Chapter Text
*Shoto POV*
“Are you ready?”
Staring at the wide, teary blue eyes in front of him, Shoto smiled softly at the little girl he was assigned to.
“Is… is it gonna hurt?” She asked quietly, voice trembling in fear.
“No sweetie it won't hurt,” He explained, hand gently running through the child's loose blood locks. “Do you want me to count down from three before I give you the shot? That way you know what to expect.”
“Yeah…”
Humming in agreement, Shoto reached over and grabbed an alcohol packet and a band aid. Ripping open the packet to the alcohol wipe, Shoto used the small wipe to clean the child's arm.
“Okay, ready?” He asked. Receiving a nod in reply, Shoto picked up the syringe and removed the cap. The syringes were pre-packed with the correct amount of vaccine, so he didn’t have to add anything into the syringe.
“One, two, three-” Sticking the needle in the child's upper arm, Shoto quickly administered the vaccine before removing the syringe and capping it once again. Placing the band aid on the child arm, Shoto threw his hands up in excitement.
“And we’re done!” He announced happily smiling down at the child. Turning in his chair, Shoto properly disposing of the used needle in a biohazard waste container along with the alcohol wipe. “The shot didn’t hurt, did it?”
“No, no it didn’t hurt! It didn’t hurt!” The child exclaimed excitedly, beaming brightly at Shoto.
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Shoto admitted, hands reaching out to pick the child up off the examination table and set her on the ground. “Let's go back to your mom now, okay?”
Receiving a nod in reply, Shoto grabbed the child’s hand in his own and slowly started walking towards the tent currently acting as a waiting room. There was a sudden flu outbreak in the area recently, so the hospital was offering free immunizations to anyone who chose to receive them. Since he’s good at working with children, Shoto had been drafted onto the team that would help run the event.
It was amusing that they’d put him of all people to work with kids.
Humming softly to himself, Shoto led the small child next to him back towards her mother. The child had been anxious when Shoto first approached her, scared to leave the waiting room by herself, but she was much calmer now.
Maybe he was good at working with kids.
“Are you going to do anything special today after you leave here?”
Waving at one of his coworkers who was assigned to work specifically with the elderly, t he poor bitch was definitely going to have some wild stories once they both finished their shift - old people say the most out of pocket shit -, Shoto continued down his path.
“Uh huh, momma is gonna take me to get ice cream after this.”
Gasping in excitement, Shoto looked down at the small child. “That sounds wonderful! You must be excit-”
Feeling the ground suddenly shake, Shoto yelped in shock when he almost lost his balance.
“What the fu-” Letting go of the child’s hand, Shoto quickly kneeled onto the shaking ground and pulled the child to his chest to protect her. Shielding her as best as he could, Shoto tried to block out her terrified screams. Feeling the tremors finally stop, Shoto looked towards the sky and saw a trail of smoke entering the air.
Seeing a paper shikigami float near the smoke - Sorcerer must be nearby -, Shoto let out a long string of curses. “Shit, shit shit shit shit,” picking the child up in his arms and running, Shoto made his way towards the tent being used as a welcome center.
A villain attack. They were currently being subjected to a villain attack, and this was the worst possible time for one to occur. There were hundreds of helpless civilians in the area waiting for immunizations, there were too many possibilities for everything to go so very wrong .
He wished he dragged Bao’s lazy ass out of his apartment this morning.
Finally reaching the tent, Shoto breathlessly hushed the child in his arms. “Shhh, shhh sweetie don’t cry we’ll be okay.”
Glancing around the area, Shoto looked for a blonde haired woman. He had only seen the child’s mother in passing, but he knew she should still be in the area.
No parent would leave their child behind.
“April!” Making eye contact with the child’s mother, Shoto rushed towards her.
“I NEED HELP!” Shifting his gaze, Shoto peered at a young black haired teenager sitting next to a blue haired girl. The blue girl was trapped underneath part of a collapsed building, and there was an excessive amount of blood pooling around her. Shoto couldn’t tell if the blood was coming from here, or the blue haired girl.
It wasn’t a good sign either way.
Oh for fuck’s sake these are children, they’re too young for this.
“Can you take your daughter and run?” Quickly passing the little girl over, Shoto stopped when he felt a small hand grab his shirt.
“Where are you going?” April asked in fear, blue eyes wide and terrified. “It’s scary over here, we need to go away.”
