Worthless Necessity [HitoZuku]

Chapter 129 - Find a way to

Midoriya let out a small groan, as he groggily opened his eyes. He felt Reiko curled up by his chest, and Ryuto shifting slightly by his neck, as the boy blearily tried to survey the room. He noticed that Nezu was partially curled up under the kotatsu, and Aizawa was leaning against the backrest of a very familiar swivel chair, both of them asleep, but Midoriya still wasn't too sure where he was.

Clenching his hand slightly, he realized that he was holding onto something, and his eyes trailed up to Shinsou, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, supporting his head with one hand, and that Midoriya was holding onto his other hand. Midoriya blinked, finally realizing that he was in Shinsou's room; the kotatsu and the layout of the room were more than enough for him to identify it, but he didn't really remember how he got there.

He swore that he had been in the common room, playing some dumb games with his classmates... and then -

Midoriya whined quietly as his memories rushed back to him; Shinsou trying to tell him something, Midoriya just screaming at him before he started having a panic attack and started crying. Midoriya's brain felt fuzzy, his entire body felt tingly, an uncomfortable feeling crawling just under his skin, numbness seeping through his being. He didn't want to remember that. he had said many hurtful things to his friends, and he had no way of taking that back.

His heart throbbed, the pain was just too raw, too painful, and his body shook as Midoriya tried to push his memories away, his eyes clenching shut.

"Shhh, it's okay..."

Midoriya suddenly felt some comforting pressure on his head, and he instinctively pushed his head against it. He didn't know why, but it felt really nice, and he wanted more of it. He opened his eyes, realizing that Shinsou was gently running his fingers through his hair, caressing it, as Aizawa watched from a respectful distance from the chair.

The greenette subconsciously sensed that Nezu sat up, rubbing his eyes, seemingly having just woken up, and Midoriya felt more tears threatening to well up from the corner of his eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Midoriya whimpered, as Nezu stood up and walked over to him, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Izuku..."

Reiko reached up, using her paw to gently wipe away Midoriya's tears, as the greenette struggled to get some kind of control over his emotions. His entire body was aching, his veins lit alight as the phantom memory of his former home and parents burning down tingled down his spine, as Midoriya made a desperate attempt to grab ahold of his feelings and gain some kind over himself.

Biting his lip, Midoriya pushed the pain and the memories away, focusing on Nezu's comforting presence, something that he really did like and appreciate, a feeling that he'd never thought he'd experience again after the loss of his parents -

No. Bad Deku. Don't think about that now.

It took him some time to calm down, wrangling his mess of thoughts, feelings, memories, and emotions into something manageable, and shoved them away, not wanting to deal with them now, and he just looked up at Nezu and Shinsou numbly.

"Feeling better?" Shinsou quietly asked, and Midoriya nodded slightly, pushing himself up gently so his head didn't feel like it would split apart. He didn't have a headache, and he knew he wasn't sick, but still, he didn't want to risk it; recovering from the dizziness and nausea would just waste more time.

Nezu looked up at his pup in concern, trying to figure out how best to proceed. After the boy's breakdown after the Kamino incident, Nezu was honestly terrified that they would get a repeat of that scenario; the principal wasn't too sure he would be able to take it if Midoriya just dissociated again and curled in on himself, ignoring the rest of the world as he let his mental wounds fester.