About a week had passed since the Hosu incident, and Aizawa had learned that Deku, Todoroki, and Tenya were involved in the attack on Stain. Needless to say, he was not thrilled, but he was thankful no one was hurt, just like I had assured him before.

Even so, the stress of everything happening with his students and the Okuta case left us with little time to relax or become intimate. I couldn't really blame him for wanting to hunker down and focus, even if I was craving for his touch. Still, it sucked. We shared kisses here and there, but beyond that, we didn't go very far. Tried as I did, he would find a reason to stop, and it was starting to get under my skin. I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault in some way. I didn't have evidence that it was, but I also didn't have evidence to say that it wasn't either. If the problem was me, I didn't know how to fix it beyond just disappearing. I didn't want to do that.

At least, not yet, anyway.

Adding the anxiety that we were going to head over the UA, now that it was the weekend, to begin the first step of getting me out of here didn't help at all. Right when I thought I was getting somewhere, I might potentially be yanked out of a world I love, and away from a man I was just becoming intimate with and, who now, won't touch me beyond a simple kiss.

Blatantly put, this was some bullshit.

When we got to UA, we didn't say anything while walking in the hallway beside each other. I peeked over to see if he was looking at me, but he wasn't. With his hands in his pockets, I couldn't play with his fingers like I had done before. I looked forward as we continued our walk. The silence was killing me.

"Aizawa?" I asked, cautiously, "Is everything okay?"

Normally, I would've called him by his first name, but with how off he was acting lately, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do that anymore.

"Yeah. Fine." he said, his voice sounding more exhausted than usual.

"Are...we okay?" I asked. It was the first time I had expressed the both of us as a unit of some kind. While it was nice, in this context, not so much.

He paused as I look over at him. His tired eyes looked at me for a moment but then down at the ground.

"I...," he started, struggling to continue, "...I don't think we should talk about this right now." he said, his voice trailing off slightly.

I stopped walking, and he followed suit after a few steps. A lump started to form in my throat as my brain started to spiral. What the fuck was going on?

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked quietly, trying to compose my voice in an effort to look stronger than I felt.

Aizawa's eyes widened with surprise.

"No, not at all." he said, his voice gentle as he started to approach me, but held off from doing so. Why was he all of the sudden too guarded to come near me?

"Then why have you been acting so cold lately?" I asked, trying to keep my voice down, and not get angry or too emotional.

He looked at me with such remorse. I could tell whatever the reason was, it was eating at him as well. I didn't know why he just didn't tell me outright.

He sighed and took a few steps towards me, setting a hand gently on my shoulder.

"It's not my intent to hurt you. I'm..." he paused, giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts, "I'm trying to find a sense of balance. In doing so, I might've gone a little overboard and became too distant."

"Might've?" I repeated. I couldn't help but still feel hurt, even if it wasn't his intent, "For the past week you've recoiled away from me anytime I've tried to get close to you. How am I not supposed to feel hurt?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again and softly caressing my cheek with his hand, before trailing it down to my chin, tilting it up slightly. I missed that feeling so much, my cheeks began to feel slightly flushed. In doing so, he smiled before looking at me seriously.

"I'm sorry, Doe. Believe me, I have wanted nothing more than to lose myself in you. Resisting that urge is more exhausting than you can imagine. But I need to be in control of myself and my actions. Being with you has made me feel alive, but I have also acted recklessly because of those feelings for you. I'm afraid if I don't discipline myself in some capacity, I might slip up and make things worse for you. For us." he said.

My heart fluttered hearing that word: Us.

Despite how angry I felt for how this last week turned out, I couldn't stay that way for long. Those words reassured me that what he felt didn't just fade. It was still there, just better hidden than before.

"Apology accepted, but next time, just tell me what you're doing. Otherwise, I'll end up taking it personally. I want to understand you, but I can't very well do that if you shut me out." I said, a little smile appearing on my lips.

His expression softened considerably before he stepped away and offered me to continue walking with him.

"Duly noted." he said, as I began to walk with him again down the hallway.

"Also, would it kill you to be a little more intimate every once in awhile when we're alone?" I half-teased as we walked.

He chuckled.

"Depends. Would it kill you to call me by my first name?" he teased back.

