Work Text:
Pain. Pain. Pain!!
Shooting up from the comfort of the bed, Atsuhiro let out a pained gasp from his throat. His face sweaty and his body aching. He tried to refocus his eyes to open up from the god awful rude awakening. Slowly the heat of it all started to form more sweat to his torso and arms.
He suddenly clenched the left side of his arm that had held his prosthetic limb. Holding onto it like the pain would suddenly vanish into thin air. Only for it to remain.
He tried to control his breathing and focus on relaxing himself before he thought too much of the phantom pain he was currently experiencing.
Thinking of how it had felt when Overhaul had instantly destroyed almost his whole arm in one go. The screaming agony of it all was too much to bear let alone thinking about it. The whole fiasco was just infuriating to even acknowledge, trying to keep it in the back of his mind.
While holding onto his arm and every so often focusing on his whole being, he turned his head slightly to take in your sleeping form. You were sleeping so peacefully next to him, curled into the sheets while having a well deserved rest.
You were so tired from healing earlier that you decided to sleep a little early then usual. He was completely fine by the idea, going along with you to bed to get rest in. Cuddling together was a well known thing between the two of you, at first Atsuhiro was almost flustered by the idea mostly since he didn’t want to give you the wrong idea of sleeping together so quickly.
When in reality you had become shy hearing what he had implied and told him that was way too soon. He was a gentleman after all so it was only natural for him to tell you he had no means of trying to make you sleep with him in that type of way so fast. It’s been awhile since then and you had taken your relationship to that step already which was amazing for both lovers.
Letting his eyes drift to your body moving up and down slowly made him smile faintly.
You were always his light he could come back when he was in a time of need.
Throbbing with white pain, he grunted to himself and got up as quietly as possible, escaping to the bathroom you had within your bedroom and closing the door shut behind him. He breathed in hard letting his head face down to look at his arm.
The sensation of the pain was unbearable at times. It came at random moments and he would endure the shock waves of pain it has brought on. It had already been months going by after the whole incident with Overhaul doing what he did to him. Even then it couldn’t change or erase what he had done to him.
Curse him, the man had got his arm taken by the magician himself and even then it didn’t feel like enough knowing he had to deal with this for god knows how long for the entirety of his life. Sighing, he held onto the left side and looked down at it like his arm would magically stop the agony.
Carefully he let his metallic arm and fingers move on its own to show that he could still move. A shaky breath leaving his lips, he tried to push aside the pain as much as possible. Sweat gliding down his forehead, he let go of his arm to wipe the sweat.
How insignificant the whole situation seemed, letting pain he should be used to by now get to him. Especially in front of your presence almost, he felt guilty for letting himself slip into this. But even he knew he couldn’t control the random flicks of torment he would get.
Looking up at his appearance in the mirror, he took a few seconds to relax himself. Breathing in deeply before exhaling shakily to allow his body to calm itself.
He didn’t want to be shown being withered looking from the unwelcoming nerves waking him up from a deep sleep. He looked restless looking at his features. The sweat slowly making its appearance didn’t help either.
How repulsive to let himself get into this state of something unkindly. Turning on the faucet, he let both his hands bring water to his face to wipe any sweat away as much as he could. Enjoying the change of feeling with his warm face touching the cold liquid. He hummed silently for a second before grabbing a towel to wipe his face quickly, drying his hands in the process.
Satisfied with clearing his face as much as possible, he made sure his composure was more presentable and did his best to ignore the nagging pain still lingering in his whole left side. Preparing himself to exit the door, he hadn’t expected to see a certain person awake so late.
Moving around the bed, you had grown accustomed to having Atsuhiro laying with you in bed. He would usually hold you close to his chest while wrapping his arms around your small form. Sometimes you would let him be held by you while letting your hand pass through his soft brown hair, the feeling of it always making him lull to sleep easily. It was almost adorable with how it reminded you of petting a cat when he would hum to the tenderness.