Removing the child’s hand from his shirt, Shoto smiled softly and moved April's messy blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m not scared,” Shoto replied gently, making eye contact with her. “And I’m a nurse, I need to help people who are hurt. You and your mom need to go somewhere safe though, it’ll be bad if you get hurt too.”
“Okay…” Smiling softly at her, Shoto quickly encouraged the girl's mother to run away. Ensuring she was actually leaving - thank god the woman didn’t have a damn hero complex like some civilians - Shoto ran towards the two teenagers he saw previously.
“Are you both injured? I’m a nurse, I can help.”
Kneeling in front of them, Shoto quickly glanced at the part of the building on top of the blue haired girl.
Her hair color reminded him of Bao’s.
If the child dies he won't forgive himself.
“I’m fine,” the black hair girl cried out, eyes filled with tears. “But she’s bleeding out! I don’t know what to do!”
Analyzing the situation, Shoto quickly sprung into action. He wasn’t a registered nurse for nothing. “We need to move as much of the rubble off of her as possible,” Shoto instructed. “Move the pieces that you can, but don’t touch any of the pipes. One of them impaled your friend, and unless you want her to bleed to death the pole needs to stay where it is and not move . Do not, under any circumstances, pull the pole out . Do you understand me?”
Receiving a fearful nod, Shoto quickly started removing the larger pieces of rubble while the other girl moved the smaller ones. Clearing a path, Shoto was able to see the specific pole that had injured the girl. Working his way around it, Shoto noticed that most of the rubble was settled on top of a large slab.
“How strong are you?” Shoto demanded.
“I-I don’t know. I can maybe lift up to 50 pounds?”
Running through the risks of his idea, Shoto decided the best course of action. “Most of the rubble is stacked on top of this slab here. I’m going to lift the slab up, and I need you to drag blue hair out from under it. The pole hurting her isn’t attached to the rest of the rubble, so as long as you’re quick we should be able to minimize the damage and save her.”
Shifting his gaze to the other girl, Shoto looked at her seriously. “Do you think you can move her?”
“I-I’m her girlfriend,” she choked out. “I’ll make sure it gets done regardless of if I can do it or not.”
Smiling encouragingly, Shoto nodded. “That’s the spirit.”
Quickly moving towards the rubble, Shoto took in a deep breath. “Move her on the count of three got it? Ready, one, two, three-”
Lifting the large concrete slab - god this shit was fucking heavy, he swears he's gonna start working out regularly again after this shit - Shoto held the lab up until the blue haired girl was successfully away from the rubble. Dropping the slab, Shoto shifted towards the other two girls to finally access the rest of the damage. Hissing in distaste, Shoto realized the girl wouldn’t last long enough to make it to a doctor.
Shit, she's lucky he's the one who came to help.
Taking in a deep breath, Shoto placed his hand over the blue haired girl's stomach and summoned his quirk. Feeling his powers respond, Shoto sighed in relief. The child's injuries should have been excessive enough, but it was still good to confirm he'd be able to save her with his quirk. Glancing towards the black hair girl who was wiping away her tears, Shoto internally apologized for what he was about to ask her to do.
“I need you to remove the pole.”
“What?” The girl said in shock, brown eyes widening in horror. “Didn’t you say to absolutely not do that, like ever???”
“That was before when I couldn’t assess all of the damage from her injuries. I have a healing quirk, and I’ll be able to heal her fully, but I can’t heal her if the pole is still impaling her stomach.”
“What if she bleeds out before you heal her?” The girl asked suddenly. "Or if you're quirk works too slow?"
“I promise you that won’t happen,” Shoto stated seriously. “I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if I didn’t know for 100% certainty that I would be able to heal her. I’m not into traumatizing kids, it’s not really my thing.”
Receiving a teary laugh, the other girl wiped her eyes. “Okay, okay if you promise it'll work then I’ll do it. I trust you.”
Placing his hand on the blue haired girl's stomach, Shoto allowed his quirk to manifest in his hand. “Pull it out on three okay. One, two, three-”
Quickly tugging the pole out, Shoto pushed a large burst of energy out of his hands, healing the girl's skin milliseconds after the pole was removed. Utilizing his quirk, Shoto focused on healing all of the internal injuries the child had first before he tackled the external ones. There were a lot of internal damage being corrected right now, being impaled had fucked with many of her organs. She was lucky Shoto had found her, a normal healing quirk wouldn’t have fixed shit.
