calm himself and stop his face from turning red. It was a lost cause and he knew it. Uraraka had sat back down on her bed and this time a yawn escaped her.
"Who knew crying could be so tiring?" She asked sheepishly, but it gave Izuku the perfect opportunity to make his escape. He quickly got up from the floor and started putting the now empty bowls back onto the tray. Uraraka looked at him with curiosity as he retreated back towards the door.
"R-right, you m-m-must be tired after the day you've had, I'll be going now! G-goodnight!" He fumbled with the doorknob but was eventually able to open the door, his face burning up.
"Goodnight?" He faintly heard Uraraka call after him as he slammed the door shut and made a beeline for the elevator. Once inside, Izuku spent a good five minutes just breathing and getting his heart rate down, before he pressed the button for the first floor. He had hugged a girl! And she had cried on his shoulder... That was normal right? For friends to comfort each other? It wasn't like they had done anything wrong, so why was his heart beating so fast? Wait... was he even a virgin anymore?!
"Midoriya!" Kirishima startled him out of his thoughts and Izuku nearly dropped the tray in his hands.
"Wah! We didn't do anything! We're just friends I swear!" Izuku panicked and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. He hadn't even noticed when he had reached the kitchen, having been on autopilot the entire way down. Kirishima just looked at him, puzzled.
"Right. How is Uraraka? Did she eat?" The redhead asked and helped Izuku load the dirty dished into the dishwasher. Living in a dorm full of teenagers had made Izuku appreciate the technological wonder and he had found himself respecting his mother even more for always handling chores by herself.
"Yeah. She really liked it and said thank you. She's resting now." Izuku explained as they cleared out from the kitchen. Kirishima had been the only one in the kitchen but a few of the others were still hanging around the lounge area. They had stopped walking halfway to the sofas, where the rest were hanging out.
"That's good. After you left, Tsuyu-chan told us that she had been injured earlier. She looked really worried." Kirishima told him. He rarely saw the frog-like girl display so many emotions. She was usually so calm and collected – especially in moments of crisis.
"She'll be fine." Izuku tried to convince him. He was pretty sure Asui hadn't told him the extent of the injuries, but he was glad to see that Kirishima still cared.
"I hope she gets better soon. Otherwise she might end up having to take supplementary lessons with the rest of us." Izuku knew Kirishima said it out of concern for her, but it still shocked him that he was so blunt. Had Uraraka's grades been slipping these past couple of weeks? She hadn't mentioned anything, but maybe she had forgotten or was just embarrassed. Or maybe she had too much on her plate to concentrate on her grades.
"I saw the results on her quiz by accident and it was a lot lower than normal." The redhead elaborated. He must have seen the confused look on Izuku's face. He crossed his arms behind his head and sighed.
"I see. I think she'll manage somehow." Izuku put a hand to his chin as he thought it over. He had noticed that Uraraka had seemed unfocused in class, but he didn't know that her grades had suffered from it. He'd ask tomorrow when they went to her checkup.
"Outta the way, Deku." Kacchan's gruff voice sounded behind him and Izuku moved out of habit. He hadn't noticed the blonde approaching, but he was too busy thinking about Uraraka's situation to give it more thought. He didn't even notice the odd look he received from Kacchan as he passed him.
Kirishima raised an eyebrow as Midoriya wordlessly moved away from Bakugo. Usually he would at least try to interact with the angry teenager, but lately it had seemed like the freckled teen had a lot on his mind. Eijiro wasn't much for prying, but sometimes this hopeless looked came over Midoriya like he was desperately trying to forget something that still haunted him. The redhead had tried to reach out to him before, but since Midoriya hadn't asked for his help, he guessed that the other boy was holding up fine.
Eijiro might have been slow on the uptake, but he was by no means stupid. He knew that Midoriya and Uraraka were displaying signs of, well not necessarily PTSD, but something along those lines. No one had opened up and talked about it, but he could see the cracks in the masks his classmates wore. What he didn't understand was why no one wanted to talk about it or get help. They had been through hell. They didn't have their childish innocence any longer; they couldn't pretend that everything was fine. Maybe they should inform Aizawa-sensei? He didn't get to discuss it with Midoriya, since the green-haired teen muttered something about studying and going to bed soon.
