Chapter Text
Todoroki wakes to talking. He doesn’t know where he is, or why there’s a woman in their house but he’s tired and his eyes feel like they’re full of burning sand. He groans softly and reaches up to rub at his swollen eyelids, processing the mysterious woman’s words.
“-ourse, don’t worry. He’ll be fine. It won’t even be painful to him in the slightest and-” The voice stops before another, much more familiar and comforting one takes it place.
“Oi, Peppermint, you awake?” It’s Bakugou.
Shouto just groans in response, trying to bury his head in the scratchy blankets beneath him that smell like... a hospital. Todoroki’s head snaps up when he remembers where he is, dual colored hair in his eyes and he can’t see because his glasses aren’t on his face and he doesn’t know where he put them.
“Wh- Kirishima. Is he..?” Todoroki sputters, hands reaching out for his glasses. A pair of gloved hands encase his, and Bakugou sets them gently in his waiting palms. Shouto tries not to think about how tender that gesture was and shoves his long hair out of his eyes.
“He’s fine, remember? You saw him last night.” Bakugou’s sharp features come into focus after Shouto gets his glasses on. The blonde’s eyes are red and puffy, and Todoroki imagines his own are exactly the same.
“Yeah, sorry. I forgot.” Todoroki says and looks past Bakugou to the tall woman behind him. She’s got her brown hair pulled back into a loose bun and is wearing a pair of grey scrubs with a white doctor's jacket over them. She must be the woman who practically sewed Kirishima back together.
“This is Dr. Hina Takana. Takana, this is Todoroki Shouto.” Bakugou briefly introduces them. Shouto slowly gets up off the floor, adjusting his rumpled clothes before reaching out to shake Takana’s hand.
“Nice to meet you.” He says politely and Bakugou snorts. “What’s so funny?”
“You look like you got ran over by a car.” The blonde says snarkily. Obviously Katsuki woke up today and chose violence, as per usual.
“So do you.” Shouto shoots back and turns to the doctor, apology ready on his lips before he sees her amused smile.
“Hello, Todoroki. I remember you. Izuku used to be treated here quite a bit before he passed. I’m very sorry about that, by the way. He was a lovely person and an amazing hero.” Takana says and shakes Shouto’s hand briefly.
Todoroki gapes. “Oh uh, yeah. He was. Thank you.”
Takana smiles again before gesturing to Kirishima’s form, still wrapped in so many white bandages and covered in tubes of all sorts. “I was just explaining Kirishima’s injuries to Bakugou here and offering a solution that could get him up and running again in a few days, much faster than conventional medicine would. Would you like me to start from the beginning again?” Takana asks, and her brown eyes show nothing but kindness and understanding to Todoroki and Bakugou both. Shouto doesn’t even know this woman but he already likes her, likens her to their old nurse Recovery Girl.
“Yes, please.” Shouto breathes, and steps closer to Katsuki as Takana explains the depth of Kirishima’s wounds and the measures she had to go through to get him patched up securely. She also goes into detail about a certain girl that is doing quirk training at the hospital for situations like these and when Shouto hears how the girl’s quirk works he blanches.
“Ms. Takana... is this girl named Eri by any chance?” He interrupts, curiosity overwhelming his politeness. Takana seems taken aback by his abrupt question at first, but then she smiles.
“Yes! Her name is Hizashi Eri, and her quirk is Rewind. Do you know her?” Takana asks.
“We both do, actually.” Bakugou says and crosses his arms. “Deku saved her from a villain named Overhaul a couple years back. I know she lives with Aizawa and Hizashi now and I’ve seen her a few times in the last few years when I had severe injuries worth calling her in for.”
“I actually saw her a week ago with Aizawa and Mic at the grocery store. She seemed really happy with her new family.” Shouto adds, and Bakugou seems surprised before giving Shouto a look like ‘tell me about it later?’
Doctor Takana just smiles brightly and claps her hands. “That’s lovely! We couldn’t ask her to be here last night because it was so late, her two guardians don’t allow her to take emergency calls at night on weekdays in order to keep her life as normal as possible. She’ll be here in a few hours to heal Kirishima enough that we will be able to remove majority of the medical equipment and most of the smaller stitches. The rest will be left to heal on it’s own.” Todoroki really is starting to love this lady, maybe if he ever got hurt he could ask for her.
