Work Text:
Gigantomachina finally crashed near dusk; and you thanked god for it. You were positioned by the campsite (-the sixth campsite in the past week, this one would probably be totaled in a few hours too, if you guys were careless again-) already waiting with medical supplies before the timer on your phone went off.
Tomura trudged towards the camp, and sat beside you with a heavy sigh. Wordlessly, you started smudging the cotton ball against the worse of the scraps on Tomura’s face. He let out a hiss, the antiseptic soaking in; you weren’t about to let him get infected, though, even if you were unhappy.
Maybe unhappy was putting it lightly.
“That stings.”
“Good.”
“You’re mad; is it about Dabi? I’m not going to force him to be here; you know he works better if we don’t keep him on a leash-”
“It’s not about Dabi not being here.”
God, he looked bad. His eye was starting to show the tell-tale signs of bruising, yellows and greens staining his skin like ink. His lip was busted, on the opposite side of his scar. There was old blood around his nose, like he’d been smacked in the nose hour ago and just ignored it without wiping it. Worst of all, one of his fingers was broken.
Again.
Running on barely an hour of sleep- and that was if he was lucky - every other day, with these injuries, plus ones you couldn’t see- that couldn’t have been good.
When he peeled his shirt off for you to patch up a particularly nasty scrap running up his arm, you were reminded he might have had worse, with the scars to show for it. His arms and back were riddled with cuts, scars, and even old scars from bullet holes. But when those happened, he had plenty of time to heal, and proper dressings for it.
“Where did you even get these…” You mumbled running a finger across the one on his shoulder.
“I guess Stain did stab me.” He grinned at you. “Compared to this, that was nothing. I forgot all about it.”
He was running on fumes, and seemed more than happy to ignore whatever pain he might be in.
You sighed.
He was eating the instant udon you made him, and you couldn’t help but stare; rude? Maybe, but manners were the least of your concerns. He was just acting like it was a regular night. Well..to be fair, it kind of was .
You were the only one working yourself up; this had been the new normal for the past few weeks: battling, switching members in shifts, quickly eat, sleep, repeat. You were here solely to patch them up, you weren’t here to fight. Maybe that’s why it was frustrating. They were doing the fighting, all of them, but Tomura especially, and you were the one freaking out?
He expected you to stay silent, to be supportive because that was your role: support ; and you had been, because he had enough to deal with, and you’d been determined to bottle it up for his sake, but something had just...snapped.
He was killing himself. At this rate, not saying anything felt like sending him his death. Was there a rehab for villains obsessed with fighting freakish giants?
“I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
He looked up from his noodles, slurping up what he had left before answering you.
“It’s necessary-- besides, ‘No pain, no gain’, is what Twice and Spinner say.”
“Well those two know when to stop and unlike you, they can leave whenever and that guy won’t chase them.”
“Exactly. They can leave whenever, but quitting isn’t an option for me. I can’t stop. So no point in even considering that.”
“Do you think I want you to die or something?!” He stared at you, seemingly unsurprised with your outburst; you wanted to stop, but the sleep deprivation and anxiety had built up, and all of your thoughts rushed out. “That guy is a living mountain-- a walking disaster! I know you want to change the world but...but I’m so worried about you! I can’t stand seeing this. I want to do more to help..I..I love you, so...I really hate this.”
“There’s no point in getting worked up like that; you’re doing plenty by just patching everyone up.”
“I’m not just here to patch everyone up you know!”
“Then why are you here?”
You felt your face flush. You stood up, grabbing a book from your backpack and stomping over to the other side of the camp, sitting opposite from him.
After a pause, you heard him sigh and you could hear the distinct, tinny noise of his DS starting up. It seemed like he wouldn’t sleep this break. You wanted to tell him to at least try to, because Giganto wouldn’t break for another two days, but it was nothing he didn’t know. He probably also knew you wanted to say something.
You forcibly flipped the page, biting on your tongue. Fine! If he thought you were only here to fix him and everyone up, then he wouldn’t get anything else from you.
And two days later, you still hadn’t spoken a word. Spinner had delivered him food in the middle of fighting, letting you know Tomura was alright and leaving it at that, and now that Giganto was sleeping again, Spinner had been looking between the two of you almost nervously; and why wouldn’t he? On every lull in the fighting, you and Tomura had been together, and now you were suddenly ignoring each other.
