I've been adding a bunch of music to the playlist for this song, so here's the link again

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KmzeHe3eacMDDQH5FK6Bi?si=1ac19ca33f5e4758 

Highly recommend listening to the songs when the Bakusquad is playing them in the story, it's fantastic immersion. 

Also, slight warning, graphic song lyrics ahead? I feel like I probably don't need a warning by now, but ya, this book has a lot of graphic topics. 

Seeing as I never got an angry phone call from my mom, I assumed she was still working when detention finally concluded. I made the executive decision to join the group at Bakugou and Eijirou's house for practice. I had nothing better to do, and the last time I'd tagged along for practice I actually... really enjoyed it. 

I watched carefully as they all fell into a steady rhythm while setting up. I didn't ask any questions or make comments, content to just sit on the couch in the garage while they set up. 

"Sleeping In, right?" Kaminari asked.

Ashido nodded, making her way to the couch with me. I guess this wasn't a song she sung. "Yeah, then we can do That Girl next." 

Sero shot her a look. "You're just too lazy to sing right now." 

She shot him a wink. "I'll sing after this one. Besides, it's so new that you guys need to practice it more than any of them." 

"Sleeping In it is," Eijirou said with a tired sigh. 

"You gonna tell us who it's about now?" Kaminari prodded with a devious smile. 

"Strum your guitar and shut up," Eijirou said back, a sarcastic smile to match the blond's. Who it's about? Does that mean he wrote it? I asked myself. 

"Fiesty," Kaminari said with a laugh. 

I sat back while they started the song. 

(Sleeping In by All Time Low) 

I woke up on a Tuesday
Felt like a Friday night to me
Never wanna leave this bed
Tell me that you got nowhere to be
Can we stay all day? 
Lay low in our lazy luxury
Sex in a rosé daze 
All day, it's a real good thing

Damn, the lyrics alone were enough for me to figure out why Eijirou wouldn't tell anyone who the song was about. I watched as the redhead sung, playing his own guitar at the same time. I couldn't help but notice the way he was adamantly staring at the garage door behind Ashido and I. 

Just like that
There you go, making it hard to stay on track
Got shit to do, you got work
But we fall right back
Into bed, like it's all just a game
And we can't help that, no we can't help that
And we fall right back
Just like that

Watching them perform a song they had actually written was way different than watching them do a cover. It felt a little too... personal? It made me think that I definitely shouldn't have been in the room. 

If I said I want your body, would you hold it against me?
Seven in the morning, wanna listen to Britney?
Anything you wanna baby, that's okay with me now
(We don't sleep, but we like sleeping in)
Closing up the curtains while you call out of work now
I'm turning off my phone while you take off your shirt now
Waste another day, 'nother night, 'nother weekend
But we don't sleep, but we like sleeping in

I decided that trying to keep my eyes on Eijirou was entirely too uncomfortable. Instead, I let them shift around to the other members of the band. Kaminari was bouncing around, his head bobbing to the beat as he strummed his instrument. Sero hadn't even bothered to stand up, playing his bass while sitting on an amp off to my left. Bakugou was drumming as effortlessly as ever, his eyes glued to the drum set in front of him. Well, they were, until he looked up and locked eyes with me. I stared at him pointedly, having sworn it looked like he was embarrassed before turning his attention back to his task at hand. 

Once the song concluded, Eijirou finally allowed himself to make eye contact with everyone, breathing hard. 

"I think you guys should work on the bridge a few more times," Ashido said, sinking deeper into the couch beside me and throwing her legs onto my lap. I didn't even question it, I'd been used as a pretty girl's foot stool plenty of times back home. 

"You just don't want to practice!" Eijirou accused. He was a little too loud, giving away just how embarrassed and uncomfortable he felt at the moment.  

"More like doesn't want to get up," Sero teased, leaning his back against the wall behind him now that he was done playing. 

She scoffed at them. "As if I'd have to get up to sing. Eijirou, bring me the mic and stop being a little baby." 

He rolled his eyes at her and reluctantly brought the microphone over to her. She leaned back, making herself even more comfortable. "Watch and learn boys." 

(That Girl by Emei)

She wakes up right before her alarm goes off
Takes herself on her daily walk
70 degrees, with a light breeze
Drinks coffee, black
And she leaves her phone at home
Reading poetry on the coast
Finding inner peace
Yeah, I'm tryna be-

I'm not sure why it surprised me, but she had an amazing voice. Were all of these people just crazy talented? 

