Work Text:
For a moment I couldn’t hear anything. I tasted metal in my mouth as I saw Mr. Aizawa kiss All Might’s temple. I closed my eyes and held my breath. The taste of metallic taste became stronger, pressure building in my head.
“Izuku,” Mr. Aizawa said. “I need you to breathe.” I quickly stood up and stared at him. “It’s okay to breathe.”
I looked down to my hands and saw they were trembling. I clenched my jaw harder and realized my inner lip was bleeding from biting down on it. I relaxed my jaw to take in a breath and let out a scream. Mr. Aizawa slowly moved towards me as I took a step back. He touched my shoulder and pulled me into him. I immediately started to fight him.
“Don’t touch me,” I screamed and tried to push away., “Let me go.”
I felt Mr. Aizawa’s arms tighten around my body as I tried to walk towards All Might, I wanted to shake him. I wanted him to pop up and say, ‘I am here’, or to call me Young Midoriya.
As I reached for him, I felt Mr. Aizawa’s hand hold the back of my head as he held me. The nurses began to prepare his body to be moved. They pulled the sheet over his face and realized Mr. Aizawa was moving me out of the room as All Might became further away.
“Wait, wait,” I planted my feet firmly on the found. “Wait, just one second. He’s going to get up.” Mr. Aizawa was so much stronger than me, he effortlessly pulled me out of the room. I held on and tightly to him and began to scream once again. Begging him to let me go, to allow me to wake up All Might
“Izuku,” Mr. Aizawa held my shoulders. “My boy, I need you to take in a few deep breaths, is that okay?”
I slid to the floor and pulled my knees up to my chest, continuing to chew the inside of my mouth just so I could feel something as my fingertips ran numb. I let my eyes close just for a moment. I tried to convince myself that this was a nightmare, that there was no way my father figure could be gone.
After a few moments, I opened my eyes to see Gran Torino and Present Mic leaving the hospital room. Mr. Aizawa placed his hands on either side of my face, I saw his eyes were red. His quirk was activated, canceling mine out. His eyes were trained on me and overflowing with tears. I saw worry, and anguish in his eyes.
I heard the voice of Present Mic, “Deep breaths with me, Izuku.” He brought a cloth up to my lips, cleaning blood from my face. “Try to relax your jaw, you’re hurting yourself.”
I quickly pulled back and brought my hands up to clean my face, but I was being held in place by Mr. Aizawa’s binding cloths. Present Mic gently placed his hand on my back and knee, “Breathe in on the count of three, okay?” He started counting, and I was trying. I was really trying, but there was an ache that I could not ignore. So, I gritted my teeth instead.
“Tell us how it feels,” Mr. Aizawa said. “It’s okay.”
I whispered, “I can’t, it hurts.” I felt like there was a hole in my chest. I started looking between Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic. There began a physical ache in my chest as my vision became unstable, and hearing began to sound muffled.
Present Mic spoke, “He’s going to pass out. Izuku, breathe.”
Mr. Aizawa turned my face towards his and spoke, “Breathe, Midoriya. Breathe.”
That’s the last thing I remember that night. The following morning, I woke up in the teacher's dorms. Mr. Aizawa was sitting on the floor, his back against the bedroom door, Present Mic at the foot of the bed.
“Is he really gone?”