Chapter Text
“Did you not love me even once?” He asks, tears in his eyes as he clutches his clothes over his chest. It hurts. There is nothing he can do except for squeezing his chest tight until the pain stops.
His husband stands before him, the one who never seemed to truly love him. Married him, took him from his home, and then never fully accepted him because his father once made his people suffer.
So, this was always about revenge and never about love. Never about him.
Crimson eyes bore into him, full of malice and hatred. They weren’t like that before; they held softness, respect, and maybe love once. But was it all an act? An act to make a fool out of him and then discard him once he has fallen enough for the king.
“Answer me!” He shouts, edging close to the cliff of the mountain. The breeze hits his face, freezing his tears on his cheeks as the fog comes out of his mouth with each breath he takes.
“Was I just a toy to you? A war prize and an entertainment?” The king just stands there, unmoving from his place as he stares at him. He doesn’t try to move towards him or console him.
“Stop your act.” The king says, devoid of any emotions in his voice, as he looks at the prince he once won and married. So, the king thinks it is just an act. An act to grab his attention, and the prince is just throwing a tantrum.
It makes the prince laugh. A cruel, hurt cackle pierces through his lungs as his eyes lose all the hope he had, and he suddenly looks broken, like a caged animal that has accepted its fate.
“How foolish of me to ever think you loved me, your highness. That all those nights meant something when you held me close and kissed over my scars. I should’ve known…” he takes a deep breath and wipes at his tears.
“I should’ve known I could never make a place for myself in your heart made of stone. Should’ve realised your love wasn’t for me and it was just an act to reach my father using me.”
The king then takes a step towards him with his hand outstretched. “Get away from that cliff and come back with me.” He demands, like a king and not a husband who should be asking for forgiveness. There’s no softness in him anymore. There’s nothing left.
The prince takes a step back, getting closer to the edge as he looks down to see clouds and the deep forest under them at this height.
“I don’t have a home to go back to anymore, your highness. I am sorry that I wasn’t enough for you, and I will make it right, so no one has to suffer anymore. I just hoped you had loved me once the way that I did.” The prince says, his voice cracking further and becoming a silent choke of forgiveness and his last act of love as he looks at his king through his blurry vision.
The king widens his eyes then, realising it might not be an act anymore, and he doesn’t waste his time talking anymore. He lunges towards him to grab him and stop him, but it is too late because the prince jumps from the height.
He falls before the king can touch a hair on his skin.
“NO!” The king screams as he dives off the cliff to reach him. Save him from whatever he had planned, but when he does, he doesn’t find him anymore.
His prince is nowhere to be seen. The forest under him is as silent as ever, like a snake always waiting for prey, and there is nothing he can do to find him again.
…
“C’mon…you can’t die yet, kid.” The voice lands in his ear shortly, his chest feeling like he is being crushed under strong hands.
Everything hurts; his hands and legs are stinging with a burning pain like someone put hot iron on them. The voices are all muffled, air different with a burnt taste in it, and a lot of debris is flying around him. The sky isn’t as clear, and he doesn’t feel the chill in the air he had felt at the mountain.
He tries to crack his eyes open, and the hands on his chest stop immediately. They come up to cup his face instead, and it is being moved left and right with someone clicking fingers in his ear. The palms around his face are warm, full of life, and big. They touch him like he is made of glass, and it nearly makes him cry.
“Shoto, can you hear me?” The voice asks again, and this time he manages to make out pixels in his vision. He groans, body seizing in pain at the effort, but then he hears a lot of collective sighs around him. It feels like a nightmare; he should be glad, but that only means he is again at the hands of the man he could never hate.
“He’s okay…to the hospital…no, his heart rate…normal but...” So many words are being said at the same time, so many strange words that land in his ears, he can’t make sense of them. What are they even talking about, and why does he feel like he has fought a war and his whole body is full of pain shooting from every single inch?
Shoto blinks his eyes open enough to make out faces a little less blurry, and he sees people standing around him. Did he really live, or is it just his brain making him hallucinate, and he is going to die within a few minutes? He remembers jumping off the cliff and then losing consciousness. There was no way he could have survived that fall. He remembers those ruby eyes staring at him the moment he jumped off.
Shoto looks around himself at the similar faces he has seen. Did it not work? Was he saved?
“I…” he croaks out, and the faces in front of his eyes seem to relax, a smile on their faces as they look down at him, looking not so good either. They are all covered in dirt and blood as if they all fought. The exhaustion on their face is visible.
