Work Text:
shit
shit shit shit
Shouto cursed mentally as he felt his left foot slide out from under him. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a simple training exercise. But it happened so fast and before he knew it he was going down.
He was falling so fast that his vision blurred, and then he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Shouto let out a quiet whimper before his vision went black.
“Shou? Sweetheart…” Katsuki’s sweet voice that he reserved for Shouto rang through his ears, just a little bit too loud. Slowly, Shouto opened his eyes. However, the harsh gym lighting was so bright that he immediately shut his eyes again with a whine. An excruciating pain throbbed in his skull, and Shouto doesn’t think he’s ever dropped into his headspace so quickly.
Within seconds there were tears pooling in his eyes. He let out a whimper so loud that it made his head hurt more. He reached to clumsily rub at his eyes and cover them. Loud wails began to fill the gym and their classmates turned to look, but quickly turned away at Katsuki’s threatening glare.
“Shhhh… I know baby, but please don’t cry, crying will make it worse” his caregiver mumbled, gently caressing his cheek soothingly. “Sweetheart, I’m about to be super loud, so I’m gonna cover your ears for a second okay?”
And just as katsuki had said, a pair of large hands gently cupped the sides of Shouto’s head. Just second after, katsuki turned over his shoulder to loudly shout, effectively grabbing the attention of Aizawa.
The teacher sighed tiredly, but quickly rushed over when he saw Shouto laying on the ground crying.
“What happened?”
“I think he has a concussion. He just regained consciousness and he dropped immediately by the way.” The blonde was quick to answer.
“Ok I’m gonna ask him a few questions to see how bad it is..”
Katsuki carefully lifted Shouto into a sitting position, holding onto him to keep him steady. He whined at the sudden movement, but didn’t try to stop him.
“Hi Todoroki” the teacher whispered, making sure not to be too loud. “I’m gonna ask you some questions to make sure you’re okay”
Shouto just stared blankly at him, his face lacking any indication that Shouto even understood what he said.
Due to Shoutos current mental age, it was going to be difficult to figure out if he had a concussion or had just regressed so young that he couldn’t process any information. Regardless, it didn’t hurt to try.
“What’s your name?” Aizawa asked the first routine question.
Shouto just whined. Why was Sensei asking him silly questions? It made him feel stupid. Does Sensei think he’s stupid? No, there’s no way Shouto is stupid. Katsuki tells him all the time that he’s very smart, he just doesn’t understand things sometimes. Shouto wishes he could understand. Then maybe people wouldn’t look at him like he’s stupid.
“Hello? Are you with me?” Oh. He must’ve been taking too long to answer. Shouto let out a whiny hum. He was tired and wanted to sleep.
“What’s your name?” Sensei asked the stupid question again.
“S-shouto…” the little stuttered out, hoping that his teacher would leave him alone now.
“Good good… uhh ok next question-“
More questions?
Shouto grunted frustratedly, but his loving caregiver gently kept a hand on his arm to keep him grounded and calm, applying consistent pressure. Meanwhile, Aizawa was asking him too many questions too quickly. His head hurt and he felt so dizzy.
Shouto quickly got overwhelmed by his teachers constant questions, and tears slowly began to slip down his red cheeks. He whined, slipping deeper into his headspace.
“Todoroki I’m just trying to see if you’re ok“ Shouto’s vision blurred for a moment as a dizzy spell hit him, and the little blindly swung a clumsy fist in the direction of his teachers voice, silently begging him to stop talking.
“Hey- Shouto.” Katsuki said sternly. “We don’t hit people.”
oh no
Now katsuki was mad at him. His caregiver was mad and Sensei was probably mad too because Shouto tried to hit him and now everyone hates him and he did it again. he got angry and his stupid emotions showed and now everyone hates him and now he’s crying and he can’t stop the tears slipping down his cheeks no matter how hard he tries and this wasn’t supposed to happen no no no-
Aizawa watched, concerned, as Shouto shut down completely, the only show of how he was feeling being the silent tears streaming down his cheeks. He was unmoving, his gaze cast down at the ground in front of him.
Distantly, Shouto could feel someone rubbing his arm. Then there was some shuffling, and then he was being moved. He flinched, expecting the harsh light to hurt his eyes, but someone’s hand was covering his eyes.
“Yeah I think I’m just gonna take him back to the dorms for today. He probably needs a nap” Shouto couldn’t fully understand what was going on or what was being said but the sound of that voice was familiar and it soothed him a bit. Then he heard another familiar voice, but through the haze in his mind he couldn’t put a face to it.
“He definitely has a concussion so please keep an eye on him, and if he starts throwing up tell me right away, ok? You’re both free to leave I’ll let your next classes know so there’s no confusion.”
Shouto whined. He was being moved again. He was being moved too fast and it made his head hurt. He suddenly felt sick, but throwing up is weak and only babies do that and he’s not a baby, so he swallowed the spit pooling on his tongue and buried his head in Katsuki’s neck.
There was more moving and the faint sound of Katsuki talking to himself as he walked and before he had time to register anything, he was being put down onto a bed. He was out of it and dizzy but the faint smell of burnt sugar and something comforting told him this was Katsuki’s room. Shouto immediately felt a little more relaxed.
He doesn’t remember much of the following moments after, but he did know that Katsuki was changing him out of his gym uniform and into sweatpants and one of the blonde’s hoodies.
“Heyyyy… Shouto? Come on sweetheart” Through the thick fog in his mind, he could hear Katsuki calling him, and also his caregiver’s warm hand on his cheek, rubbing it gently.
“Come back to me Shou, you’re alright…” what finally brought him back was the feeling of Katsuki’s fingers running through his hair and pushing it off his forehead to help him cool down. The haze in his mind cleared and he slowly looked up at Katsuki.
“There he is” Katsuki mumbled, smiling. “Thought I lost ya” a kiss was pressed to the little’s cheek and he giggled. His head still hurt and he felt a little dizzy but everything was ok because Katsuki was there and Katsuki would never let anything bad happen to him.
A sudden wave of tiredness hit Shouto, and he yawned, rubbing his eyes clumsily.
“Am tired…” he mumbled, his speech broken. It was very rare that Shouto spoke when small, as he was usually entirely nonverbal. He already struggled so much with communication normally, and being little just made things harder.
“I’m sure you are, let’s have a nap ok baby?” And before Shouto could respond, katsuki was scooping him into his arms and laying him down on the bed. Shouto whined when Katsuki got up right after to change out of his own gym uniform, but the blonde started humming, and it soothed the little right away.
He soon returned with Shouto’s favourite pacifier and Wiggles, the worn out stuffed cat which happens to be one of the few items from Shouto’s childhood that his father didn’t confiscate from him.
Shouto reached out and whined at the sight of the stuffed toy, trying to grab it. Once he felt the well worn fur touch his fingertips, he clutched it tightly, eyes already slipping shut. He felt the silicone of the pacifier nudged into his mouth, and then strong arms wrapped around him and he was being pulled into his caregiver’s protective hold.
“Ni-nite…” he mumbled, the embrace of sleep already tugging at his consciousness. Not having the energy to fight it, Shouto fell asleep quickly.
“Goodnight baby, I’ll be here when you wake up” was the last thing Shouto heard as he drifted off in the warm and loving arms of his favourite person.