Moving your hand out to grab onto the warmth, your hand was only met with a blank feeling of sheets next to you. Peeking next to you, trying to make out any sort of sign of the man that was currently not in your line of vision made you blink blearily to get a clearer look. Trying to get the sleep out of your eyes, you rubbed them while letting your one eye look at the empty space.
He really wasn’t there.
Which was odd since it was midnight. If he had to leave early for any villain business he would wake you up and let you know even if you seemed like you weren’t listening. Other times if he had to leave in a hurry you would be left with a note that told you he had to leave or him leaving a message on your phone.
After seeing he wasn’t next to you sleeping, you decided to grab your phone to let the screen light up. Your eyes squinting from the sudden brightness, you came to the conclusion he hadn’t left a message either.
So what was happening and where was he?
Checking around your room, your eyes seemed to take the attention of the light coming from below the door of your bathroom. Naturally you thought it was normal for anyone having to use the bathroom quick at night, you sometimes did it whenever you had to use it quick. About to let your body rest more, the door opened on cue.
The silohuette of the man was in front of your eyes, but something seemed off looking at first glance. The face of his looked almost white, a sickly white. Even through the darkness, some light had come in with the help of the moonlight in the dark skies. He seemed to not have noticed you awake for a second, looking as if his head was in another world.
Something didn’t feel right. Calling out, you let your body sit up.
“Atsuhiro?”
Suddenly his facial expressions went to a look of bewilderment to a smile that seemed almost....forced? You couldn’t exactly say.
Letting out a hoarse response, he walked towards his side of the bed he was laying on not that long ago.
“Have I awoken you by any chance? I do apologize if I had.”
Letting your head move left to right, you showed you didn’t mind waking up suddenly. The reason you woke up was because you felt he was gone beside you.
“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything. Um...are you okay?”
Letting his body sit next to yours, he sighed before letting his eyes look ahead of him. Unnatural in a lot of ways since he would always make it possible to glance at you, his attention always attentive to you.
Something didn’t feel right, if you could help him then you were going to make sure you would give him all the relishing love you gave out only to him. Sliding your body to sit in front of him, his eyes seemed to cast down between the two of you. Seeing as you slipped your hand to his fleshed out hand. Twitching for a second, he let you take control and loved the sensation of your warmth.
He wouldn’t trade it to the world to have it any other way.
“Atsuhiro, is something bothering you? Do you need need space?”
Seeming to snap out of his trance, he shook his head almost too fast.
“I wouldn’t want to be away from you any longer then need be. Letting petty actions interrupt our sleep is rather rude, so I do apologize my beloved.”
How could he talk like that when he had done nothing wrong?
You weren’t aware on what was bothering him so it had confided your mind more on what he was babbling about. Wanting him to talk was a normal thing, he has always let you talk about things that made you feel bothered so you didn’t feel alone.
Always there to comfort you in your darkest times, holding you close to him while he caresses your back while whispering sweet nothings to your ear.
There was no way you would let him battle against anything he was going through all by himself, even if said thing was nothing major.
“If I let you go through things by yourself, it would be one sided if I was the only one letting out my frustration. So if you’re comfortable to, do you mind letting me in on what’s going on in your head?”
Placing your hand on his cheek, you tilted his head to face you. Both eyes were connecting to look at how genuine you looked, even with the tiredness showing in your bright eyes. You always seemed so intent on wanting to help him in any situation he seemed to be in.
It was almost too much to take in.
Letting himself move into the warmth of your hand, he slowly held his hand up to hold onto the one touching his face. Closing his eyes for a little, he opened them to stare back once again.
“Always the one to be the savior for me darling?”
Giggling, you enjoyed the small jokes he would add in to help the atmosphere lighten up.
“I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t always find a way to help the person I love.”
Relaxing while letting himself give a low laugh, he allowed himself to prepare himself to finally let you in on the predicament he found himself in. Not wanting to avoid it any more longer.