But then his eyes find him. The same crimson eyes, the ones he saw before deciding to take his own life. The eyes of the man he hopelessly fell in love with. The most beautiful eyes one could have. They are staring down at him, looking at him with worry, and it is new; he has never seen them so scared.
“Ka—ski…” He manages to whimper out before his eye falls shut again, and all the noises fade out.
…
Shoto wakes up to the sound of continuous beeps and the strong smell he cannot name. It smells like acids and sterile chemicals. His nose scrunches at the smell as he groans in discomfort. His head is pounding hard, and he reaches for it to massage, but then a sharp sting in his arm makes him hiss and pause.
He opens his eyes, and the bright fluorescent lights on his head almost blind him. Shoto blinks his eyes a few times to get used to the light and finally takes in his surroundings. He looks at his arm and the thin pipe going into his arm. The room is nothing like he has ever seen. He looks above his head to the source from which the beep sound is coming and sees a white box with green lines inside of it. The mattress feels soft under his palm, and there is no fur, just a thin sheet and the room isn’t even cold. The walls are white, made of different stone and none of it makes sense to him. Even the clothes he is wearing are thin, a white gown with small blue dots on it.
Where the hell is he? The door opens just then, and a woman comes inside.
“You are awake.” She says with a smile and comes towards him. Her clothes are weirder, just a green gown that has no design on it, and she is wearing a green cap with white gloves and what looks like a mask.
The woman moves around him and looks at the box with green lines inside of it, and writes something down on the paper she is holding and then fidgets with the pipe on his arm.
“How are you feeling, Shoto-kun?” She asks with the same polite smile. The first thing he wonders is why she is addressing him by his name. He is still the king’s husband, and it should anger him, but then he looks around the room again and thinks he might not be at the place he thinks he is. Or maybe he is just having a very weird dream.
Is this the afterlife, or has he gone mad after a heartbreak and falling off that cliff? But she looks like she doesn’t mean any harm, and she is just asking about his well-being.
“H-hurts…” he decides to answer because it does hurt everywhere.
“That’s common. I have given you painkillers that should take effect soon. You might feel weak and sleepy, so get as much rest as possible. Your quirk was used beyond the limit, so you will get better after plenty of rest. As for other things, you don’t have any broken bones. Just a minor head injury that has healed, and what’s left are the lingering effects. As for discharge, you would be able to leave after close observation since your heart also stopped for a minute before you were resuscitated and brought here.” She finishes, and Shoto thinks he is going mental.
What the hell did she just say? She said so many things in a minute, and he understood nothing. Except for the part that he might feel sleepy, and he needs rest. And maybe the one where she said his heart stopped. His heart did what now? This dream is way too lucid for him, with too many details and strange things being said to him. The woman obviously seems to take in his perplexed look as she sighs.
“I know it is a lot to take in. But you are fine, and you saved people.” She smiles. “And your friends are waiting to meet you. I will tell them that you are awake.” She adds and then walks out of the room.
Shoto looks at the ceiling. Completely lost and confused. She seems to know his name, but maybe she doesn’t know who he is married to for her to be so normal with him, speaking to him like he is just a kid. Did he cross borders when he fell? But Shoto remembers standing on the mountain that is in the middle of his land, there are no borders around the mountain, and there is no river or any hidden path. Just forest and snow. And when he woke up, he was on the clear ground.
Either Shoto’s in a completely different place, or he has lost his mind.
The door opens again, and a few people filter inside the room. He knows each one of them. Then he did not cross the border.
“Todoroki!”
“Todoroki-san.”
“Todoroki!”
“Bro!”
Four mouths call out his name at the same time as they walk inside the room, and soon he is being hugged by them. Shoto widens his eyes at the sudden affection, and none of them call him prince. He makes a surprised noise, and they pull away immediately.
“Sorry, it must be painful right now.” Denki apologises with a chuckle and rubs the back of his head. His face is bruised, and he looks tired. All of them have the same appearance. Bruises and scars on their limbs, and they are wrapped in bandages.
“How are you feeling now?” Mina asks, voice high-pitched like always when she is worried about something. She sits on the edge of his bed, and he makes an effort to sit up and is helped up by the redhead.
“I am…fine.” He chooses to say. It hurts, but he can manage it. Then he looks at their faces, and the bruises don’t make sense, no matter what he thinks of them.
