The Hope Barely Found

Story Time

"Of course you're strong." No one had expected Shinso to be the one to speak up. "No ones life story is the same, everyone goes through their own shit. Don't ever compare yours to anyone's. Don't ever invalidate your own experience."

Tsuyu looked up at him with watery eyes. "Thank you," she croaked out.

"What about you?" Jiro couldn't stop herself from asking. "Wait, you don't have to answer tha-,"

"I'm sure you've noticed my scars," Shinso stopped her, hand gently tracing the crisscrossed scars across his mouth. "I'm not- wasn't," he corrected, "allowed to speak. Collar and stuff. You know how it goes," he shrugged.

No one knew what to say so it was Todoroki's turn to speak up. "I've been trained all my life, the perfect assassin. Unbeatable." He stifled a humorless laugh. "Until Izuku. My brother disappeared one day, my mom killed, sister and other brother, dead." Pain filled Todoroki's voice as he forced his throat from closing. "All I had left was the scar to remind me of her."

"That's enough sad shit," Katsuki coughed. "If everyone's up for it, let's play 'Never have I fucked up this hard'. Any problems, speak up now."

There wasn't a single protest in the room as everyone silently formed into a circle, Todoroki and Shinso confusedly joining.

"Alright. Never have I ever been taped in a dungeon," Katsuki started.

A look of horror crossed over Todoroki's face as he met Shinso's confused gaze. This was an actual game?

Sero put a finger down. "Never have I ever been struck by lightning!"

Kaminari growled and put a finger down. "Fine, never have I ever been forced to dance until I feinted."

Mina glared as her ring finger slid down. "Never have I ever been stuck on a roof during a storm."

Jiro, Kaminari and Uraraka all sheepishly put a finger down.

"Never have I ever been kidnapped-,"

***

Aizawa awoke the next morning to Kaminari straddling Shinso's lap with everyone in a circle around them cheering. They were passing around a bottle of fireball, pouring shots for themselves.

Aizawa groaned and snatched the bottle from Mina as she went to take a gulp. God forbid he'd be blaming Izuku if he had been there at the moment. She drunkenly giggled and tried swiping for the bottle back, instead succeeding in hitting Kirishima in the face. The two burst into laughter. Aizawa felt ready to kill as he sent them all to bed, only allowing a smile once they were all locked in their rooms. They had laughed.

***

Izuku felt blinded as the blindfold got ripped from his face. He groaned as the headphones were removed. His ears matched the pounding in his head as he felt the shackles drop slowly off of him and allowed him to sit up. His head spun so badly he had to lay back down for a second.

He only for a second before Overhaul was dragging him from the room and into the hallway, yanking him against the wall. "Shigaraki's here to pick you up."

Hearing something rather then the gunshots made Izuku's stomach churn. He felt sick. He was going to be sick. Izuku threw up all over the floor and right onto Overhauls shoes. He didn't even have time to cuss as Overhaul kicked his foot out, slamming Izuku against the wall even harder and making him collapse against the ground.

"Did you really think now was the greatest time to do that?" Overhaul spat. "Disgusting. You know who's going to pay for it?"

Of course Izuku knew, but he couldn't get himself to make a sound, never mind start begging. He couldn't even get off the ground.