“I’m going with the others into town to grab more food. Do you…”
“I’ll stay here, thank you, Spinner.” You smiled at him. He looked like he wanted to ask, but probably had his own worries, so he left with a small shrug. It was just you and Tomura.
You laid on your sleeping bag, facing away from him. Normally, you liked trying to spot the stars through the treetops, but…
“You’re not asleep yet. Your breathing pattern is weird.” He was so observant it was almost scary. You knew he had normally issues sleeping, so a lot of the time it was just him holding you, watching you, just being close to you, and relaxing. You’d missed it the past two days.
“Y’know,” He continued, “It doesn’t hurt. Physical pain really is nothing.”
You wondered about that; was the strain on his heart so heavy it felt like it overrid and made other pain dull? It was such a sad thought. You rolled on your back, staring straight up. You glanced at him for just a moment, letting him know you were listening, but not going to say anything just yet.
“I was wrong.” You blinked, actually looking at him now. He was staring back, hands folded on his chest. “You aren’t just here to be a medic. I’ve been having trouble sleeping without you; so you’re also a pillow.”
“You-!”
He snorted, and you couldn’t help the grin spreading across your face.
“His HP has got to be getting low, right? It’ll be over soon. We won’t lose.” That was the closest he’d get to acknowledging your worries and validating them, and that was fine.
He had always been smart. If he believed the league could take the giant down, then, heck, you’d believe in him, and all of the others, too. The other option was too depressing.
“Okay.” You murmured.
“Okay?”
“I can’t stop worrying, but I’ll try to be as optimistic and supportive as I can be.”
He frowned.
“I never expected you not to worry you know. I figured you would; that’s what kind of person you are. But try and have some faith in me. I know dying would hurt you, and I already said I’m not letting you get hurt, so. Besides, the doctor won’t let me die if things get too bad, he’ll warp us back to his location and let us heal up,-”
“I’ll do no such thing!” A voice snapped across the tiny communicator in your ear, and by the way he winced, the shrill voice must have echoed in Tomura’s ears too. “You kids are too reliant on your elders to-”
You snatched the ear piece out, tossing it on the ground and scooting closer to Tomura. You could feel the smile on his lips when you gave him a quick kiss.
“I’m sorry too; I’ll do my best to have faith in you guys. In you.”
“Have faith in yourself too; you’re good at keeping us in working shape. And boosting moral.”
You ran your fingers through his hair as he snuggled beneath your chin, and he hugged you close to him.
The tiny fire crackling nearby was warm, but the feeling behind your cheeks and in your chest was even warmer.
An hour and a half later, the alarm on your phone went off. You sat up, still groggy. Tomura still had a few minutes to get woken up and go to Giganto, or until the giant came to him- but no one wanted that. This little camp area was in a good spot. You could hear his joints popping as he stretched, pulling his jacket back on.
“I don’t usually have time to dream,” He commented idly. “These naps don’t really let me.” You nodded; getting into REM sleep took a while, and you doubted any of you had any vivid dreams, if any in the past month.
Tomura had, at one time in the past, told you he already had issues sleeping, and the few dreams he did have were nightmares that were more like fragmented vignettes than anything memorable.
“I hope it was nothing too bad?” You asked.
“Not exactly...just weird as hell. I was being attacked by dogs. But freakishly short ones; the ones that probably have joint issues.”
You couldn’t help but snort.
“It’s not funny, it was disgusting...they were licking me and it was…” He wrinkled his nose up.
“Awww. Maybe that’s your subconscious wishing for a smaller opponent. You wouldn't actually kick puppies would you?”
“That’s such a stereotypical villain thing.” He scoffed, not denying he wouldn’t. “...Besides, there’s be no challenge in that. Lower HP might be nice, scale is irrelevant.”
“Weren’t you the one saying you could take the big guy and I should believe in you?”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, I do.” You leaned up, cupping his face and kissing him gently. “Good luck.”
His smile was soft, less maniacal and more subdued than it had been for a while. Had..had the dream about dogs actually affected him?
The group returned from their trip, just in time for Giganto to wake somewhere East of your location and shake the ground.
Toga grinned, waving to you. “You look happy this morning!” She noted. “That’s good! Did you and Tomura-kun makeup?”
“Mhm. Also! When’s the next run? I wanna go.”
“Eh? But you always stay to patch everyone up.” Spinner noted, setting down a bag of food. “What do y’need?”
“I think,” You grinned, clapping your hands together. “The league should adopt a puppy!”