“What happened?” Shoto asks and extends his arm to caress Denki’s cheek, and it surprises the blonde like he isn’t used to the touch. Shoto pulls his hand back when he senses the way Denki tenses under his touch.
“Don’t you remember?” Eijiro asks then, and Shoto shakes his head.
“You defeated Da- I mean Touya and then your heart stopped because you overexerted yourself with the quirk.” He explains.
Shoto ignores all the words Eijiro says, but instead, his ears pick up one word that sounds so strange from the redhead’s mouth.
Touya. That’s his brother. He defeated his brother? But he has not seen him for years after he ran away from home and destroyed half of the flatlands in blinding rage just to be named a traitor.
“Is he—how I…I mean—”
“From what I heard, he is alive, Todoroki-san. I am sure you will be able to meet him soon with your family. They are all being treated right now.” Momo says.
He stays silent for a few seconds and then finally decides to ask the thing that has been bothering him since he woke up. They are all here, so it means he is still inside the palace, but he has never seen this room or the woman who came in to check on him.
“What is this place?” He asks. Is this a room he never knew of, and it was hidden inside the palace?
The four exchange a confused look among each other before looking at him again.
“Hospital…” Mina trails off like she is not sure if she understood his question correctly.
Shoto narrows his eyes. “Hospital?”
They nod in unison.
“Who brought me here?”
“Uhm, everyone is here. We came in ambulances.” Denki says as he looks at others. “He is scaring me, Ashido.” He adds, and Shoto glares at him.
“Bro, are you okay? You hit your head, but they said you will be okay because it was minor. Should we call the doctor?” Eijiro mumbles.
Shoto sighs in exasperation.
It must be magic. He must be inside of an hallucination. Another one of Katsuki’s ways to mess with his head to punish him now, after he saved him, and now he is using his friends as well in his cruel joke. Did he order them to play along with his plan?
“We should call the doc—”
“Where is he?” Shoto interjects before Momo can finish her sentence.
“Who?” Mina asks.
“Your king,” Shoto says and sees the way they all grimace at the word like he has said something very out of character.
“Yaomomo, do you know what he is talking about?” Denki whispers in Momo’s ear as he eyes Shoto weirdly now.
“I think he needs a doctor.” She mumbles back.
“He must’ve hit his head crazy, man.” Eijiro adds.
Do they think he cannot hear them? Muttering things in front of him like he is an idiot and they don’t know that he is talking about Katsuki. But before he can say something else, Mina is already moving from the bed and running towards the door.
“Doctor! I think he has gone mad!” She screams out in the corridor, and Shoto widens his eyes at the sheer audacity of her calling him mad and not answering his question.
He is used to it, really, because Mina never really listened, but she never called him mad and calmed down once she knew he wasn’t joking and wanted to have a serious conversation.
Shoto is not given time to yell back because suddenly a man comes inside the room, and he is soon by his side. Flashing light into his eyes, he tries to ignore and checks the stupid box with green lines like it means something.
“I am Doctor Maharo,” he says with a small smile and sits on the stool beside his bed.
“I am going to ask you a few questions, and I need you to answer them.” He says, and for once, Shoto is baffled by the lack of respect in his tone. He is speaking as if he is not talking to the literal spouse of the king.
“Why are you talking to me like this?” Shoto demands. Finally fed up with everyone acting strange around him. Maharo just looks at him with a blank expression before fixing the round glasses around his eyes.
“Okay, let’s start with your name.” He says then.
Shoto clenches his jaw and looks at the four standing at a distance, looking at him with true worry. This hallucinating magic is seriously strong with clear details. Fine, he will play with it.
“Shoto.” He says.
“Your full name,” Maharo asks.
“Shoto Todoroki.”
“Name of your father and mother, and how many siblings do you have?”
“Enji Todoroki. Rei Todoroki. And I have three siblings.” He answers.
“How old are you?”
“I am 19.”
“Do you remember the war you fought?” He asks, and it makes Shoto narrow his eyes at him. He has never fought a war before, not one he can remember, because all of them were handled by his father and the one with Katsuki was just a tournament made pact his father bet him on and ended up losing him like a stupid man he is.
“I have never fought one.” He says and hears murmurs from the corner where the four again exchange glances, and the man writes something down on the piece of paper he has.
“Can you name your friends?” He says and points at them.
Shoto sighs. “Mina Ashido, Momo Yaorozu, Denki Kaminari and Eijiro Kirishima.”