His lips opened before closing, trying to find his words without seeming like a fool who didn’t know how to keep himself together. As someone who was always prepared for anything that came his way, it seemed out of character for his own ego to let something bother him so greatly.
About to utter a word out to you, he suddenly let go of your hand on his face to quickly hold onto his left side of his arm. Grunting loudly letting his eyes shut for a minute, you let your hand fall away with a look of concern filling your eyes.
Trying to remind himself that the pain was fully not real and only an illusion to what he went through in the past, he allowed a shaky breath to release from his mouth.
Still feeling the stinging pain, he spoke in a steady voice, still trying to sound proper as usual even if it wasn’t the time to be playing charades and pretending he was fine.
“It would seem that pain in my arm is appearing randomly. I certainly should be used to this. It comes at such inconvenient times.”
Your eyes filled with such sadness hearing this for the first time. It had never come up in any conversations the two of you had, so finding out now when he was in pain in all the times you saw him made your heart want to reach out to his.
Letting your hand hover over the left side of his arm, he seemed to know what your game plan was about to be.
“Darling no, you’ve already used your quirk earlier. You’ll drain yourself at this point.”
That you knew already.
The tiredness showed in your eyes, despite it showing different emotions going by each minute. You wanted to at least numb the pain, healing anything else would surely drain you so it shouldn’t be a problem for numbing any soreness.
Practicing on not overusing it was becoming easier with how he had made sure to let you calm yourself before rushing in to heal him. You had tend to overdo it when it had come to him, wanting to make sure no cuts or any injuries stayed. But now you should be fine if all you’re doing is numbing the horrible flickers of nerves going up is arm.
“It’s okay, I’ll make sure to use it limitedly. For now let’s get comfortable.”
Wanting to get closer, you placed your hand on his arm to let your quirk get into effect.
While getting closer to him, you let yourself drift close to his face to give him a well deserved kiss for going through this pain for this long. If you had known about all of this earlier you would’ve gotten essential oils to massage his arm. You’ll keep that in mind next time you shop.
He tilted his head to let himself drown into the kiss, wanting nothing more but to think of only you.
The pain that was slowly, but surely dispersing away into nothingness was happening in seconds with your warm touch holding onto him.
Reciprocating the kiss was making him feel so swelled with your affection that he was letting his brain forget the nerves that had been putting him in agonizing pain waking up. His prosthetic hand wanting to move, though it was in no position to since you’re hand was still holding onto his upper arm numbing the pain. He would keep still for it.
He could stay here all day and not care about the day going by.
Letting your kiss stop, he tried to follow your lips when your head moved away which in return made you cackle.
Rubbing your hand up and down his arm, you smiled cheekily to him with a sense of feeling proud of yourself.
“It seems like the pain shouldn’t bother you now huh?”
Leaning in kissing the crown of his head, he seemed to realize you were able to let the pain fully go away as for now. His cheeks flushed lightly in the dark room with how affectionate you were being, even as to go as far and numb his nerves in your tired state.
He swore he can never beat you with how much you gave to him.
Easing himself, he let his left arm raise up to let his metallic fingers move around to get a sense around. To remind himself that his original arm was long gone and the torment he went through each time was nothing.
Noticing his movements you moved away from being close to his body to look down at his hand moving around with no jolts of pain coming back.
“It seems my handy work helped out a lot!”
“So it would seem, my goodness you always know how to surprise this fellow magician.”
His spirit seemed to be lifted with the soft look he gave you. Chest tightening with love, you let your body collide with his into a loving hug. Arms not aware on what to hold on to, you let your own arms wrap around his torso.
Letting your lips near his ear, you spoke quietly to him.
“If you ever need help with your pain, I’ll be more than happy to help Atsuhiro.”
Shivering with the closeness of your voice, he finally let his arms wrap around your body to rest his head on your shoulder.
