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Antiseptic, draft air, bleak atmosphere, incessant beeping. Looking around the room Jirou Kyouka can’t help but feel the weight of these white walls crash upon her as she thought of what landed her here on the night of Christmas Eve. But then her eyes would slide over to the person in the bed next to her. Kaminari Denki.
There was a villain attack at a nearby office building. Apparently some guy with an earth based quirk was recently fired and decided to go after the manager of the building. Chargebolt was the only hero in the area when the office began to collapse. Figuring it was just going to be a simple villain takedown, he didn’t bother calling for backup. He apprehended the villain and helped all the workers safely get out of the building but it unfortunately collapsed as he was helping the last one out. It took an hour for any other heroes to arrive on the scene and another three for them to dig him out of the rubble. By the time they got to him he was nearly dead. They rushed to the hospital and had to call in Recovery Girl to save him. That was four days ago. He still hasn’t woken up.
Honestly, Jirou should've expected this to happen eventually. Incidents like this came with the job and they knew what they were getting into when they signed those UA applications all those years ago. Yet, she still can’t believe the sight before her. The boy laying on the hospital bed in front of her, wrapped head to toe in bandages, could’ve died. Kaminari Denki could’ve died. She would have never seen him again, gone from the face of the Earth only living in the memories of those he’s befriended and those he’s saved. The majority of the world would have moved on, not even knowing of the great loss she and many others would’ve suffered. The media would have picked up the story only to drop it a week later in order to focus on the newest fashion trend, villain attack, or movie released date. Besides, no one would spare a glance at the death of a twenty-one year old upcoming hero who barely scraped the top one hundred. No one would care.
Her phone buzzed, it was Hagakure. The text was simple, just asking the girl how she was doing and for any updates on Kaminari. She had been worried. All of his friends had been worried. Each of them had visited at least once to check on him, to confirm that he was alive and breathing and not dead under the debris of a building. Ten or so gifts sat on the table near his bed. Most of the old Class A didn’t think he’d wake up in time for Christmas so they took it upon themselves to buy him gifts he would enjoy if he woke up. When, Jirou’s mind supplied. When he woke up. She looked down to examine the small black box sitting on her lap. It wasn’t much but she was sure Kaminari would enjoy it when he woke up.
Out of all of them, the ones who visited the most had to be her and surprisingly Bakugou. Despite how much he claims to hate each and everyone of them he seemed pretty frightened when the news reached him. When he came to the hospital he was uncharacteristically quiet and even when he could go into Kaminari’s room he didn’t speak a word. But he stayed. He came the next day and stayed as long as visiting hours would permit him to, only to do it again the next day. The only reason that he wasn’t here now was because a few weeks ago the old Class B decided to have a Christmas Eve Party and invited all of the old Class A. He would’ve skipped the party if Sero hadn’t convinced him to go, saying ‘Kaminari wouldn’t want any of us to miss the party for his sake’. Of course there were some expected no shows due to prior obligations like Midoriya busy being the Symbol of Peace and Iida covering his duties at the Ingenium Agency. But other than that everyone showed up and seemed to be having a great time based on the photos she’s received.
She should’ve been at the party too but she couldn’t fathom leaving Kaminari by himself, and on Christmas Eve no less. As much as she nagged Kaminari for being an idiot, she couldn’t help but feel severe dread when she heard what happened. Her phone dropped from her hand and onto the carpeted floor as the person on the other end kept calling her name, asking her if she was alright. She could hear every word the other person was saying and she could even hear their increased fear as she neglected to answer their plea’s. But she still said nothing, couldn’t say anything. She doesn’t know how long she stood there staring at the wall in front of her but by the time she came to her senses the person on the other end had already hung up and there was a knock on the door. She almost didn’t want to answer, worst case scenarios played in her head and she didn't think she could take it anymore. Of course, answering the door would be ideal because ‘what if the person had valuable information’, but she still couldn’t bring herself to do so and had every intention of ignoring it until she heard Ashido’s shrill scream from the other side of the door.