“That’s great and all, but when will Eijirou be okay to leave?” Bakugou says gruffly. He’s still not looking at Kirishima’s sleeping form on the bed, choosing instead to look into his lap or at Takana. It makes Shouto’s heart hurt.
“He should be ok to go home tomorrow evening after we’re sure he’s stable. He’ll be on bed rest for about a week following his release, give or take.” Takana says, and Bakugou still doesn’t look very happy so she adds in: “He’ll wake up a few hours after Eri heals him, you’ll be able to talk to him then.” And that seems to pull Bakugou out of his mood. The blonde’s red eyes light up just enough for Todoroki to notice, and Katsuki’s head swivels to meet his. There’s a relieved little smile ghosting Bakugo’us lips and it eases the pain in the half and half boy’s heart just a bit, enough for it to be bearable again.
“Just a few hours.” Todoroki promises, and Bakugou nods.
---
Shouto feels like shit. Who knew as soon as he’d get his sleep schedule fixed that a night like last night would make him so exhausted? Well, apparently Bakugou knew and that’s why he left Todoroki to sleep until ten o’clock on the cold tile floor of the hospital room. His back hurt, his neck had a massive crick in it, and his eyes were dry and aching from being awake so long, but at least he was able to scrape together a few hours of sleep.
Todoroki didn’t just feel like shit though, he looked like it too. He really got an eyeful when he went to the bathroom after he woke up and his hair was all over the place, lank and unkept. The eyebags were back, but his glasses covered them enough that they are hardly visible, and the scar over his left eye looks like a mottled bruise under the fluorescent lights. Kirishima’s dark grey jacket that Todoroki had snatched on his dash out the door last night was crumpled and messed up, not to mention it had some sort of rusty colored stain on it. Probably villain blood or something.
It’s safe to say that he left the bathroom pretty fast after tying his hair half-up with an elastic and made a beeline for the small hospital cafeteria that Takana had given him the directions to before she left, using Bakugou’s cash and buying them both some water and bland sandwiches. He made sure to grab some hot sauce from the condiments before heading back to Kirishima’s room because god forbid Bakugou eat a sandwich plain.
“M’ back.” Shouto announces as he swings the heavy door open, sandwiches and water in his arms.
Bakugou doesn’t glance up but for a second. “He hasn’t changed.” The blonde chose to plant himself in the chair Shouto almost fell asleep in the night before and he’s watching over Kirishima but not actually watching him, choosing instead to focus intently on the tile between his combat boots. Todoroki has yet to see Katsuki look Kirishima in the face.
And yes, Kirishima hasn’t changed. He’s still the same as the night before, bandaged and weeping from so many lacerations on his face and abdomen. There’s still stained gauze stuffed under white wraps, absorbing all the fluid coming from between the stitches of the deepest cuts and red not unlike Kirishima’s hair blossoms on a few white bandages. The redhead has a breathing mask over his face and his signature spiky hair is messed up, either from fighting or from being transported here Todoroki can’t tell.
So he just hands Bakugou his food and water, dropping a generous handful of spicy sauce packets into the blonde’s calloused hand, then he takes his seat on their messed up futon to unwrap his own sandwich. It’s quiet in the room except for the crinkling of plastic wrappers and the sound of Kirishima’s heart monitor beeping away at a steady 59 BPM, a little higher than it was the night before. And it stays quiet. After eating, Bakugou just sets his head down on the cot right where Todoroki’s was just a handful of hours ago and he miraculously dozes off until Shouto reluctantly shakes him awake.
“Fuckin- what. What do you want, Peppermint?” Bakugou groans and peeks a crimson eye out from between his arms.
“Can I use you phone? We need to tell your friends we’re okay. And my mom-”
Bakugou cuts him off. “Fine. Just do what you want, I don’t care. Wake me up when the kid gets here.” And the blonde just buries his face farther into his arms, but his shoulders remain tight and tense like he’s unwilling to let himself relax. His hero suit strains across his back, still dusty and probably stained all over with Kirishima’s blood and Todoroki wants nothing more than to reach out and comfort him but he knows that Katsuki wouldn’t appreciate that. So he takes Bakugou’s phone and heads out into the hallway so the blonde could have some peace and quiet.