She would have died and left her girlfriend all alone.
“Someone's coming this way! I think he’s a villain!,” the black haired girl said suddenly, hand reaching out to hold the blue haired girls.
“You need to go!” Shoto hissed, gaze focused on what he was doing. He’s managed to heal most of the damage, but he needed more time if he wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any lasting damage on the kid. He only needed a few more minutes.
God please give it to him.
“I’m not leaving without her!” She sobbed, eyes defiant. “Especially not if you’re staying, she’s my girlfriend, you should leave. You’ve done enough to help us!”
“Absolutely the fuck not,” Shoto disagreed. “You’re fucking children, I’ll be damned if I leave you both behind because of a psychotic bitch who decided to ruin everyone’s day. Your girlfriend is my patient, so until I stabilize her that villain can kiss my fucking ass.”
Pushing his quirk to its limit, Shoto sighed when he finally finished healing the girl. All of her injuries were gone, and she was the prime example of health now.
“Okay, she’s stabilized. We’re good to-”
“Watch out!”
Feeling something make impact with his side, Shoto felt all of the air leave his lungs at once when he was harshly thrown to the side. Hitting the ground hard, Shoto struggled to breathe when he felt a hand suddenly grab the front of his shirt and haul him up.
Fuck that hurt.
“Well, aren't you just a cutie?”
Glaring at the unhinged piece of shit holding him in the air, Shoto growled. “Fuck off asshat.”
Glancing behind the villain, Shoto made eye contact with the black haired girl. Eyes demanding her to leave, she gave him a quick fearful nod before shifting her girlfriend onto her back and running away.
Thank god.
He'd be pissed if he healed someone just to turn around and have to do it again.
Internally sighing in relief, Shoto stared at the bitch holding him. Receiving a terrifyingly bright smile, Shoto wished once again that he had brought Bao with him today. Despite how much they argue, they truly did love each other.
She would have cut off this man’s dick and beat him with it for hurting Shoto.
“Someone has a smart mouth,” the villain whispered, pulling Shoto closer to him.
Baring his teeth in warning, Shoto snorted. “And you obviously don’t know what mouthwash is. Did you kiss your mother this morning with that nasty ass breath you have?”
Back harshly hitting the ground again, Shoto felt his vision go out for a few seconds when he first made impact with the ground. Praying he wouldn't have any brain damage, he felt a large hand wrap around his neck and squeeze. Grabbing the villain's hand with his own and viciously kicking at the villain in an attempt to free himself, Shoto once again wished that he hadn't neglected going to the gym for so long. He was significantly weaker than he used to be, and the villain was easily overpowering him.
It didn't help that the motherfucker was built like fucking donkey kong.
Realizing his kicks were useless, Shoto removed one of his hands to grab the pocket knife he kept hidden in his back pocket. Removing it and flicking open the blade, Shoto stabbed the villain in his right eye, pushing the blade down as far as it could go.
He may not be as strong but he would be damned if he didn’t fight back.
Feeling his neck finally be released, Shoto stood up and ran away from the villain while he howled in pain. Running away from him, Shoto hissed when his injured body had a hard time keeping up with the pace he needed it to go. Hearing a war cry come from behind him, Shoto felt his eyes grow larger as he watched the villain raise something and throw it in his direction with perfect accuracy despite being down one eye.
The villain must have some kind of targeting quirk.
Just his fucking luck.
“SHOTO!”
Bracing himself for the impact, Shoto felt two arms quickly wrap around his waist before he was twirled around suddenly. Making contact with a hard chest, Shoto sighed when he recognized the voice of the person holding him. Wrapping his arms around them and attempting to regulate his breathing, Shoto let out a teary laugh at the current turn of events.
“Shoto, hey are you okay? God you look like shit.”
Laughing hysterically, Shoto truly couldn’t believe the situation he was in. If someone would have told him a month ago that pretty fashion disaster that ended up in the ER three to four times a week would save him during a villain attack, Shoto would have laughed in their face and told them to fuck off.
It was ironic that he was always being saved by disaster 10's.
“M’fine, Shu. I’m okay…”
Quickly wiping his eyes - god he almost died - Shoto glanced up at Shu before he paused in shock.