The doctor nods. “So you remember people but don’t remember the war.”
“Okay, do you have a partner?” He asks, and it almost makes him laugh. Does he really not know he is married to?
“Yes.” He mutters, annoyance already creeping in on him and hears gasps from his friends.
“Do you know who it is?” Mina asks in a whisper.
“I have no idea, man,” Eijiro mumbles back, and Shoto fights the urge to freeze them so they would stop mumbling nonsense. Is this a joke to them?
“What is his name?” The man asks.
Shoto becomes silent then. He clenches his fist under the thin blanket and looks the man dead in the eyes as he says his husband’s name in his head. The man who ruined all the happiness he had found in his life, and called it an act even in the last moments of his life. But then his heart picks up at the mere thought of him, and he realises he is still in love. No matter how much he wants to hate him, blame him and scream at him for not loving him back. He still loves him selflessly and wants him even if it is humiliating enough to wish for his love when all of it had been a lie, a play to achieve his goals. Shoto takes a deep breath and unclenches his fist.
“Katsuki Bakugou,” Shoto says, and collective gasps echo in the room. He finally loses his patience with them.
“Can you four, for once, be silent?” He glares at them.
“Bro, when did you two start dating?” Denki almost shouts as he looks at him with wide eyes.
“Seriously, Bakugou is your boyfriend when so many other people exist?” Mina taunts, voice stretched in what sounds like disappointment.
“You seriously need help. He is my bro, but like damn. Are you sure you are dating him?” Eijiro adds, and Shoto furrows his eyebrows at them.
Why is it a surprise? Everyone knows, and they were all present at their wedding, and now they act like he is the one who needs help and made a mistake.
“You never told me about him. I thought we were friends.” Momo says in her soft voice, and it makes the rest three widen their eyes even more.
“Even you did not know?” They say in unified shock, and suddenly, Shoto’s not sure if he is being fooled or if this is real.
He looks between them and the way they are interacting. Their clothes do not have fur, and the surroundings are warmer than the usually cold mornings he came to accept in the palace. He finally looks out of the window behind them and sees something that makes him widen his eyes. He looks back at the man sitting in front of him. The weird black thing around his neck, the round glasses he has never seen anyone wearing. The whole room and the talks about the war. Even Touya. No one knows about Touya except for him and Katsuki.
This is not happening. He is not going to go mad and make a fool out of himself again. It’s not real. The room is not real. But everything hurts, and the pain is real.
“Shoto-kun, what is the name of the president?” Maharo asks, and Shoto tilts his head at him in confusion.
“A president?” he mumbles, and the whole room goes silent at that.
The man doesn’t comment on it but writes it down.
“What year is it?” He then asks.
“The year of…dragon.” Shoto mumbles and feels his throat drying.
“Where were you born?”
“In the flatlands.”
“Flatlands?” Maharo questions.
“Y-yes…it is. It is the kingdom I was born in.” He says, voice gone as he stares at the blanket with petrified eyes.
“That means, are you a prince?” The man asks.
“I was…”
“Was? What are you now?”
“The king’s spouse.” He mutters.
“Which king. Where does he live?”
“Katsuki. The one who rules over the outlands.” His throat bobs and the tears start to fall on the blanket, wet spots forming on the thin fabric as he finally realises what might be happening right now.
“Is he your husband?” The man asks.
“He is. He is my…he is—” his breath hitches, and he pulls his knees close to his chest as he covers his head with his hands.
“Since when?” The voice almost doesn’t land on his ears as he hiccups. His mind is running miles as he tries to make sense out of everything.
Faith played a cruel joke on him, didn’t it?
“T-ten months.” He whimpers out.
The doctor sighs and looks at the four now standing silently with confused and worried eyes.
“Okay, you can rest now. I will come back in a few hours. You guys should go and rest as well.” The man says, and they nod with a polite bow and leave after giving him pitying looks.
Shoto is left alone in the room then. He grips the needle taped on his arm and pulls it away, wincing at the sting and stands up to go near the window. The sight baffles him. This is not his home. This is nowhere near his home. He sees the bright sun, no hint of snow or mountain or anything that might look like a palace. The structures are all different, reflecting the sunlight on the clear mirrors. Standing tall and intimidating in front of him. Shoto opens the window, and the noises fill his ear. He looks down, and his eyes widen even more. These are not carriages; they look similar, but these are different, and there are no horses, no borders. The sun is brighter and hotter.
This is not his home.