First, Todoroki responds to the two million messages on Bakugou’s phone from Kaminari, Mina, Sero, Ochako and Jiro. Even Tokoyami and Shoji, among others, had sent Katsuki texts asking if Kirishima was okay. Todoroki starts from the most distressed, which is Denki. The electric blonde’s sent maybe thirty texts since the incident broadcasted on the news and called way too many times, enough that Shouto is honestly impressed that Bakugou’s phone isn’t dead. He guesses the only reason that Denki didn’t call more was because he was busy calling Todoroki’s useless phone and Kirishima’s, which is probably still at the agency or destroyed.
As soon as Todoroki starts typing a message to Denki the phone rings, loud and crisp in the quiet hallway. Shouto thumbs the answer call button on Bakugou’s cracked phone screen and immediately he can hear Denki’s hysterical voice through the receiver.
“B-akugou? Bakugou oh my god thank god. I know you don’t like it when I call but I saw the news and-”
“Kaminari. It’s Todoroki.”
“...Todoroki? What are you doing with Bakugou’s phone?” Denki’s voice is high pitched and thin and very obviously upset, so Shouto tries to do his best to explain the situation.
“Kirishima’s fine. He’s stable. Don’t worry, Eri is going to patch him up in an hour or so. Bakugou is also fine, he’s sleeping right now. At least I hope he is. My phone died, so I’m trying to get back to everyone and you seemed like the best place to start.” Todoroki says, sweet and to the point. He hears Kaminari audibly sigh over the receiver and there’s a little hiccup that follows.
“God, thank you so much Todoroki. I can’t tell you how freaked out I was.” Kaminari says gratefully and his voice crackles over the speaker.
“Yeah, he had me worried too.” Shouto agrees.
“Who, Bakugou or Kirishima?” The joking tilt to Kaminari’s voice is back now, albeit a bit wobbly.
“Both?” Todoroki huffs a laugh of his own, the first all day. He’s grateful for Kaminari’s effort, he can tell the blonde is trying to make them both feel at least a little better.
“Yeah, no of course. That was a dumb question, of course it’s both.” Kaminari’s smiling wherever he is because Shouto can practically feel it even from over the phone. He lets a loose smile of his own slip. “Well Todoroki, you’ve probably got a lot of people to call so I’ll leave you alone. Good luck with those two, I’ll try to pop by when Kiri’s back at home so I’ll see you then?”
“Yeah, thanks Kaminari. See you.” Shouto says, and the line drops. That call was okay, nothing he couldn’t handle. Only... like fifteen more to go.
Mina takes it about as well as Kaminari did, so does Sero and Ochako. He talks to Ochako a little more though, just wanting to hear her voice. Iida, of course, sends an email to Katsuki’s private email service and Shouto also answers that to the best of his ability. He goes at it for a while, at least until he calls his mom.
“Hello? Who is this?” Rei’s voice echoes through the receiver. Todoroki almost breaks down right then and there, but he doesn’t.
“Hey, Mom. It’s Shouto.”
His mother’s voice automatically hitches up an octave. “Oh my god, Shouto. I’ve been trying to call you all morning about your friend. Is he okay? Are you?”
“Yeah. We’re all fine, all three of us. He, um. He got hurt really bad, Mom. It scared me.” Shouto doesn’t even care about how wrecked he sounds, and tugs Kirishima’s jacket closer to his face absentmindedly.
“It’ll be okay Honey, just take a deep breath, okay? It’ll be alright.”
So Todoroki does, and his lungs make a little ratting sound in his chest. “Y-yeah. Yeah, sorry.” He clears his throat and changes the subject. “Uh, actually this is Katsuki’s phone, so if you want to save the number...”
“Oh, of course. He was so polite over the phone, I hope he’s okay right now. And honey... it’s okay to be upset. I know you’re probably trying to stay strong for Bakugou but it’s okay for you to be upset too. Don’t try to hide that stuff, that’s where you get into trouble like I did, okay?”
“I’m not-” Shouto starts to deny it but finds it’s impossible. He is upset. He’s really upset. Seeing Kirishima who’s usually so bright and lively just lying there, unmoving and injured to the point of unconsciousness... it’s a lot. And having to comfort Bakugou too... “Sorry, I am. I don’t know why I didn't realize it until you just said that.”
“It’s okay Shouto, don’t apologize. I can hardly imagine what’s going on in your head right now. Just take it easy, okay? Be there in the moment with them, just don’t get too overwhelmed. It’s okay to take breaks. I know it feels like it’s not okay to do that, but it is.” His mother’s kind tone washes through the receiver, slightly crackly but still meaningful. Maybe Shouto was wrong to isolate himself from her after Izuku died, talking like this really helps.
