Fake smile

Chapter Eleven

Izuku's POV

Lessons became a blur and it was now lunch time. I decided to stay in the classroom so that Eri wouldn't become overwhelmed with all the people in the cafeteria. It was pretty intense the first day I went there, so I could understand how she would've felt. 
It was pretty strange though. Most of the people in my class that I don't really talk to came up to me. Granted, they didn't say more than two words to me and just wanted to see Eri, but it was still odd. Iida, Uraraka and Tsuyu hadn't talked to me since the first day of school and everyone else had started to avoid me. I was taken aback at first, but I was used to being by myself so it wasn't too bad. I just hoped it would be different coming to a new school and all, but it was the same as always.
Everyone from the Bakusquad - aside from Bakugo of course - came up all at one and Eri's grip on me tightened. I asked if they could step back to give her some space. Ashido was very understanding - thankfully - and pulled the others back, but for some reason, I felt as though Kirishima was glaring at me for some reason. 
Now that I thought about it, I remembered quite a lot of incidents where I caught a few other people in class glaring at me before today. It seemed to me mainly Bakugo (no surpirses there), Kirishima and Yaoyorozu. Everyone else seemed to be neutral towards me and didn't talk to me unless they needed to or needed something from me, but those three would always send hate filled stares my way. What happened with Bakugo is a mystery even to me, but I know that I haven't interacted with Kirishima or Yaoyorozu enough to have offend them.
I was brought back to the present when I felt a small hand on my cheek.
"Deku, are you ok?" Eri asked, her voice making my heart melt.
"Yeah, I'm fine bunny. Don't worry about me." I gave her that nickname a few days after she came to live with us. It sort of just slipped out the first time because she was carrying that toy bunny I gave her everywhere. When she first heard the nickname, I could see her eyes sparkle with what appeared to be joy. She was having some issues expressing any positive emotions such as smiling and laughing so when her eyes sparkled, it was a relief because we knew that she wasn't beyond saving, we could help her smile again.
"I'm going to get some food." Hitoshi said, standing up and stretching his back. "You want anything?"
I shook my head, "I'm ok, but can you get the snacks we packed for Eri? I know that Papa put them in his bag, but I don't know where he put it." I said with a small chuckle.
Hitoshi snorted. "He probably forgot where he put it himself. Fine, I'll have a look around and see if I can find it. If not, I can bring back some yogurt or something." 
With that he walked out of the classroom. 
It was just me and Eri now. 
I hadn't realised how quite it had gotten.
Just as I was about to say something to Eri, the door burst open and Bakugo came stomping in. "Deku, you little shit!"
I managed to cover Eri's ears in time before she heard Bakugo swear. She was only a child and I doubt Dad or Papa would appreciate if she picked up Bakugo's profanity. I sent him a glare and didn't back down.
I think that made him angrier because as soon as he got to my desk, he created a big explosion as soon as his hand made contact with the table that my chair fell backward, Eri still on my chest. I placed one hand by her head and the other around her back protectively so that I could try and minimalize any potential damage the fall could cause. Once the chair's back hit the ground, I scurried off into the corner and inspected her, making sure she wasn't hurt. Luckily, there wasn't a scratch on her. I looked over my shoulder and saw Bakugo advancing towards up. I placed Eri into the corner, putting a bit of distance between the two of us and lifted my arms to the walls just by her head, barricading her between me and the wall. I towered over her so that there was no possible way for her to get hit unless I was moved. I tensed my limbs and waited.
I didn't have to wait long.
Bakugo started to kick my back and arms, also causing explosions to go off every now and again, all the while screaming and cursing God knows what. Everything started to sound muffled. My clothes were now burnt and my back was bare. I could smell the burning of my skin more than I felt it at that point. It was nothing new. If anything, it felt more bearable this time.
I looked down and saw that Eri was shaking. I couldn't possible imagine what was going through her mind, but I knew that I had to calm her down before she hurt herself.
"Eri." I whispered so that only she could hear me. "Eri, look at me."
She looked up and her red eyes were full of tears. It broke my heart to see her like this. She was making such good progress and hadn't cried the entire week she was with us. Sure there was some tantrums and some screaming, but she shrugged it off after a negotiation was made. Her tears were like daggers to my heart. I had gotten as close to her as she had to me so to see her upset - to see her scared - it made me feel like I failed her.
"Listen to me. Everything is going to be fine. I won't let him hurt you. I will protect you. I promised I won't let anything or anyone hurt you again and I am going to stick to that promise. Just look at me. Look at my eyes. Everything is going to be ok."
I reassure her over and over again. I'm starting to feel tired, my muscles going slightly slack, but I tense up again. I can't let her get hurt so I have to hold out until someone comes in and stops this rampaging lunatic. 
What felt like hours later - more realistically being a few minutes - new voices came into the room and pulled Bakugo off of me. I gave a small smile to Eri as I let my arms go slack. I topple to the side and let out a sigh. Eri rushed to me, but I told her I was fine and that I just needed to get off my knees.
I couldn't see anyone as my back was turned towards the door, but there seemed to be more voices added into the mix. Something was starting to shine out of the corner of my eye and I saw it to be Eri's horn. Her eyes were closed in concentration and her hands were on my arms. I started to feel warm and light, the burns no longer stinging and the possibly fractured bones no longer causing slight agony. Eri abruptly stopped and started panting.
"I-I-I'm sorry D-deku. I-I don't want t-to do s-s-something wrong." She started crying again.
I reached my hand to her cheek and brushed away the tears leaking out of her eyes. Once she looked in my direction, I started to speak. "There is nothing you need to apologize for. You tried your best and helped make heal enough that there won't be any permanent damage and you managed to stop your quirk all on your own. I'm so proud of you!"
Eri starting sobbing again so I sat up slowly and gave her a hug, continuing my praise for the small child. She's going to be able to help a lot of people in the future. That is for sure.