Shoto turns around and walks towards the door that the others came out of and opens it. His breath hitches as he staggers out into the corridor full of men and women he has never seen. Most of them wear green gowns like that woman, and half of them wear white like that man who asked him questions. Questions that might have cleared his doubt, and now this bizarre sight made everything clear.
The man and woman were walking with a speed of urgency, stopping for no one and always chattering. Shoto walks slowly, taking everything in as conversations land on his ears.
“—patient in room 213 needs assistance—”
“—did you sign the discharge form—”
“—he needs emergency transplant—”
“—need to put him on BiPaP—”
“—third degree burns and broken ribs—”
“—possible amputation and muscle tear—”
“—move her to ICU asap—”
Shoto sees the different machines and things. People are crying and begging the man and woman in green to save their loved ones. The smell that irritated his nose is stronger outside in the corridor as he continues to walk through the crowd.
Nothing he sees is familiar, and Shoto comes to a horrifying conclusion: that he might have teleported somewhere else when he fell from the cliff. His soul must have escaped two different worlds.
But this world also has people from his own.
It has the people he loves, and they have the same faces and names. Just different personalities.
They are all here, and he suddenly remembers seeing those ruby eyes before falling unconscious after waking up for a few seconds on that dirty ground.
Katsuki must also be here in this place.
And it looks like they also have their own Shoto in this world. Did this Shoto die?
When he killed himself in his world on that mountain, was this Shoto’s soul also dying at the same time?
And now his soul is stuck inside this body that belongs to this world, and everyone thinks he is Shoto.
They don’t know their friend died, and he has taken his place. He is not a prince in this world, it seems. He is just a young boy.
But is this Shoto in love with this world’s Katsuki? Are they anything? Is Katsuki different in this world, or is he just the same?
They said a war happened. So the original Shoto died in that war, and now he is here instead of him. Given a second chance at life in the most ridiculous way. Replaced, forced to live someone else’s life and take his place. This is not what he wanted. He cannot lie to these people; he cannot live this life that doesn’t belong to him when he had planned to throw his own away. He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t—
“That Bakugou boy in room 225, he gained consciousness and seems to be doing well.” The woman is saying to another, and Shoto feels his heart jump at the name.
That’s him. He is here. Shoto wants to see him, but there are a lot of things on his mind right now. He needs to sit and collect his thoughts and figure out what the hell he is here for and if he can even get out of this world. This world’s Katsuki might just be a normal boy like him as well, and just a friend to this Shoto. But despite what he thinks, his feet are already moving on their own, eyes reading the numbers on the doors as he walks into the corridor to find Katsuki.
221, 222, 223, 224.
Shoto stares at the number and grabs the handle on the door before he can second-guess himself. He slides the door open and freezes at the edge when he sees Katsuki in the bed in the middle of the room. Badly injured and covered in bandages, he looks so small that it rips a choked sound out of Shoto’s chest.
He walks inside the room, and the blonde looks up at him, finally, crimson eyes meeting his as he stares at him in confusion and tilts his head a little. Shoto feels his eyes stinging as he staggers close to him and sits on the edge of the bed to look at him properly.
“What happened to you?” Shoto asks, voice weak and eyes glossy as he looks back into Katsuki’s eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to lie dead in your bed, halfie?” Katsuki says.
“Does it hurt?” He asks instead of answering Katsuki’s question, and the blonde narrows his eyes at him.
“What do you think, icyhot?” Katsuki jokes, and the laugh does something to Shoto, and he reaches towards his face without a single thought in his head. Katsuki looks at his hand with a frown and doesn’t try to move away as the warm hand lands softly on his bandaged cheek.
He half glares at Shoto and thinks he is done losing his mind completely. Because in what sane world would it happen where Shoto does something so out of character, and he is even crying, asking such stupid questions? Katsuki stares at him for a few seconds as he takes in the absolutely wrecked face of his half-rival.
“Done losing your mind, halfie?” Katsuki asks and leans away from his palm, and Shoto drops his hand on his lap after a pained look at the loss of touch and the blonde notices it right away, and it makes him look at him weirdly.
“I am sorry,” Shoto murmurs softly as he wipes at his tears before they can fall.
Katsuki doesn’t try to mock him, yell at him to get out, as he watches Shoto pulling himself back up. He must be hella tired to act this way, and Katsuki had seen when his heart stopped, and their sensei had to perform CPR on him to bring him back, so he lets him have the moment. Cry and ask him stupid questions.