“Okay.” Shouto sighs and runs a hand through his tangled hair. “Okay, yeah. Thanks Mom, I will.”
“Alright Shouto, call me if you need anything okay? Fuyumi also sends good luck.”
“Thank you Mom, so much. I uh, I love you.” The last part kind of slips out of Todoroki’s mouth, and he realizes what he said as soon as Rei does. He hasn’t said that to her since... years ago, really. She’s quiet on the other line and Todoroki shuffles his feet on the white tile.
“I- I love you too Shouto. Stay safe.” Rei replies softly, and her voice is so vulnerable that Shouto thinks he could reach out and grab it. But then there’s two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway and it ruins the moment, so Shouto ends the phone call. He glances up, expecting to see some nurses here to change Kirishima’s bandages again but finds none other than Aizawa Shouta and his adopted daughter Eri.
Aizawa looks as tired as ever, wearing a grey long sleeve under a wrinkled flannel with dark jeans. Shouto doesn’t know how he’s not dying in that outfit from the summer heat outside, but that’s just Aizawa. Shouto only ever saw the man sweat during actual battles.
His daughter Eri, however, was clearly dressed by Mic. Her long hair is knotted in a complicated updo and she’s wearing sparkly leggings and a frilly blue dress with sandals perfect for summer. The pair looks so conflicting against the solid white walls and floor of the hospital that it jars Todoroki from the conversation with his mother, and he pushes all that into the back of his mind to sift through later.
“Hey, kid.” Aizawa calls. “Didn’t expect to see your reclusive ass again so soon.”
“Dad! Another dollar for the swear jar.” Eri scolds, but then she turns to Shouto and her face lights up. “Hi Sho-chan! Are you here for Kirishima?”
“I am, he’s just in there. Bakugou’s in there too, he’s supposed to be sleeping.” Todoroki smiles at her and feels like it appears a little tight. “Also you’re one to talk about being reclusive, Aizawa.” Shouto emphasizes his ex-teacher's name and it earns a slight smirk from the older man.
“Sure, sure. Whatever.” Shouta rolls his bloodshot eyes before looking around. “Have you seen Takana? She was supposed to meet us at the entrance but she wasn’t there so we just kind of snuck in.”
“No, not since early this morning.” Todoroki replies, and Aizawa nods.
“Okay then, I’m going to take Eri here to eat her lunch in the cafeteria and you can wake up Bakugou. Hopefully Takana will show up before we get back, Eri can do the rewind then.”
“Rewind time to help Kirishima-chan!” Eri pumps her fist in the air playfully and even Shouto in his unsettled state manages a smile.
“Of course, go eat lunch with your dad now. Kirishima can wait until you’re finished.” He says, and Eri nods happily before following her dad back the way they came.
---
When Shouto finally steels his nerves enough to re-enter the room he’s greeted with a sleeping Bakugou and a still unconscious Kirishima. The redhead, of course, hasn’t changed a bit. Katsuki’s shoulders are slightly more relaxed, but even in sleep he’s tense. Shouto knows his shoulders will hurt tomorrow.
“Katsuki. Hey,” Shouto says softly, trying to wake him from just sound alone. God knows what the blonde will do if he touches him, he’d probably try to blast Shouto’s head off his body. “Kats, Wake up. Eri’s here. Also, I’m done with your phone.”
It’s probably the Eri comment that wakes Katsuki up, and the blonde groans lowly in his throat before rubbing at his temples. “..fuck. What?”
“Eri’s here.” Shouto repeats and sets Katsuki’s cracked phone down on the cot. “And I called everyone.”
Bakugou just huffs a tired laugh. “How many voice messages did Sparkplug leave?”
“Like thirty? I can’t remember.”
“Mmh... last time he made fifty-two. I thought he would beat his record.” Katsuki runs his hands through his hair roughly, untangling all the clumps of dried blood still in it from the night before
“That’s mean, you should have called him back yourself.”
Bakugou’s ash blonde head dips in shame. “I know. I just... I dunno.”
Shouto sighs. “It’s fine, it’s done now. That’s all that really matters.”
Katsuki grunts in agreement and looks around the empty room. “Where’s the kid? I thought you said she was here.”
