Work Text:
You’re An Idiot, and I Love You
Bakugo only hears about the incident after it's over, after they're in the hospital. He feels stupid. He feels small and left out, and like quite possibly the worst boyfriend ever.
He’s rushing to Hosu City, to the hospital, as fast as his legs can take him. He’s rushing, spitting out bits and pieces of information to the lady at the desk so fast she can only really catch enough to piece together a name.
Iida Tenya.
As soon as he hears a room number, he’s back to rushing down the hall, head and heart pumping with adrenaline as he scans room number after room number.
Everything feels slow, but also incredibly fast because he’s scared and nervous, wondering if Iida is alive, if he’s okay, if he’ll ever be the same.
When he gets the room, heart pumping on full blast, nerves on fire, he’s not fully prepared for the sight he sees. Both Iida’s arms wrapped in a sling, encased in large thick bandages held up by a sling. And Iida is just staring at his food with the most frustrated pout on his face, and Bakugo can’t help but sigh a huge sigh of relief.
Iida is okay.
“What is wrong with you?!” Bakugo shouts, because now that he isn’t worried sick, the anger and absolute disbelief starts to flood in. How could Iida do something so stupid? Why didn’t he tell anyone? Why did he think he could just fight the Hero Killer without any sort of backup?
And even if he chose to not tell anyone at UA, why didn’t he bother to tell his own boyfriend?
He’s shouting so loud, that Iida jumps, and his food falls to the floor, but neither of them cares. Iida is just staring in shock at Bakugo, who is here, who is screaming at him in fast, incomprehensible mumbles that he can’t wrap his head around.
Iida focuses on the way his shoulders tense, how his hands are thrown up in the sky, his brow furrowed and angry, more so than usual, and how dilated his eyes are. Iida has seen a lot of sides of Bakugo; the sweet side that makes him breakfast sometimes, the caring side that holds his hand when he goes to see his brother in the hospital. The introverted side that sometimes just wants to hide in Iida’s arms when the world gets to be too much.
And Bakugo yells. He yells at a lot of people, but he’s never yelled at Iida like this. He’s never yelled at Iida to the point where his voice is breaking, and his eyes are glassy, and he looks like he’s a step away from breaking down on the floor.
Iida feels a strong urge to walk over to him. To hold him in his arms, and whisper soothing things in his ear, but his arms are broken, and he knows that he deserves this. He deserves to get yelled at. He did something incredibly wrong and incredibly stupid.
He acted like a child. And that’s not okay.
That’s not what heroes do.
And soon the yelling dies down, and Bakugo is standing at the edge of his bed, staring down at Iida with hot tears running down his cheeks.
“I don’t give a fuck if you couldn’t tell those stupid extras, but…” Iida shrinks back. His voice is so quiet, it's almost hard to hear and it’s even scarier than when he’s yelling. “Why couldn’t you tell me ?”
And Iida felt his heart break in his chest. He can understand just how painful it is. Painful to be left in the dark, to be left wondering why you aren’t good enough, or what you did wrong. He never intended to cause Bakugo that type of pain, but it doesn't matter.
Because he did it anyway.
He feels a tear run down his cheek as Bakugo rests his forehead against Iida’s. He wants to reach up and hold Bakugo’s face in his. To touch him, and have the warmth of his body ground him and let him know that he’s okay. He hopes these small movements are enough for now.
“I’m sorry.” He says, but it doesn’t feel like enough. It feels like it’s just a sorry excuse, and doesn’t cover just how much Bakugo means to him. How much it makes his heart flutter that he’s here. How much he wants to cry, and smile and laugh.
It doesn’t cover the sheer amount of emotions that he has for Bakugo, or the emotions they’ve shared together. And he was going to wait, going to say it somewhere romantic, when the sun was shining and the birds were chirping, but Iida is now painfully aware of how fleeting life is.
And he needs to say this now.
“I love you.”
Bakugo gasps and jumps slightly before relaxing and tucking his face into Iida’s shoulder. Bakugo hopes he couldn’t see the pain, but also love in his eyes, the tears that threatened to run down his face, or the way he was about to break into loud broken sobs.
“I love you too, Four Eyes.”