This Time

Chapter 11

It had been surprisingly easy to adapt to having Hara living under his roof and Toshinori was optimistic about his ability to keep himself in line around the girl even with her around so much. Honestly, they didn't interact as much as he would have thought, since during the day they were both at Yūei and even after class All Might often had meetings, interviews, or events to make appearances at. Despite his condition, he still tried to make sure he was present in the public eye, but the strain of it was getting harder and harder to bear.

He hurt, constantly; he should have bought stock in pain relief cream years ago. Before, his apartment had been the one place he could let go of the pretenses, but now he found it hard to relax fully, not wanting the young woman he now shared his home with to see him so vulnerable. Quickly it became apparent that this was futile, though, and unsustainable - no matter how strong his will was, his traitorous body couldn't keep up.

Hara cooked dinner for him most nights, and had quickly picked up on which foods he could handle best. She'd also taken to cleaning up around the place (which he normally tried to keep things neat anyway, but he appreciated the help) and was amused the first time he'd come home to see she'd done some grocery shopping.

And you had the nerve to call me domestic, he thought fondly.

It made things easier too, as far as her mission went, and they would chat over dinner about ideas or issues when they came up. Hara had brought up a good point about the Sports Festival, and All Might had needed a day to mull it over before returning to her with his thoughts. Protecting the students was important of course, but this tournament was also a huge moment in their hero training and could impact future internships or applications. Not saying life was fair at all, but the imbalance of training and power with having Hara compete full-throttle with first years was a bit much.

"Do well," he'd advised, "But don't aim for the best."

They fell into a routine, and Toshinori found peace in that.

A week before the Sports Festival, the Symbol of Peace woke himself up with a strangled yell from one of his (many) recurring nightmares. Panting, he sat up grasping his side, and wiped the cold sweat from his brow trying to shake off the images of the one he couldn't save. It had been a while since he'd had that particular dream, but it was one that he knew would follow him all the way to his grave. Even now, decades after her death, he could still hear Nana screaming.

"Yagi?" a small voice questioned from the doorway as Hara hesitantly peaked into his room. Shit, he must have woken her up too.

"Ah, Miss Hara," he said in as normal a tone as he could manage, running a trembling hand through his hair.

"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping a little further into the room. If he hadn't still been shaken by his nightmare he would have had a much harder time ignoring her appearance and the fact that she was apparently still using his t-shirt to sleep in.

"Yes, everything's fine!" he said with a smile before giving her a thumbs up. The woman didn't look convinced. She seemed to contemplate for a moment before she padded across the room and sat gingerly at the foot of his bed.

"Not that it's any of my business," she said slowly, "but whenever I have a nightmare it usually takes me a little bit to settle back down... so if you want someone to talk to, I am here," she offered with a small, comforting smile.

Toshinori let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He should refuse her - he knew he should. If he told her no, he had faith that she would respect that and return to bed... but selfishly he wanted to say yes. He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "At least it's the weekend. Last thing I need is to hear you were falling asleep in class because I kept you up all night," he said, defeated by the look in those blue-green eyes.