“Shu…?”
Staring at the man currently shielding him, Shoto blinked in shock.
There’s no fucking way.
“Hi,” Shu whispered softly, hand gently cradling Shoto’s face and wiping away one of his tears. Mouth moving with no words coming out, Shoto flinched when someone suddenly appeared beside them.
“Sorcerer! We could use some help!”
Seeing the conflicted expression on Shu’s face, Shoto gasped when the other man suddenly picked him up bridal style and started running. Leaving the place where the villain was, Shu ran towards a nearby area sectioned off for emergency medical relief and gently placed Shoto down on one of the beds set up.
“Stay here I’ll… I’ll be right back okay.”
Staring at Shu silently, Shoto nodded at the other man before he kissed him on his forehead and ran off.
Wait... kissed him on hi fore-
What the fuck-
What the fuck just happened.
Shu was Sorcerer, and Sorcerer was Shu. The hero who saved him weeks ago was also the same idiot who ended up in the ER most days of the week because he kept getting injured in ridiculous ways.
There’s no way Bao’s bitch ass conspiracy theory from yesterday was right.
Sitting in shock, Shoto jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
“Shoto! You’re okay!” Turning to look beside him, Shoto relaxed when he made eye contact with his coworker. “Jesus christ dude," she said in shock, fingers gently touching Shoto's neck. "What kind of kinky ass shit did you get involved in.”
Snorting loudly, Shoto smacked his coworker on her shoulder. “I got roughed up by a villain, but it’s okay because I got his ass pretty good.” Glancing around the area, Shoto noticed how overwhelmed the medical staff was right now. “Do you need any help healing people? You guys look overwhelmed.”
“We do if you don’t mind helping,” she admitted honestly, lowering her hands back towards her sides. “If you’re not too roughed up, we have some severe cases that your quirk would be helpful for. That villain roughed you pretty good by the way, those bruises forming are gonna be nasty to deal with.”
Standing up and ignoring the dull pain throughout his body, Shoto nodded at her. “Yeah I know, it'll be fine though. And I can help, just lead the way.”
—
*Shu POV*
Returning to the fight, Shu quickly jumped beside Ike.
“What are we working with?” He asked seriously, analyzing the situation in front of them. Vox and Luca were currently distracting the villain by taking turns attacking him. Vox was wielding a katana, while Luca was fully shifted in his lion form.
“It looks like the villain has a projectile targeting quirk,” Ike explained. “As long as he identifies who or what the target is, the object will always hit it with 100% accuracy.”
Making a noise of acknowledgement, Shu narrowed his eyes when he noticed the villain's bloody eye.
“What’s wrong with his eye?” Shu asked suddenly. “Is it- is it missing?”
Glancing towards Ike who shrugged at him, Shu shifted his gaze to Mysta who was on the other side of Ike. “Apparently the guy you saved stabbed him in the eye and ran away when he threw him down and tried to get on top of him,” Mysta explained. “The only reason we were able to figure out what his quirk was is because the dude took one of his eyes out. It’s brutal but we kinda owe him.”
Mind processing their words, Shu felt his world stop.
The villain tried to what?
“He tried to climb on Shoto?” Shu whispered dangerously, voice filled with the promise of pain and suffering to those who angered him.
Blinking in confusion, Mysta narrowed his eyes at Shu. “Shoto? Wait you know that guy who-”
Jumping back abruptly, Shu, Mysta, and Ike all cleanly avoided one of the projectiles the villain tossed in their direction.
“BRING HIM BACK HERE, BRING THAT LITTLE BITCH BACK. I’LL KILL HIM FOR WHAT HE DID.”
Remembering Shoto’s watery eyes, and the way he tightly burrowed himself in Shu’s chest, Shu felt something inside of himself snap . Yellowish purple eyes beginning to glow , Shu allowed his anger to manifest throughout his quirk, amplifying his strength.
He’d be damned if he let some halfwit villain hurt Shoto twice.
Summoning one of his strongest shikigami, Shu used his powers to slam the villain into the ground. Holding the villain there, Shu manifested his purple cords to tie the villain up and keep him from moving. Walking towards the villain, Shu bared his teeth at him in anger. “No,” he whispered quietly. “you won’t.”
Kicking the villain in the head, Shu successfully knocked him unconscious. Turning to look towards his teammates, Shu was met with three confused but concerned human gazes, and a proud roar from a lion.