Melting into your embrace for those few seconds turning into a minute before speaking.
Letting himself be vulnerable once again with you.
“I’ll make sure to acknowledge that fact.”
Untangling yourself from the hug, you pulled back to look him in the eyes and gave a bright smile.
“That’s good, or else I would’ve forced it out of you.”
“Oh really? How would you know when the great entertainer would be in a need of assistance?”
“Never underestimate my skills of figuring you out in any time of day.”
Relishing in laughter together in the middle of the night, you both began to realize how tired your bodies were. Eyes burning from the lack of sleep, you yawned to yourself before slumping into a relaxed state.
“I think it’s about time we go to sleep. We can talk about this more tomorrow.”
Crawling to your side of the bed, you started to lay down and grabbed the sheets to cover up to your mid section. Enjoying the sight of you getting comfortable, Atsuhiro laughed quietly letting his hand comb through his hair.
“I agree.”
Soon after he had begun to slip into his side to get into a position where he would feel most pleasant in. The blankets covering half his body the same as you, he let his eyes slip close for a minute before peeking through the silts of his eyes.
Staring at you, he had realized you were also staring back at him which was no surprise.
Nestled into the sheets, he had expected you to pass out instantly with how your body must’ve felt this whole time. You always had tricks up your sleeves on what you were capable of doing. Another reason on why he loved you, always unpredictable and other times so loving.
He noticed your arm lifting up towards him in a grabbing motion with your hand. Your eyes making eye contact with his, looking both tired and full of light. Reaching out towards him, you let your voice come out.
“Come closer to me, Atsuhiro.”
Getting the idea of what you wanted, he slid closer to your warmth of a body. Enveloping him to lay his head on your chest, you rested your head on top of his head. His hair tickling you in a pleasant way.
Legs interlocking with one another, his left arm came up to wrap around you. Eyes trying to stay open he would sometimes feel them close with sleep entering his vision.
Letting your hand comb his hair slowly, he hummed to himself to let you know you were pleasing him into a calm rested state.
It’s as if you seemed to want this, to be able to let him relax against you so closely. To spoil him with your loving feather touches and your wonderful kisses.
“I love you.”
The words told many times before between the two of you. Yet it had always made an impact hearing it come out of you onto him. Taking it all at the same time after what you had done this night made his heart want to burst.
It made his heart ache in a magnificent feeling (even with how cheesy it may have sounded), having someone to love and care for your wellbeing was a new occurrence to him. Til this day he still can’t believe he has a place to call home.
A person to come home to.
Someone who will help him in a time of need.
His metallic hand suddenly gripping onto the back of your night shirt to show he was indeed still under your effect, he spoke.
“I will forever love you. And thank you, my beautiful rose.”
The ‘thank you’ he had given was genuine like all the other words he had given you in the past.
Placing your lips on the top of his head, you smiled.
“Anytime Atsuhiro. I’ll be there in your time of need, always. Now let’s get some sleep.”
Snuggling against his fluffy hair, he curled his body against yours despite the height difference. His leg overtop of yours, you both brought each other closer pulling each other into a closer embrace.
His hand seeming to not want to let go of you, he was aware his hand wasn’t hurting you which was reassuring to him
But most importantly his arm felt back to normal, no pain to feel.
Just relief.
And just you holding him.
The vivid thought in his mind let him know that he didn’t need to hide anything from you. You wouldn’t find him weak or unlovable.
You looked at him all the same, never having the negative energy pass in you.
His eyes sliding fully close, yours did the same. Lulling into a slumber once more, Atsuhiro couldn’t help but to smile once more having you in his thoughts.
A partner that would go through any lengths to help made his entire world into a deep welcoming abundance of bliss.
He had arms he could find safety and only you were the key to it all. With you, he could look for your aid and enjoy the feeling of your healing.
He wouldn’t have it any other way nor trade it for anything else.
His last thought being your warmth and yours the same as his.