she's not supposed to be worrying about him, or looking after him or anything like that. even if it's just something he's allowing so she'll feel better, more useful, that's still not...
aizawa sighs, pulling the warming cloth off his forehead and dipping it in the bowl again to wring it out. back when he'd first arrived he'd told uraraka that despite the circumstances, nothing between them had changed, but that simply isn't true. it was a naive assumption to make, because back then he couldn't have comprehended being here so long, and getting so attached. not just to ochako, but to others in the fleet as well.
this isn't the same environment as a school. of course their relationship would reflect those differences.
when uraraka returns, she'll find him a little more compliant, though a lot less talkative as a result.]
[ochako fusses and frets her way through cooking the meal, burning it at least once trying to make it perfect. she's sure he won't care, but she does, and she's determined to make up for what happened even if he doesn't blame her. eventually she returns to the room carting a steaming bowl with her, tentatively poking her head in.]
[he'd been dozing, actually, though he wakes with a sharp inhale as she pokes her head back in, glancing over at her blearily before rubbing his eyes and taking the definitely-warm towel off of his forehead.]
Don't worry about it. I'm going to be sleeping quite a bit for a while.
Everybody else on the ship, of course. Besides you and, um. Mr. Max.
[she wilts a little at that; she hasn't seen him back yet, and she can't really celebrate everyone's return until everyone is actually safe and sound.]
wonderduck is ok! it's up here with us. i went to check if you were there when comms went down, so i saw them- vivi and edel are both doing good. i brought them back with me though, i need to stay here with sensei
everything's fine here, we got shaken up a bit but missed the worst of it. the comms didn't work or anything, we've been trying to reach everyone but no luck until now
...him too, hm? [aizawa feels like a jerk, but he's not exactly surprised. max comes off as the type of the person who wouldn't be anywhere else but the thick of things.] So everyone else is all right, then.
[Her voice is thick, swallowing around a lump in her throat. Superheroes have been so effective at stopping crime her entire life that she's never seen a list of dead that long. It's been really horrifying, and it shows on her face.]
I saw. I meant just with our crew. [look, there's literally no way to sugarcoat this, and he wouldn't want to anyway. it's one thing to read about deaths and statistics in textbooks or on the news, and another thing entirely to see it with your very eyes.]
[She merely nods her head, awkward and uncomfortable. Have they all come back now? Are they safe, can they go back to normal? Is there any going back after all of this?]
...Sensei... I don't want to believe that this is a real show anymore. I can't do it. I can't think about a whole universe of people... who would be this cruel.
[she swallows hard, taking a long, deep breath. and then, meekly:]
I want to go home.
[it's not like she's saying anything groundbreaking. he knows it, she knows it. she can fool herself into thinking this place is fun and exciting and so very interesting sometimes but she feels it in some way or another every single day: staring down at her phone, dialing familiar phone numbers she knows won't connect, decorating mochi and thinking of her parents, working on a new technique and thinking how much more fun it would be if Deku and Iida were around to help her develop it, trying strange alien foods and wishing Tsuyu was there to share it with her. Aizawa's not clueless, he knows how she feels.
it's just... she hasn't said it out loud for at least a year. sometimes she needs to hear the words out of her own mouth, because holding it in hurts too much.]
[there really isn't anything he can say to that, too. she knows it; she's young, but she's not an infant. she's not expecting a solution, maybe not even expecting any words of advice. this is...confiding. maybe if she had her friends from home, her family, she would be telling them this instead, but he's all she has.
aizawa lowers his spoon into his bowl, looking down at the top of her bowed head, before reaching out to rest his hand there like he had down on the planet's surface.] I know, [he murmurs.] ...me too.
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