“Holy shit Shu what the fuck?” Vox asked in confusion, face genuinely concerned. "You're never this rough with villains in the field. What happened? Why are you mad?"
Ignoring each of their worried looks, Shu allowed his quirk to die down before he broke out into a full blown sprint.
“Shu?”
“Dude-”
“Shu where are you go-”
Running away from the scene, Shu quickly returned to the place where he left Shoto. “Shoto, are you okay-” Noticing the bed where he left Shoto was empty, Shu blinked in confusion and looked around. He knew the other boy had been injured, but he didn’t know the extent of Shoto’s injuries.
Oh god what if he was dying.
“Shoto!” Shu yelled worriedly, walking aimlessly around the medical area. “Shoto, where are you?”
“Over here!”
Following the sound of the other boy's voice, Shu peeked into a mostly empty medical tent. Realizing Shoto was the only one in the tent, Shu released the breath he didn’t realize he was holding and approached the other boy.
“Shoto, what are you doing?” Shu asked worriedly.
“Oh, hi Sh-Sorcerer,” Shoto corrected. “The medical staff were overwhelmed so I was helping heal people.”
Eyeing Shoto’s injuries warily, Shu frowned at the dark finger shaped bruises on Shoto’s throat and the various scrapes and cuts lining his arms. The other boy probably had more injuries that were covered by his scrubs.
The thought upset him.
Frowning slightly, Shu looked at Shoto. “Why are you helping others instead of focusing on yourself?” He asked Shoto tiredly. “You're injured pretty badly, you probably shouldn’t be moving around like this.”
Snorting in reply, Shoto raised his eyebrow at Shu. “I don’t want to hear that from the guy who ends up in the ER like four times a week. Besides, I’m a nurse with a healing quirk Sh-Sorcerer. Healing other people in need will always come before my own needs. I’ll be okay.”
Blinking in surprise, Shu saw Shoto in a new light. “You have a healing quirk?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know?” Shoto responded. “Shu, why in the world do you think I work the graveyard shift at the Emergency Room? People’s injuries are usually more severe during the night, and my quirk is what can decide between life and death for someone. I’m not working that shift because I enjoy it.”
Thoughts going a mile a minute, Shu blurted out the first thing his overwhelmed mind could think of. “You’ve never healed me before though.” Blushing in embarrassment, Shu watched Shoto’s face crinkle up in amusement.
“You never fit the requirements before silly, there was no need for me to use my quirk on you.”
“Requirements?”
“Yeah,” Shoto whispered softly, “my quirk is called Second Chance. I can fully heal people no matter what their injuries are, but it only works on people who are already half dead or on the verge of death. It's only really useful in emergency situations. Here, let me show you.”
Taking in a deep breath, Shoto placed his hand on the center of his own chest. Waiting curiously, Shu watched as Shoto’s hand began to glow purple, and the bruises around his neck slowly faded away. Hand returning to normal, Shoto blinked slowly.
“Oh, I was more injured than I thought.” Mouth opening slightly in shock - god that was one hell of a fucking quirk - Shu watched as Shoto stepped towards him and placed his hand on Shu’s chest as well.
“Let me check if I can heal you too.” Closing his eyes once again, Shu felt a warm sensation spread through his body at the same moment Shoto’s hand started glowing. Sensation dying down, Shu peered into Shoto’s eyes embarrassed.
“I didn’t know my injuries were that bad,” he admitted quietly.
“Sure you didn’t number four, it was mainly internal injuries after all. Those are hard to identify when you’re just looking at someone.” Humming in agreement, Shoto raised his hand from Shu’s chest to his face and gently cupped it identical to the way Shu held his earlier. “Do you need me to heal your friends too?”
“Oh, I er- ugh, no,” Shu denied firmly. “No, no you don’t really have to- I’m, umm, I’m sure they’re… fine?”
Patting Shu’s cheek lightly, Shoto smiled. “Sure they are sweetie, let's go make sure okay.”
Letting go of Shu, Shoto walked out of the tent and started heading in the direction he assumed the other hero’s would be. Quickly following behind him, Shu desperately hoped the others had already left the area.
He wouldn’t put it past Mysta and Vox to make fun of him once they realized who Shoto was.