“She is, she’s eating lunch with Aizawa first then she’ll be back to heal Kirishima when Takana gets here. I think the doctor has to supervise or something.”
“That makes sense.” And Bakugou still hasn’t looked at Kirishima and it makes Todoroki’s chest ache so badly that he almost throws all caution to the wind and buries his hand in Katsuki’s hair, but he just barely restrains himself. Bakugou would probably blow up his arm if he did that.
“Yeah, I guess.” Shouto says and takes his spot on the futon again until Eri and Aizawa get back. It’s wrinkled and messed up, crusty tears and blood on it from both Bakugou and Todoroki. He wonders if the hospital will make them pay for it. That would be messed up.
A few minutes pass in silence, just the beeping of Eijirou’s heart monitor to keep them company. Then Bakugou takes a deep breath.
“Was that a dream last night or did Aizawa actually ask you to be a teacher at UA?” He asks, voice gruff and tired.
“No, that was real. He did.” Shouto ignores the blood and crap all over the futon and flops down on it.
Bakugou hums. “Good to know. I stand by my answer.”
“You do?” Todoroki buries his face in Kirishima’s jacket as he remembers the late-night early-morning conversation. Bakugou was right to think it was a dream, Todoroki had completely forgotten about It until now. The memory is fuzzy and soft around the edges, like he was half-asleep when it happened.
“What, you think I’m a liar?” Katsuki growls and Shouto hears him shift in the chair, probably crossing his arms.
“No, I never said that. Stop putting words in my mouth.” Shouto mumbles into his sleeve. He’s so done with Bakugou being so prickly, it’s gotten real old real fast. They’re both exhausted and Kirishima is usually the buffer between them.
“Whatever, I still think you’d be good at it. Maybe work on your horrible social skills some more-”
“Shut up, god.” Shouto groans and rolls over on the futon so his back is to Katsuki. “I miss how nice you were when you were half- asleep last night.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing I guess, I don’t know.” Shouto groans again and rubs his hands over his tired face, accidently knocking his glasses askew. He’s going to lay bis head down anyway, so he takes them off and throws them beside the futon on the floor, and maybe that's not the best idea but he’s too tired and bitchy to care.
“Don’t-” Bakugou sighs. “Peppermint I’m sorry. Don’t put those on the floor, someone’s gonna step on them.”
“I don’t care, I’ve been blind before.” Shouto mumbles.
“That’s... fucked up. On like, so many levels.” Katsuki make a little tsk noise, then Todoroki hears the blonde’s heavy combat boots walking over to where he’s laying. Katsuki reaches over him and picks up the discarded glasses. “I’ll hold them then, if you want to be a shit about it.”
Shouto looks over his shoulder. “I’ll stop being a shit if you stop being a conceited asshole.” He smirks, and Bakugou’s blonde eyebrows knit together but a tiny smile plays on his face too.
“C’mon Peppermint. That’s like, my whole brand.”
Shouto shrugs and turns back around. “Hm. Sucks for you then.” They’re playing now, and Shouto much prefers this to the outright asshole-ish behavior they both were exhibiting. He’s tired, and he’d rather trade remarks than insults in this vulnerable state they’re both in right now.
“Oh boo-hoo, shithead. You told your mom yet?”
“Told her what, that you suck? No, she thinks you’re an angel. I don’t know how, but she does.”
Katsuki huffs out a laugh but he looks a little smug that Shouto’s mom likes him so much. “No, idiot. Have you told her about the teaching job?”
“Ah, yeah. She and Fuyumi were actually the first people I told. I kind of wanted to keep it to myself for a while, then a lot happened with you and Kirishima and I just couldn’t find the time to tell you guys.” Shouto admits. He feels kind of guilty, like Bakugou and Kirishima should have known before now, but whatever. What’s done is done.
“What did they say?” Bakugou asks, and he sounds genuinely curious. Todoroki can feel his red eyes focused on the back of his half and half head, burning a set of holes straight to his brain.
“They both said I should just do it. That I need something to do besides clean stuff and go grocery shopping.”
“And what do you think?”
Shouto sighs and flops back over so he can be facing Bakugo. “I told you last night.”
“Well I don’t remember it.”
“Is that what you say to all your one night stands?”
“No asshole, you know I don’t do that kind of stuff. I don’t even kiss Eijirou, it’s platonic.” Todoroki can’t see Katsuki roll his eyes but he can sure feel it.