Apparently, the person that had called Jirou had been one of Ashido’s partners who was called in as backup to help get Kaminari from under the building. When Jirou wasn’t responding he immediately called for Ashido who rushed over to Jirou’s apartment. Ashido engulfed the girl in a hug the second the door was opened and Jirou, not knowing how to respond, could do nothing but lean into her friend's warm touch. And for a second she could imagine that everything was alright. That Kaminari would just magically pop up and annoy her with another one of his lame jokes or with one of his failed pranks. That he would drag them both out of her apartment and to some shitty two star restaurant he found on his patrol. That he would invade her place and declare a movie night even if she just got off from a lengthy patrol. Things were far from alright, but for now she’d just pretend. Until she saw it for herself she could just pretend things were okay.
Even now she still pretended that Kaminari would wake up any minute now. That they would both leave the hospital tonight and go straight back to her apartment. That they would skip the Christmas Party and just stay up all night hanging up all the Christmas decorations she could find. That they would watch all of the shitty traditional movies and get drunk off of eggnog. That they would both wake up and Christmas Day and she could watch his reaction as he opened up the gift she got him. For now she would just live in her imagination and just ignore the crushing reality that she wouldn’t get to spend Christmas with one of her best friends.
A nurse came to the room to tell her that visiting hours were up. Sighing to herself she got up from her spt and headed to the door. She stared at the black box in her hands contemplating on leaving it there for Kaminari. She ultimately decided that this was a gift she wanted to give to him personally. Sparing one last glance at the boy she left the room and headed for the hospital exit.
Another day another visit to the hospital. Since it was Christmas visiting hours were extended which means some of his friends would be visiting after their patrol. Luckily she took a day off so she’d be alone with him for the majority of the day. She had the black box in her jacket pocket. She always made sure to have it with her just in case he actually woke up.
Walking into the hospital was always a hassle for her. She had so many bad memories of that place that whenever she’d walk through those automatic doors the butterflies in her stomach would suddenly take flight making her feel more nauseous than she already was. But today she didn’t feel that. Today she just felt lighter. Like a weight she didn’t know was there, was suddenly taken off her shoulders. The feeling was strange but she paid it no mind as went to the Pro Hero Wing of the hospital and searched for Room 263. Kaminari’s room.
She expected that today would consist of her waiting at his bedside, imagining what today would have been like if he were awake, and then leaving only to do that same thing the next day. So the last thing she expected was to see Kaminari fully awake and laughing as he was opening the gifts left on the table near his bed. She watched him stop what he was doing to inspect whoever suddenly intruded on his room. She watched him put on a bright smile and greet her. She watched him profusely apologize as she embraced him in a bone crushing hug all the while calling him an idiot for making everyone worry. She watched all of these things and still couldn’t believe that it was her reality. That Kaminari was awake and fine.
He pointed out the black box in her pocket. The one she forgot was there. Her gift. She hurriedly gave it to him, hoping that he wouldn’t find it too cheesy or that he would hate it. As much as she hated to admit it, she cared about his opinion too much for him to hate it. But, she’d never actually say that outloud in fear of inflating his ego. He opened the small box and took out a keychain. It was a silver treble clef with a golden finish. The letters K.D. were engraved on the bottom of it. For a while he just stared at it not saying a word. Fearing that he didn’t like it, she was fully prepared to walk out the hospital room and just go home. That is, until she saw his growing smile and his eyes landed on her. He began to gloat to high heavens about how he got such an “expensive and exclusive” gift from her and she berated him for praising her and putting her on such a high pedestal.
Later that day he got discharged and he decided to spend the night at Jirou’s apartment. Although Christmas was nearly over they still spent the night hanging up decorations, watching all of the shitty classics, and drinking eggnog until they were drunk. That night she watched him fall asleep on the couch while they were on their fifth movie. As she gathered up some blankets to sleep near him she couldn’t help but look at his face and smile.
“Merry Christmas You Dork.”