“Really Shoto I’m sure they’re fine. Your probably tired so you don’t need to-”
“If their definition of fine is the same as yours then that just makes me want to find them more. And I’m not that tired Sh-Sorcerer. I can use my quirk a few more times and still be fine.”
Mind viscously trying to think of an excuse as to why Shoto can’t meet them, Shu noticed Luca’s large form in the distance. It looks like he shifted back into a human for the time being.
Hopefully Shoto wouldn’t recognize hi-
“Hey, isn’t that them over there?” Well shit. “The blond one, I forgot his hero name sorry, he looks familiar though, is literally covered in blood and gashes. I’m going to heal him.”
Heal him? Does that mean he’s going to touch Luca’s chest too?
Feeling jealousy well up within him, Shu pushed the feeling down. Reaching out to grab the other boy before things could actually go south, Shu hesitated a second too long to be able to successfully hold Shoto back from meeting his team members. “Shoto wait-”
“Hey, blondie.” Watching as four sets of eyes turned towards them, Shu smiled awkwardly at his friends while standing beside Shoto. “Give me your hand.”
“Oh,” Luca said happily. “Sure!”
Holding Luca’s hand in his own, Shoto activated his quirk and quickly healed the other man.
Huh, he guesses Shoto doesn't have to touch people's chests in order to use his quirk.
Why did he touch Shu's then.
Luca smiled. “Oh, thanks for the heal.”
“Hmmm.”
“Holy shit,” Mysta said suddenly, eyes taking in Luca’s now healed form. “Dude, you have a healing quirk!”
“Great deduction sherlock,” Shoto deadpanned, eyes scanning the rest of them. “You too red highlights, give me your hand so I can heal you. I can try to heal you as well Remembrance, but you may not need it. Your injuries don’t look that bad. Foxxy you definitely don’t need to be healed so don’t even ask.”
Snapping his mouth shut, Mysta frowned. Taking Vox’s hand and activating his quirk once again, Mysta stared at Shoto curiously as the other man used his quirk.
“How’s your quirk work?” Mysta questioned. “I’ve never seen a healing quirk this strong that doesn't have some kind of drawback.”
Ignoring Mysta’s question, Shoto let go of Vox and offered his hand to Ike.
“Ask Shu about it,” Shoto replied. “I’ve explained my quirk like seven times today already and I’m too tired to do it again.”
Placing his hand in Shoto’s, Ike frowned. “You know Shu’s name?”
“Yup,” Shoto admitted. “I see him in the ER like four times a week, why wouldn’t I? Also you’re good Remembrance, your injuries aren’t actually that bad. Just take some painkillers and get a good night sleep and you’ll be fine.”
“ER?” Vox questioned. “Do you mean the Emergency Room?”
“Yeah-”
“OHHHH,” Mysta interrupted. “YOUR THE HOT NURSE SHU KEPT HIDING INJURIES FROM US TO GO SEE.”
Feeling his face heat up in embarrassment, Shu glared at Mysta. “Mysta,” Shu hissed. “Shut up.”
“Wait-” Shoto said suddenly. “You were hiding injuries during your patrols? Is that why you were always so injured whenever you came in?”
Yellowish purple eyes meeting dark purple ones, Shu looked away in embarrassment. “I uhh-”
“Seriously Shu?” Shoto deadpanned. "Do you know how dangerous that is? You could have got lasting damage from some of those injuries if you waited to long to seek medical attention."
Wincing slightly, Shu laughed awkwardly. “I'm sorry. I just… wanted to see you… that’s all.”
“See me?” Shoto asked in surprise. “Why?”
“Oh, haha, you know…” Shu choked out, “because… I, umm-”
“Oh for fucks sake,” Ike interrupted. “He’s in love with you.”
“Ike!”
Ike narrowed his eyes. “No dont Ike me, this was getting ridiculous Shu. Just ask him out so you’ll stop doing stupid shit. You’re the number four hero, you can’t afford to keep getting distracted like this.”
Shooting Ike a borderline begging expression, Ike sighed before grabbing Luca and Vox’s hands. “Come on everyone let's go address the press, the damn vultures probably want to know what happened with the villain today.”
“What?” Mysta whined. :But I wanted to watch Shu-”
“Mysta,” Ike whispered threateningly.
“Yes sir,” Mysta repeated, voice completely serious. “I’m coming sir.”
