Out of Your Mind

49

When you went upstairs, you waited just outside the boy's room. The Chief was explaining how Endeavor would be taking credit for taking down the Hero Killer but he then bows and expresses gratitude for their bravery. After a couple more minutes of chatting, the Chief excuses himself and he, along with Manual and Gran Torino, closing the door behind them.

"We'll be in touch about the pixie sticks. My police captain's are stubborn as hell so I don't doubt they've been turning down help, but we could really use it, woof."

"Just remember I work at a school now. I can't exactly be doing deep cov- I mean...find information I can collect whenever you want." The less the Chief knows, the less viable he is. It's not to necessarily hide things from him, but if he's questioned about questionable methods, he can answer sincerely, but he understood that.

"Speaking of kids, you should probably get in there since they're in a secret keeping mood" Gran Torino says.

"Of course..I'll see you later, Chief" he shoves his hands into his pockets and walks away. You take a deep breath and knocked on the door softly. The boys had been laughing at something but Izuku managed to say it was alright to walk in.

"Ms. [L/N]!" Izuku said excitedly. Iida stood up and bowed, both of his arms were in a sling, and Shoto gave you a small smile.

"Whatcha guy's laughing about?"

"Todoroki made a really funny joke about being cursed"

"It was quite funny" Iida said, chuckling.

"It wasn't a joke" Shoto looked genuinely serious and it just made the other two boys burst into laughter again. They managed to calm themselves down and you smiled sadly and looked down at the ground, dreading having to ask this of them.

"Boys, there's something really important I need to ask of you" they all became increasingly more attentive. You didn't even know where to start.

"You know how they're going to ask you to let Endeavor take credit for the Hero Killer? Well, I'm going to have to ask you to keep another secret-" you paused because you sincerely hated this. Granted it's not a huge burden on them to just not mention your being in Hosu, however you say this again and again but swore off secrets and lying like this long ago, and you wish you lived in a world where you didn't have to do this. "-I need you not tell anyone that I've been here in Hosu." You stopped and Izuku furrowed his brows.

"I was meaning to ask why you were all the way out here." Iida spoke up.

"I was as well." Shoto said before he stood up and looked out the window.

"I've even working with the police outside of school and they wanted some information the tied in with the Hero Killer. I would've spent the rest of the week here had it not been for the Nomu attacks." They all sat silently, they're probably thinking about their most recent interaction with Nomu and the Hero killer, it was a spine chilling moment. "But if I'd be lying if I said I didn't use that as an excuse for why I really wanted to come here" you looked at Iida and he looked down at his arms.

"I've had time to think and I realize how much I needed help. I promise I'm going to come and visit you when we get back to school"

"As much as I love to hear that, I hope you understand that I'm not the only solution. All that matters is that you- all of you- have someone you can go to. Don't keep those ugly feelings to yourself and let them fester. We live in an age where finding someone you can simply talk to is easier than ever, and if coming to my office once a week doesn't help you then we can find someone who will." He smiles and nods, Shoto turns around from the window.

"So we can't talk about the Hero Killer or Ms. [L/n] being here, anyone have any other secrets that they wanna share?" You and Izuku instantly locked eyes and he gulps.

"Nope, I think that's all" you say.

"Alright then. So what now?"

"You guys get better. I'm going to head home and pretend I was never here" Izuku got up and gave you a hug.

"Thanks for being here" he caught you by surprise but you smiled and hugged him back.

"Of course. I'll see you all on Monday" they all said bye and you left. Gran Torino was still standing outside.

"Hey old man"

"Heading out?"

"Yep, I think that I got all of my loose ends tired up here"

"Remember what we talked about, girl" you ran a hand through your hair again.

"Yeah I know...but hopefully the next time I see you has nothing to do with any of this" he smiles, you saw a lot of your father in that smile.

"I'll see ya around, kiddo" you went back to your car and wiped some tears from your face. These past couple of days were stressful as hell but you were mad because you loved every damn second of it.

No, you're not going to go down that rabbit hole. You've made the decision to step away and you will not be sucked back in. There are more than capable people to handle this, no need to get any more involved. You're just going to write this off as dipping your toes back in a little bit, but that's all.

No more...

None...you're done...

That's it........

Maybe for now, at least..