“It was a joke. You can laugh and joke back, you know.” Shouto mumbles.
“I know.”
“What, you got a permanent stick up your ass or someth-”
Just at that moment the door to Kirishima’s room slings open and in walks Eri in her sparkly tights and blue dress. Aizawa follows, a dark coffee clutched in one hand. Shouto practically jumps out of his skin when the door smacks into the wall and he lets out a little noise of surprise. Katsuki just rolls his eyes and stands to greet their old mentor.
“Sup teach. Sup kid.” Katsuki bows his head slightly in respect.
“Hello problem child number two. You’re looking horrible this evening.” Aizawa bows his head back sarcastically.
“Hi Baku-chan!” Eri says and gives a little wave. She seems to be unfazed by Kirishima’s unconscious body on the cot. Todoroki guesses that even though she’s just a child she’s had to see much worse, after all her quirk really is a miracle. She must have become desensitized to injuries by now. It’s a little sad, but Shouto knows she could have it much worse.
“Who did your hair, kid? It looks wicked.” Bakugou smiles, and even though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes Todoroki knows it’s genuine.
“Papa did! He’s at UA right now teaching. But Kirishima-chan needs help, so I’m here!” Then Eri walks up to Eijirou’s cot with Aizawa close behind. Takana is still nowhere to be seen, but Eri’s here on limited time so Aizawa just lets her go ahead and work her magic.
Before Eri does anything Shouto gets up off the futon, nearly trapping his foot in the crumpled fabric and busting his ass. He migrates to Bakugou’s side and they watch intently as Eri places her scarred hands on Kirishima’s wrecked chest over the bandages and stitches and staples and she glows. The girl’s little horn on her head lights up in tandem and her hair starts to unfurl from her complicated updo like little grey snakes. Bakugou and Todoroki only stare in awe as a few uncovered marks on Eijirou’s abdomen heal closed on their own before their eyes. It’s like watching one of those timeskip flower-growing videos and Shouto can’t look away. Eri keeps going until pieces of Kirishima’s red hair start to lift up and glow all on it’s own, and then she removes her hands. Everything returns back to where it’s supposed to be; Eri’s hair is now undone and Kirishima’s own hair drops back into place, fanning out onto the pillow behind him like a red halo.
Bakugou lets out a breath and it reminds Shouto to breathe as well. He’d been holding his breath and didn’t even know it.
“S’ it done?” The blonde asks and Eri nods.
“Yep, that’s most of it. Takana told me beforehand that she didn’t want me healing everything because then his stitches would hurt to take out.” Eri smiles kindly at Bakugou. “I’m glad Kirishima-chan is okay.”
“Me too kid, thanks.” Bakugou smiles tightly.
They hang around for a while longer until Eri really has to back to school, then it’s just Bakugou and Todoroki and a half-healed Kirishima.
“That was some fairy princess shit. Like Rapunzel or something.” Bakugou mumbles after the door closes behind Aizawa and Eri, and Shouto busts into laughter.
“Rapunzel?”
“Yeah. Y’know, because of the healing and the hair and shit. I dunno, just forget it.”
“No, no I will not just forget it.” Todoroki laughs, and he twists around from where he’s sitting on the edge of Kirishima’s cot staring out the window. “You think that, of all things, is fairy princess shit? There was a girl in class 2-A that made mushrooms sprout all over people. Aoyama had a sparkly belly-button laser. You can make pretty firecrackers with your hands.”
“Fuckin’ so? Also wait, wait. You think my explosions are fucking pretty?” Bakugou almost stutters.
Shouto shrugs. “Yeah. They’re like little fireworks in your hands, Katsuki. Of course I think they're cool.” He says nonchalantly.
“You’re real weird, you know that? First you’re calling me an asshole then you’re calling my extremely deadly quirk pretty.” Bakugou huffs, and crosses his arms on the chair that Todoroki almost fell asleep in last night, the blonde’s practically claimed it as his own at this point.
“Everyone’s quirk can be deadly, but yeah. I’ve seen your interviews with children, they love your quirk. They call it pretty too.” Shouto answers honestly, and turns to look out the giant window again. The streets of Musutafu are busy in the midday heat of the summer, and there’s only a few puffy clouds in the sky. If Todoroki didn’t feel so horrible he’d be able to enjoy the view.