Watching them walk away, Shu placed his head in his hands and groaned.
This was a fucking mess.
“So…” Shoto whispered teasingly. “You think I’m hot, and you do stupid shit because you like me.”
Feeling his face burn in the safety of his hands, Shu sighed. “Yeah… I do,” Shu agreed. “But it’s more than that actually. You’re like... a breath of fresh air after being trapped underneath the ocean for years. I didn't know you were everything I needed until I finally reached the surface and realized what had been missing."
Blinking in surprise, Shoto's began to blush. “You… don’t really know me though,” Shoto responded awkwardly. “You only know a part of me, the nurse version of me.”
“Yeah... but I’m willing to learn about every part of you. I want to know you.”
“I’m not- I can’t-” running his hands through his hair, Shoto let out a loud sigh. “Shu, I can't be with you. I can't date a pro hero, too much is at risk."
"I can protect you if that's what your worried about," Shu replied. "I promise you won't become a target or anything like that."
"No that's not what I..." Taking in a deep breath, Shoto looked Shu in his eye. "I'm only admitting this because I trust you not to throw me under the bus, but I run an illegal underground hospital where I heal people for free. I’m friends with vigilantes and I’m their go to healer. I can’t risk being in a relationship with a pro hero because it could ruin everything I’ve worked so hard to build. That hospital is my everything Shu, I'm not willing to give it up.”
Gently prying Shoto’s hand from his hair, Shu smiled. “You know, having a pro hero as a boyfriend is a great way to remove any suspensions from yourself.”
Shu watched as Shoto’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “You can’t be serious?”
Cute.
“I am,” Shu admitted easily. "It's the truth. No one investigates hero's family matters, especially high ranking hero's, because they have enough money to just sweep everything under the rug. Even if someone finds proof of what you're doing, no one will act on it because they'll be too scared that I'll retaliate."
“You want me to use you as a shield," Shoto repeated. "Why?”
“Truthfully,” Shu began, “those of us in the hero society, well at least the people in my inner circle, have known about what you do for a while now. You operating the hospital was part of the reason why I stopped to save you that day when you were tied up in the alleyway. I- I wanted to get to know the person who would risk so much to save people without gaining anything in return.”
Placing his hand on Shoto’s cheek, Shu gave him a gentle smile. “You’ve actually healed Luca a few times too you know, and some other Pro heroes in disguise. Luca ends up doing a lot of investigations in sketchy areas, and your clinic has saved him more than once. We would never tell the commission about what you do because you’re doing so much good for the world, Shoto. There are numerous ways to be a hero, and you prove that through your actions everyday. Especially since I now know that you personally heal everyone that comes with your own quirk. You must have excellent control over it to utilize it so often and so precisely.”
Averting his gaze, Shoto glanced at the ground. “Blondie huh... I thought that bitch looked familiar,” Shoto whispered quietly, face slightly red. “Are you sure you’d be okay with someone like me though? I don’t have much to offer.”
Shaking his head in disagreement, Shu leaned down and kissed Shoto on his cheek. “You are for more than you perceive yourself to be. Anything I would want from you, you are already offering, and it is more than enough. Besides, living out a while lifetime with you seems like a pretty good deal to me."
Resting his forehead against Shoto's, Shu chuckled softly. "Do you… would you like to go on a date with me?” Shu asked. “Tomorrow? After we’ve both rested some.”
“Yeah,” Shoto whispered breathlessly. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
---
Breaking News:
"Unknown hero saves impaled teenager from tragic fate. Live video footage from nearby shows how the entire situation went down. Who is this mystery hero, and when will he come forward and identify himself? Stay tuned to find out more information on-"
"Uhh dude," Mysta said hesitantly, "is that you?"
Glancing towards the TV, Shoto nodded. "Oh, yeah that's me. The injury was pretty nasty too, if anyone else would have saved her she would have died. She's lucky my quirks the way it is."
"Okay but like, what is your quirk," Mysta asked curiously. "Because no one's told me yet."
Glancing at Mysta, Shoto raised an eyebrow. "Shu didn't tell you?"
"No."
"Huh," Shoto responded. "Then go ask Luca, he ends up in my underground clinic often enough to know what my quirk is."
"Oh, okay, I'll go ask him then." Getting up in leaving the room, Mysta threw the door back open and looked at Shoto in shock. "You're the one who runs the clinic???"