Hitoshi's POV

I was looking for Papa's bag when I somehow managed to bump into Ojiro. I had noticed that he was one of the very few people in class 1A that didn't annoy me out of my mind. I hadn't talk to him much aside from a casual greeting here and there. He seemed to be a nice enough guy, but I learned not to trust people too easily. 
"Hey there Shinso." he said in greeting, waving my way.
"Hey Ojiro." I replied.
"Are you looking for someone? You look somewhat lost." He had a small smile on his face which - for reasons unknown (a/n unadmitted more like) - made me blush a bit. 
"I was looking for Pa- I mean Present Mic. Yeah, I needed to ask him something, but I couldn't find him. I would guess he was in the teachers lounge, but I don't know where that is so I'm just walking anywhere and hoping I find it."
Why. The fuck. Was I rambling like Izuku when he was nervous?
That was sooooooo not like me. 
Am I sick? Maybe. I'll have some medicine when I get home just to be safe.
"I can take you there if you want. I needed to go there last week to give in a form that my parents forgot about so I know the way." he said.
If the red sonic hedgehog meme didn't cross your mind just now, you're lying to yourself. (DON'T BREAK THE FOURTH WALL DAMN IT!!!)
Lol, worth it.
"Sure that would be a great help, thanks." I replied to Ojiro.

~ Time skip ~

Didn't find Papa, but I found his bag and, thankfully, the snacks he packed for Eri weren't completely ruined despite him having thrown his bag into the nearest chair like I know he did.
I was making my way back to the classroom with Ojiro, making polite conversation when I heard explosions. That could only mean one thing.
I sprinted towards the classroom and I was horrified at the sight.
Bakugo was relentlessly hitting Izuku while he pushed himself against the wall. I saw a bit of Eri's hair, showing that Izuku was using himself to shield Eri in case she got hit by the rampaging pomeranian. Ojiro was behind me and jumped into action without hesitation. He wrapped his tail around Bakugo's waist and yanked him backwards. I tried to help Ojiro restrain him, but he was too strong.
Were it not for some of the students passing by who stopped to help us, we may have lost our grip.
I looked over to see Eri and Izuku hugging each other, Izuku's injuries barely able to be seen. His clothes were still burnt so I took off my blazer and draped it on his back lest he got cold. I turned and thanked everyone who helped. Ok, probably not thanked them, but I gave a nod which everyone took as a 'thank you' so it didn't really matter.
Ojiro helped me put Izuku in his seat. 
"We should really get you to Recovery Girl." I tried to push.
"She would probably kill me if I turned up in her room again only a week after she had dismissed me. She'll probably leave me in a worse state than I'm already in." He was laughing as he was saying this, but he was the only one who found humor in his statement. 
"When D-Mr. Aizawa sees you, he's going to send you anyway." I tried to argue.
"Him I can handle. You never want to piss off Recovery Girl. I can only imagine the horror." He shivers at the thought which causes a smile to reach my lips.
I drop the argument knowing full well I would still lose were I to continue so I sat down and gave Eri her snacks and for the rest of lunch, me, Izuku and Ojiro were talking. It was a pretty good lunch.

Ok so I'm really annoyed at myself. I was going to make it a Shindenki ship because they are super cute, but then I remembered what I wanted to happen later on and realised that that couldn't happen so I changed it to Shinso x Ojiro which I still think it pretty cute.
School's started up again (it's now online classes but whatever) and I've been busy with homework and doing extra essays because I need to, but I managed to finish watching 'Yuri on Ice' and 'Given' and OMG I LOVE THEM BOTH AND THEY MADE ME CRY!
Highly recommend both if you haven't seen them yet.
See you in the next chapter!

Byee xxx