Kirishima stared after him long after he disappeared. Midoriya was probably the best candidate to help everyone else in their class. The boy possessed a certain conviction and he had easily earned everyone's trust during these past few months. All in all, he was pretty reliable and his observational skills were extraordinary, so there was no way he hadn't noticed the signs of stress and wasn't thinking up some sort of solution. The redhead decided to give it a few more days. He wouldn't get anything out of rushing him. He just hoped it was the right thing to do.
The next morning Izuku had woken up when he received a text from Uraraka saying her quirk had returned. She had been ecstatic and so relieved when they met in front of the dorm. Her eyes had still been puffy and she had once again apologized for ruining his shirt.
"Did you sleep alright?" Izuku had asked her after they had walked for a while. She had nodded and told him that she only woke up once that night.
"And I drank lots of water so I didn't get dehydrated!" She told him as cheerfully as she could. He would have believed that she was back to her usual self had it not been for the dark circles under her eyes as well as all the cuts and bruises. She also couldn't walk at her usual fast pace, which was another thing to consider. Her health had improved by a bit and she had eaten breakfast and wasn't nauseous any longer.
They took the train to the station nearest the hospital where Uraraka had been sent the previous say. Once they were inside, Uraraka was ushered away by the nurses and Izuku shown to the waiting area where he sat down in the most comfortable chair he could spot. The spot he chose was pretty much empty, so Izuku could think without disturbing others.
He had spent a good part of the night tossing and turning while replaying his conversation with Uraraka. After coming to terms with the fact that he had instinctively hugged her when she needed comfort, he had thought about all the things she had told him. She had been suffering quietly for so long, and he was just happy she had opened up about her feelings. Still, it had been so hard to listen to her desperate cries when she thought her quirk was lost for good. He had so badly wanted to tell her that he knew how it felt and tell her about his past, but he had to grit his teeth and focus on the girl in his arms.
What she had needed was reassurance that she was going to be okay, she didn't need to make her feel worse by telling about his own misery. He would, eventually tell her more about his childhood, but for now, he stuck with the same explanation everyone else had gotten. That his quirk manifested extremely late and therefore was hard to control for him. Izuku longed for the day he could be honest about everything, but he also knew it would jeopardize every relationship he had, and he would never allow that.
Izuku had been sitting for close to an hour when Uraraka returned followed by a nurse and Ryukyu. She bid them farewell before walking over to where he was sitting. She looked a little better than when they had arrived. Some of the color had returned to her cheeks and she was walking more steadily. Izuku figured one of the nurses had a quirk similar to Recovery Girl and had used it on her.
"Are you ready to go back?" He asked as they gathered their belongings and got ready to head out. Uraraka nodded and hoisted her bag up on her shoulder. They had notified their teachers about the checkup and had gotten the morning periods off. They still needed to make it back for afternoon classes. On the way back to the school, she filled him in on what he could. Since Ryukyu had been present, Izuku expected it to be something related to her work.
"All traces of the poison are gone and they were happy my quirk was back to normal." The brunette started off, trying to recall everything she had been told the past hour. Some of the information was classified and she had to take a moment to sort through what she could tell Deku and what she couldn't.
"Did they figure out what the poison was? Since it blocked or erased your quirk?" Izuku asked already thinking of hundred possibilities on his own.
"It worked like a drug and blocked some receptors in the brain, so I couldn't activate my quirk. It was a lot like a drug they are dealing with in the city." She repeated what she had been told earlier, although it didn't make that much sense to her.
"Oh okay, so it could be a quirk that worked like a repressor in the body, but that would mean it was very specific in its targeting. What if it affected other parts of the body that hadn't been checked? Could this quirk have been used to manufacture such drugs? Could an antidote be formulated if the poison's every property was known? Maybe Yaoyorozu-san would be able to create an antidote if she got a look at it." Izuku's mutter storms always amused Uraraka, but she also greatly admired the way he instantly started thinking of solutions.
"Maybe. They're looking into it and told me to alert them ASAP if I felt any discomfort." Ochaco felt like a heavy burden had been removed from her shoulders. She was happy there hadn't been any side effects so far, and she was grateful she hadn't gone alone.
"Thanks again for coming with me." She smiled and took his hand while she leaned a little into him. She felt him freeze when she squeezed his hand and it immediately started sweating. He was so cute to get flustered over small touches like this.
"Y-you're welcome." He stammered and looked away as his face flushed. Feeling like she had tortured him for long enough, Ochaco let go of his hand and continued walking. She had gotten an idea and she was going to have fun with this discovery.