“The adults know better, though. You should too. Like that stunt you pulled last night, wanting me to hold your stupid hand even though you should know better. You should know and-”
“What if I do? What if I don’t care?” Shouto asks, and sees Katsuki’s head swivel around out of the corner of his eye.
“Don’t care? I could blast your arm off!” He says indignantly and throws his calloused hands out away from himself as if to prove a point.
“I told you last night I didn’t care. Stop making such a big deal out of it.” Shouto sighs, and Katsuki looks about ready to pitch an epic shitfit but then...
Then.
The heart monitor that had easily become an everyday noise to both Todoroki and Bakugou starts beating just a little faster, and faster. Enough to catch their attention. Enough to make them realize that Kirishima was waking up. Enough to make them both whip around and focus intently on the redhead’s slack face pull tight in awareness or pain or something.
“Oh god...” Shouto whispers and Bakugou’s hand, for some reason, comes up to grip Todoroki’s right arm which is probably freezing to the touch. Katsuki either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care because Kirishima makes a small noise and Katsuki just squeezes his arm tighter, like he needs to be grounded in this moment.
“Fuck, Eijirou? You awake?” The blonde whispers and at first there’s nothing, but then Kirishima gives a little cough and both Todoroki and Katsuki are so hyper focused on him that they jump at the unexpected sound.
Shouto distantly realizes that a doctor should be here, or at least a nurse. Sure, Katsuki has some medical knowledge but definitely not enough for something like this. “Should we call someone or-”
“Not yet I... can we just wait a few minutes? The fucking nurses and shit will be crawling all over this place soon enough, a few minutes won’t hurt anybody.” Katsuki’s blonde eyebrows knit together and in the split second that Shouto glances over at him he sees the blonde’s red eyes are concentrated on Eijirou for the first time in what feels like days.
“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Shouto agrees and Kirishima coughs again, his breath fogging up the plastic ventilator covering his mouth.
Katsuki takes the hand not covering Todoroki’s arm and reaches out, places it over Eijirou’s bandaged one. “You awake, Eijirou?” He repeats, voice rough and tired.
“Mmh...” Kirishima groans, and Todoroki sees the moment that Bakugou feels the redhead’s hand flex. Katsuki just grips Shouto’s arm harder.
“H-hey-” Bakugo starts and Eijirou’s crimson eyes slide open, blinking against the harsh light streaming in through the window.
“...Kat? Sho...?” Kirishima’s usually clear voice is crackly from misuse, Shouto can only assume he either yelled too much in battle or his quirk fractured his voice box too. Either way it’s horrible to hear.
“Yeah, yeah we’re here.” Then Katsuki looks to Todoroki like ‘say something, dumbass.’
“Hey Eijirou, we were worried about you.” Shouto says and tries to smile, but he feels like it comes out a little wobbly. It seems like enough for Kirishima though, because the redhead attempts to smile back under the ventilator.
“L-like a... a soap opera.” Kirishima laughs softly and the noises aren’t exactly reassuring, but they make Shouto feel a little better, especially when Katsuki starts laughing too. It makes Shouto feel like there’s bubbles in his chest even after everything that’s happened.
“You almost died and we stayed by you all fucking night and that’s the first thing you say? Fucking idiot.” Katsuki guffaws. Shouto chuckles in tandem, the laughing is just too contagious and he’s been too stressed for too long.
“A-aww, you did? I c-can only imagine... how much you- you argued.” And even through the plastic ventilator Shouto can see Eijirou’s shitty smirk. It’s weak, but it’s there. He imagines if Kirishima didn’t almost die last night that Bakugou would be shoving his face back into the bedding.
“It’s hard not to with this conceited asshole.” Todoroki chimes in with a smirk of his own leveled at Katsuki.
“Oi shut the fuck up, both of you. This was supposed to be teary and wholesome and shit, not... whatever this is.” Bakugou chooses to shove at Todoroki’s face instead and Shouto feels the rough callouses of Bakugo’s palm tug at the scarred skin around his eye and laughs.
“I’d r-rather laugh th... than cry.” Kirishima supplies, and Todoroki smiles at him.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Eijirou. We were... we were really, really worried.” Todoroki says, softening the joking mood. Kirishima’s eyes crinkle at the edges when Bakugou just nods in agreement.
“I k-know.. I’m glad too.”