That girl, with the perfect hair
And that girl, doesn't really care
And somehow everything goes right for
That girl, that girl, wanna be that girl

The music picked up and she threw her head back over the arm of the couch. 

When I'm runnin' late, I dent my car
And I'd call you, but my phone's not charged
Now, I'm just that girl who tries like
Way too damn hard
And I maxed out all my credit cards
Tryna play dress up to look the part
Now I'm just that girl who tries like
Way too damn hard

For sitting on a couch with her legs on me, she got surprisingly into the song. I was impressed with her breath control in that position, most untrained singers would struggle with it way more. 

When the song concluded she literally mic dropped. It was a clear sign of victory. 

Bakugou didn't seem to care about her little win, still as abrasive as ever. "Hey, that shit's expensive!" 

She just giggled and made a big show of carefully picking it back up and placing it next to her on the arm of the couch. "Told you I didn't have to get up." 

"Yeah, yeah, you proved your point, princess," Sero said back. 

I vaguely heard a car passing on the road at that moment, but didn't think much of it. Until it sounded like it stopped at my house. I was leaping over the back of the couch, throwing Ashido's legs off me as I went, in half a second. 

"Hey!" she shouted in protest, but I was already peaking out the window. 

"My moms home!" I exclaimed, panic clear in my voice and my expression as I turned back to them with wide eyes. 

Everyone was on their feet in an instant. Bakugou was already at the garage door that lead into the house. "Did you leave your window open?" he asked in a rush. 

I nodded. 

"My room," was all he said, running through his house with me hot on his heels. 

"How the hell am I going to get over there?" I asked him, panic clear in my voice. 

He opened his own window, motioning for me to go through. "You can reach the sill easily, it's like two feet away." 

I looked between the houses. He wasn't wrong, but I turned to him with a shallow glare. "If I fall and die, I'm going to haunt your ass for the rest of time." 

"Looking forward to it, Deku," he said with his stupid smirk. "Now get your ass over there before she gets in the house." 

"Fuck, I hate heights," I whispered to myself, swinging one leg over the window sill, then the other. "Don't look down, don't look down," I mumbled. 

I carefully reached one foot over, but I miscalculated and it slipped, causing me to fall forwards. So much for worrying about Shigaraki, I thought. This is how I die.

Before I could fully lose my grip on the window, arms wrapped around me from behind, stopping me decent before it even started. I looked behind me, startled to find Bakugou holding me up, his arms locked around my waist. 

"Stop staring and get in your own fucking room," he growled at me. 

I shook my head and tried to steady my heartbeat as I looked back over to my window. With Bakugou holding me steady, it was much easier to latch my feet into the room and slide through. I let out a breath as I found my balance on my feet again, just as the front door closed. 

"That was way too close," I whisper-yelled at him. 

"You're fine, nerd," he said, his hands on his own window. "Take a breath and relax. You're annoying when you're panicked." 

"Sweet," I said back sarcastically, shutting my curtains as I heard my mom come up the stairs. I pulled my phone out and flopped on my bed, knowing that she was going to come straight to my room first. She was home an hour earlier than normal, probably assuming she was going to catch out and about again. 

"Izuku-" she called, opening my door suddenly. 

"Ever heard of knocking?" I said, not taking my eyes off my phone. 

"You're home," she stated, definitely shocked. 

"Where else would I be?" I refused to look away from the device in my hand. "You banned me from having friends." 

"I didn't ban you from having friends," she said, sounding tired. "Just not-"

"Those friends," I finished for her. "You gave me the same spiel about my last friend group." 

She sighed, leaning against my wall. "I wouldn't have to give you a spiel if you just made friends with-" 

"Do you remember what I was doing before I met my friends?" I asked her casually. 

"Izuku," she said with a sigh. 

The next thing that left my mouth was underhanded and I knew that. I knew it was unfair to throw guilt in her face for my less than stellar elementary and middle school experiences, but I had a faint hope that it would get her to finally leave me alone. "I was trying to kill myself, mom. At twelve. Because I was stuck in my room with no friends, no where to go, nothing to do, and death seemed like a better option than being stuck in that miserable loop. At twelve." I said my whole speech in a factual tone, scrolling through instagram as I went. I had a follow request from Ashido. Cool. 

