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Izuku didn’t know what else to do. There was nothing he could do anymore.
Only pain and regret were left. If he had only been a little faster. Would have been a little more alert, the child wouldn't have been bruised. But he was dismissed for this day. Other heroes and heroines would take on the rest, as well as the nurses and doctors did everything they were able to keep that child alive.
He thought it was his and his fault only that the kid might not make it.
And somehow he knew it wasn't but he couldn't really help but thinking it was his fault. An outright gray day ending with a downpour in the late afternoon. Matching his mood. A distant roll of thunder made his way into town.
Fortunately he was almost home. He stopped for half an hour to shower at home at his mom's to at least wash off the blood that wasn't his, at any rate most of it. He knew Shouto would only worry again, so he avoided coming home right after work.
Today was Shouto's day off, they promised to each other to go out this night but with this inclement weather it seemed like the both of them would prefer to spend their time at home cozy in a pile of coverlets and cushions cuddling instead of leaving into this freezing night in the midst of autumn.
When he arrived with the bus it was almost dark outside. Since he hadn't got the chance to look on his phone once in a while he took a glance now.
4 missed calls, 3 text messages.
Everyone of them by Shouto. Usually it was his fad to worry about the other too much but since he wasn't home the entire time without telling the other it'd be later again, it was fine. A chilly breeze was blowing furiously through the streets getting him entirely soaked at his back. What did he shower for again?
One hand typing the words into his cell phone he announced he would be home in ten minutes. He was almost there when he saw that the lights were still turned on. A warm glow from the inside that welcomed him at the end of a lengthy dragging on day, there is no better feeling than knowing someone waiting for you. A good smell filled his runny nose and a frail smile climbed up his red glowing cold cheeks.
His legs felt heavier than usual when he climbed up the stairs to their apartment. If it was because of his heavy mood or him being soaking, he didn't mull over it. They live on the fourth floor of this apartment complex and it really isn't extraordinarily big, neither has it really tall walls but it's the attic floor, so it has some roof slopes and it's rather easy to climb out the window sometimes instead of leaving through the front door if it is an emergency.
After a while of rummaging in his trouser pockets for his keys he fumbles it into the keyhole to just run into Shouto at this very moment. Izuku immediately pulls him into a deep hug.
“You were faster than I thought, I heard you from the kitchen. Welcome home.”
“I'm home.”
After a while Izuku just didn't want to let go and Shouto's worries kept up.
“You're drenched. And if you don't let me go soon I'll be drenched too.”
A disapproving murmur followed.
“How about we go get a towel to get you dry?”
“...”
The red and silver haired boy sighed.
Even though the house is nice and warm Izuku just feels dazed. After his back got drenched the rain came in buckets, so he was completely wet through. He let the umbrella drop down and carried it just home leaving it outside to dry in front of the entrance. Beads of water dripping down his clothes, his thick hair down to the wooden floor.
“Well, then there's no helping it.”
Shouto stayed in this soaking hug and slowly walked in baby steps pulling the clingy one backwards heading through their little flat in the direction of their bedroom. Arrived in front of the shelf, two pulls later he just took Izuku's dripping wet sweater off and rubbed the blue and green striped towel over the green head of hair.
“Hey Cuddles, you're okay now?”
“Yeah, almost.”, he hummed.
“Then let me get the soup done and we get something in your stomach, okay?”, Shouto suggests. He was looking into Izuku's eyes with concern, lifting his face for a soft kiss. Cold lips that met warmth in a while again.
Shouto put his meanwhile damped cardigan together with Izuku's sweater on the heater to dry. He slipped through the door making his way to the kitchen.
He really wondered what was up this day with Izuku but after all it might have just been a hard day on him. He knew that too well that saving people day by day didn't make it easier with every day to come because the cases most of the time vary. It wasn't easy to shoulder people's fears and calm them down in a situation you'd most likely panic. Also it wasn't easy to fill in the hopes of people to get saved. Being a hero wasn't a child's play like they imagined in their childhood. It was hard work. He knew that as a fellow hero.
He went back to the kitchen to set the table in their living room. After he brought the big pot to the table Izuku came back changed into dry clothes again with a towel around his neck for his wet hair. The smell of curry spread into the room as Shouto raised the lid. Rice was already on the plates when Izuku arrived. It made Izuku wonder how he didn't notice that he's been hungry for some time now.
“So, what happened?”, Shouto began as he filled the other half of Izuku's soup bowl with the ladle, passed it to his companion before going for his own. This time it was Izuku who sighed.
“Well...”, he let out another breath he didn't know he kept.
“There was this incident this noon and nobody noticed the house was literally on fire since they drew the curtains, in fact those were fireproof. It didn't flame up but lastly there was a neighbor noticing the smoke coming out of the window. And there was a child in that house sleeping for noon. The parents only went out for a small errand.” Izuku certainly didn't look up from his meal. Regret formed in his eyes again. Shouto didn't interrupt him.
“I was on my regular patrol through the quarters near the main station when someone shouted 'fire'” and I immediately took the hint,” Shouto listened to his every word. He took the last sip of his soup before he continued to the curry. “The fire department on it's way and people who rushed outside. It was all a turmoil, of course the first thing I did was going in to check if there was anybody left behind. And then there was this girl, I know if I had been even a second too late she would have died from smoke intoxication.”
After a pause Izuku added “Her lungs must've taken immense damage!”
Shouto stuck in his movement for a moment. His look full of concern but still tender.
“Have you tried your hardest?”
Izuku glanced up for the first time since they began to eat, definitely sore.
“I tried my hardest. I don't know what else to do,” Tears were welling up but he held them back.
“Then there was nothing else for you to do.” Softly and clearly these words got into Izuku's mind finally. Shouto had reached for the freckled one's right hand with both of his. He rubbed little circles into his palm, kneading it warily. It was covered in scars, over here and there buckles of grown again layers of skin. His left hand a little warmer, his right one apparently a bit cooler but still his touch wasn't uncomfortable, more of a soothing kind.
“You know you tried your hardest. So it's okay now. You did your best. The girl might be fine now. You'll hear tomorrow about her fettle. It's fine.”
Relief filled the tense shoulders and exhaustion kicked in. He felt like he could finally breath again. Izuku nodded. He really needed to hear those words.
“Thanks,” The boy with the still wet hair smiled frail but it was for a beginning. “for always bearing with me.” Shouto brightened up too.
“And now you should eat before it gets cold, you must be hungry.”
The both of them looked down to the bowl of still steaming rice and curry which Izuku reluctantly had been stabbing for the past couple minutes. He finally took a bite realizing how worn out he physically felt additionally to his emotional state. And he was just grateful to be with Shouto and he would do the same for him. Bit by bit his body filled up with warmth and a pleasant feeling of joy, a peace of mind.
“Binging Ghibli movies tonight to hot chocolate and marshmallows?” A trace of a smile showing on the bi-coloured haired one's face after they finished dinner.
“Who am I to deny this offer, I'm in,” an affirming hug from behind nuzzling into the taller one's neck followed on the tousle-head's words assuring he was okay now.