…
“Do you think he is pranking us?” Eijiro asks as he presses the button on the vending machine and grabs the coffee after it falls.
“He was crying. It scared me, bro.” Denki replies.
“He said he is dating Bakugou. I don’t think he would pull a prank after a war.” Momo comments, and it makes them silent for a minute as they walk in the corridor of the hospital.
“He also said he is married to him, and it’s been ten months. I mean, calling Bakugou his boyfriend is one thing, but calling him a husband? A husband!” Mina huffs out as she drinks from her own straw of the can.
“Why don’t we ask Bakugou about it?” Denki suggests, and all of them exchange one look with each other before they all walk in the direction of Katsuki’s room.
It doesn’t take them long to reach his room as they slide the door open and see him sitting up in the bed. But they also see Shoto sitting in his bed. It makes them pause and look at each other with wide eyes. They still stroll inside the room with awkward steps.
“Todoroki, you are here as well,” Mina says with a cheeky smile.
“Oh, I will leave so you can talk,” Shoto says and stands up from the bed, but Denki stops him.
“You don’t have to.” He says.
“Icyhot needs to rest, dunce face,” Katsuki mutters and then looks at Shoto. “Go to your room.” He says, and Shoto nods before he walks out of the room after giving them a small smile as they wave at him.
“The hell are you all doing here?” Katsuki finally asks as he turns to look at them, a small frown on his face but no malice in his tone.
But then he gets suspecious look from them as they surround him and sit near him.
“How are you feeling, man?” Eijiro asks despite the frown on his face.
“Like shit,” Katsuki mutters.
“You look like shit.” Denki blurts out and gets a death glare from the blonde, who threatens to blow him off even if his muscles are screaming at him right now.
“Ignore him. We have something we need to ask you about.” Mina says, and Katsuki narrows his eyes as he sees the way they all become silent quickly. Even ponytails is here with them, and he is not really used to seeing her in his group.
“What?” He asks.
“Are you dating Shoto?” She asks, and for a second, Katsuki thinks he heard her wrong. His ear is already doing the weird thing and ringing nonstop. But then she repeats her sentence, and he looks at the way the others are also waiting for a response. They are actually waiting for him to answer the most bullshit question someone has ever asked him.
“Are you fucking with me?” Katsuki deadpans.
“You are not dating?” Momo asks with the tilt of her head.
“What does it look like, ponytails? Why do you even think I am dating halfie?” Katsuki grumbles as he glares at them.
“Then why was he here?” Denki inquires.
“You think I am dating him because he was here? Does that mean I am dating all of you now?” Katsuki says flatly, looking at them with the bored expression he usually has when he is dealing with their stupid shit on normal days.
Eijiro opens his mouth to say something, but before he can get anything out, the door opens and the same doctor who had asked Shoto questions walks inside.
“Looks like you have company,” Maharo says with a smile, and Katsuki rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, the company is pissing me off.” He mutters, and they stand up to let the doctor check Katsuki.
“You are responding well right now, but I am here to ask you some questions if that’s okay with you, Dyanmight.” He says and flips through the two pages he is holding before he decides to sit down near him.
“Do you know anything about flatlands and outlands?” He asks, and the four exchange glances with each other.
So it is about Shoto. Is this really serious?
“No?” Katsuki replies with a confused look.
“How close would you say you are with Shoto Todoroki?” The doctor asks.
“Why is everyone up my ass today with icyhot! I need a fucking break from this stupid, ugly prank.” Katsuki retorts.
The doctor sighs and ticks something on the paper.
“You are not dating him?” He asks, and Katsuki has to physically stop himself from flipping something off.
“Hell no!”
The doctor then takes his glasses off and puts them inside the front pocket of his coat. He looks at the four standing and then at the final judgment he made on the paper. After a few minutes, he has managed to gather the few important people in Katsuki’s room. Some of them are limping while others are healed enough to stand.
The teachers are also called, and everyone who would need this piece of information, because Shoto is going to be with these people, and they need to know what is wrong and how to fix it.
“I am really sorry. I know everybody wants to rest, but this is important, and it cannot wait.” Maharo says, and Aizawa narrows his eyes. He looks around and sees all his kids except one.
“Where is Shoto then?” He asks.
“It’s about Shoto, Eraser.” The man mutters, and a dark shadow falls over everyone’s head.
“Is he okay?” Izuku’s the first one to ask.