I gave him a playful glare as we reach our destination: the infirmary.

We stood outside the doors for a moment, looking at them. I couldn't help but feel nervous, not knowing how this was going to go. It didn't help thinking that Aizawa didn't know either.

"Ready?" he asked.

I took a deep breath.

"Not entirely, no." I answered honestly.

"We never are." he muttered as he pushed the door open for me to walk through first.

When I entered, I saw Nezu, Midnight, Hizashi, and Recovery Girl waiting for me next to a set of beds.

They all looked in our direction.

"Ah! Glad to see you've made it. There were no problems, I presume?" asked Nezu.

"No." answered Aizawa behind me.

"Fantastic!" said Nezu as he clapped his paws together, "Now," he gestured to the bed and continued as I approached, "After much calculation, I've finally determined that you have just enough energy to endure Recovery Girl's quirk. It's not as much as I had hoped, but it'll have to do for now."

As I sat on the bed, Recovery Girl came forward.

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Doe." she said warmly as she smiled and bowed.

"You as well." I said back with a bow, "Though, I wish we could've met under different circumstances."

She hummed before we both stood up straight, and Nezu continued.

"Now, this is my theory. It may not work, but I'm hopeful. What we'll be doing is trying to heal your brain injury in this world. In doing so, maybe we'll speed up the healing process and get you back home. It's a long shot, but we've got nothing to lose!" he said cheerily.

"Well, except my life, if I can't survive Recovery Girl's quirk." I said deadpanned.

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem." he said, "I've run the numbers on how long you can handle her quirk by using the results from the DLW method. She'll be using her quirk in timed increments. She'll only be using it for one minute at a time. No more, no less. Once the minute is up, there'll be an hour long break before starting another round. For now, we can only do this twice. If we're lucky, we can push it to five within a week if this theory goes the way we want it to."

I furrowed my brows.

"Two minutes doesn't sound like a whole lot." I said, sounding a bit skeptical.

"I imagine you'll feel differently when this is over." said Nezu with a smile, "Nemuri will be using her quirk to put you to sleep, letting us reserve as much of your energy as we can before Recovery Girl uses her quirk on you."

"So it'll be like last time when she used her quirk during the sleep lab. Will Hizashi be waking me up afterwards like last time?" I asked.

Nezu frowned.

"I'm afraid not." he said, "With both Nemuri and Recovery Girl using their quirk, even he won't be able to wake you."

My eyes widened in fear.

"So...if I get stuck again, no one can get me out?" I asked in a hushed tone, as I felt myself starting to tremble. The room went silent for a moment, "If he's not here to wake me up, why is he here?"

"We're going to have you attempt to communicate to us while you're in the coma state. That way we can coordinate and know exactly when to use Recovery Girl's quirk." said Nezu, "In order for you to hear us-,"

"That's where I come in!" interrupted Hizashi, "With my quirk, it'll be impossible for you to not hear me!"

"It'll also be impossible for her to ever hear again afterwards." interjected Aizawa, unenthusiastically.

"Not quite." said Nemuri, who pulled out a pair of earbuds and handed them to me, "Even though Recovery Girl's quirk will heal any injuries she could sustain from him, it will require to use more energy. If she wears these, it'll at least soften the blow somewhat on the energy reserves, and she can still hear him without going completely deaf."

"While you're in your coma state, try and give us a signal of any kind that'll alert us. If you can form a sentence, or call out a name, that'll be enough." said Nezu.

"I'll try. But still...how am I going to wake up?" I asked, still terrified of being stuck again for even longer periods of time.

"Because two quirks combined will render you into a much deeper sleep than normal, it'll take more to pull you out unnaturally. On top of that, your body is going to need time to recoup from the lack of energy used to heal you. If we were to wake you before you were physically ready, and especially through Hizashi's antics, no offense..." said Nezu to Hizashi.

"None taken." he replied back, almost proudly.

"It could send you into shock, or worse, cardiac arrest." continued Nezu, "This time, we'll need to wait for you to wake up on your own, naturally."

"And if I don't?" I asked.

The room went dead silent for another moment.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there!" said Nezu in a nervously cheerful way, "Now, let's get started, shall we?"

...Fucking super.