"Izuku-"

"If you're going to give me the same lecture as always, can you just leave? I get it alright, no rule breaking, no friends, wake up, school, home." I said cutting her off. I didn't want to hear it again. 

She huffed, annoyed with my attitude as always, but she left me alone after. I dropped my face right into my pillow. 

My window was still open. 

I dragged myself from bed, threw my curtains open and sat my ass down in front of the window. Bakugou sat on his bed, his eyes locked on me. Eijirou was leaning against the window frame, his arms crossed and a frown on his lips. Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido stood in the center of the room near the door, clearly more uncomfortable than I was. 

"Hey," I said, resting my arms on the sill and then my head on my arms, just like last night. 

"You wanna talk about it?" Eijirou asked, his frown still present. It didn't look right on him. Nothing but a smile ever did. 

  In an attempt to fix it, I smiled lazily up at him, trying to convince him I wasn't as messed up from the fight as he thought. "Not really." 

"I thought you said your mom was nice?" Kaminari asked in a small voice. He was rubbing at one his arms, probably just itching to fidget how ever he could. One thing I had noticed about the blond was that he was physically incapable of staying still. 

I laughed weakly at the question. "She is, she just... it's like she gets so overprotective and worried about me that she can't see straight. I know she cares about me more than anything, she just..." I trailed off, unsure of what else to say. What else could I say? "She's been dealing with me for a long time. Takes a toll I guess." 

"Your her fucking kid, she signed up for it," Bakugou remarked, his ever present scowl very apparent, even from the distance. 

"Well when she had me, I doubt this is what she saw in our future. Can we just... talk about anything other than my mom?" I asked, my eyes closed as I took a breath. Nothing fucked me up as much as a fight with my mom, and lately that's all we'd been doing. 

"Of course," Ashido said. I heard shifting around from Bakugou's room, probably everyone making themselves comfortable. I didn't bother to reopen my eyes. "Kami, did you finalize your design for the new tattoo?" 

A nervous laugh. "No?" 

A thud, which I assume was Ashido pushing him off a chair or the bed, was heard. "I told you to have it finished by yesterday!" 

"I'm not good with deadlines, you know this!" 

I smiled to myself. It was nice having normalcy around. The groups bantering was comforting in a way. I hadn't had many friends before I met Uraraka and the group back home, so listening to people just be... friends, was actually kind of nice. 

I'm not sure when I drifted off, but eventually I was woken up with a start. A dull pain on the top of my head. 

"What the fuck?" My neck and back were sore from the position I had fell asleep in at the window, so I moved slowly as I started the long process of stretching out the muscles until they felt normal again. 

Eijirou had humor in his eyes as he looked at me from Bakugou's window. "You fell asleep." 

"So you threw a rock at me?" I asked in annoyance, rubbing my sore head. 

"No," Bakugou said, still sat on his bed. I looked around the room, but it seemed like everyone else had gone back to their own homes already. "I threw a drumstick at your head." 

"You put your poor sticks through so much trauma, you know that right?" I asked, readjusting the way I was sitting, finally able to feel my legs again. 

"Is your head okay?" Eijirou asked, looking like he was about to break out in laughter. 

I shot him a harmless glare. "Yes, no thanks to you. I thought you were in charge of controlling that thing?" I nodded to the blond. 

"Shut the fuck up, Deku." 

I ignored the blond in favor of looking outside. It was already dark, stars shining brightly across the sky. "What time is it?" I wondered aloud. 

"Nine thirty," Eijirou answer. "We thought you would wake up on your own, but it didn't look like you were getting up anytime soon, so we kinda had to take things into our own hands." In his defense he wore an apologetic smile that almost made me forgive them. Almost. 

The dull throb at the top of my head stopped though."With a drum stick," I deadpanned. 

"Get over it," Bakugou said in a nonchalant tone. "I didn't even throw it that hard." 

"My head says otherwise." I snipped,  pushing myself away from the window while still using it as a support to haul my sore body up. I was a little shaky on my feet, seeing as everything from the waist down was still pretty numb, but I managed to make my way over to my bed. "I'm going to sleep now, I feel like I got hit by a bus." 

"That'll happen when you fall asleep halfway out a fucking window. How did you even manage that?" I heard Bakugou's voice, but I didn't have the energy to respond. I was so exhausted, even after my nap. I hadn't even closed my window, that's how out of it I was. 

I heard a few more faint voices coming from the next house over, some shuffling, and then the light was flipped off. I was passed out a few moments later.