“He is fine physically…” the doctor says, and the one word ticks off something bad in their brains.
“What do you mean?” Aizawa asks.
“Shoto seems to have developed what we call a Psychotic Disorder due to some medical conditions, and in this case, it seems to be related to his heart and head injury. We thought his head injury was minor, but he is showing different signs. It is not something very dangerous, but it should be taken seriously for his own health. Currently, the possible reason for this can be his brain trying to cope with the near-death experience when he was resuscitated.” The doctor explains, and a unified look of confusion falls on half the room.
“What?” Tenya asks.
“He claims to be from a place called Flatland initially and then Outland because apparently he married the king of the outlands, and he believes that Bakugou Katsuki is his husband who rules over the outlands. They have been married for ten months is what he claims to be true. Keeping the fantasy world separate, he remembers each of you. He knows about his family and friends, but he also doesn’t remember the war he fought a few hours ago. He doesn’t know we have a president or what year it is, and many more details that don’t involve people in this room. Which also concludes Retrograde amnesia, along with the disorder where he might show signs of forgetting modern technology and how some things work.”
When the doctor is finished talking, he finally looks at each person in the room and the many different facial expressions on their faces. Worry, confusion, fear and even pity.
Then he looks at Katsuki and sees how the boy has gone completely still, and his face is what one can call a “funeral face”. He looks like someone has died or someone has stabbed him in the heart.
Katsuki looks at the doctor, and he opens his mouth before closing it back up. For the first time in his life, the blonde has gone speechless. Head empty and throat dry. He sucks in a sharp breath and opens his mouth again, hoping something would come out. Is that why Shoto came to his room and acted so differently because he thought he was his fucking husband?
“I am his what?” He asks, incredulously. His voice is high-pitched, and he doesn’t mean to sound so petrified, but it comes out like that.
“Husband.” The doctor gives him a pitying smile with a small nod.
Katsuki feels the air getting knocked out of his lungs at the word. He tries to laugh, but it gets stuck midway, and he ends up choking and coughing on it, and his head is pounding right now to deal with it. This is not happening.
“He’s not that mad!” Katsuki finds his voice, and he yells.
“I understand how this must sound, but right now we all need to consider this until he gets better on his own and with professional help. Because he might say things that will make no sense, and he might speak differently because he truly believes he is a prince and also a king’s spouse. You all will need to be patient with him during this, especially you, Bakugou. You don’t need to play the part of his husband because it can be more harmful and solidify his beliefs. But you shouldn’t also be blunt about it and tell him he has gone mad. The best thing you can do is support him and help him out when he feels lost.” He explains and sees it as his cue to leave them to discuss when he understands that this has to be something private now. “I will leave you guys alone. If you want to know more, you can call me anytime. His family also needs to know about this.” He finishes and walks out the door before closing it shut, and leaves all of them alone.
It is silent for five minutes. No one is talking as they try to digest the news that their classmate, friend and student might just have gone mental.
Then Aizawa speaks. “This should be between this class. You all need to take care of him until he gets better.”
“Sensei, he is still Shoto,” Mina says.
“I know he is, but what the doctor said cannot be ignored.”
“The doctor made up bullshit!” Katsuki snaps. “You seriously don’t expect me to play his husband, do you? Hell, I will kill myself before doing that shit.”
“Kacchan!”
“Shut it, deku. You are not the one in a ten-month-old marriage you had no idea about or a damn flatland—”
“Outlands, actually. He said you were the king who ruled over the outlands.” Denki interjects and gets the nastiest glare from Katsuki.
“Do you want to die?” Katsuki threatens.
“That’s enough, Bakugou,” Aizawa scolds, voice stern, and it leaves no room for arguments.
“Todoroki will never pull such pranks, and all of us know about it. He is still your classmate, and I want all of you to be serious about this. If he says he is a prince or whatever, then he is a prince. You don’t need to treat him like one, but listen to him when he says those things. The same goes to you, Bakugou. I know it might be difficult to act, but do this for your classmate. He has already gone through so much, and it is just his brain finally shutting out that he has to find different ways to cope. He nearly lost his brother, whom he had to fight against, and he lost his own life out there. So, if he says that you are his husband, then you tell him to calm down instead of threatening to kill him.”
Katsuki makes a grumble in protest, but he doesn’t argue anymore with his sensei. They leave for their own hospital rooms to rest after discussing it for a few more minutes, and how to take things from now on. One thing is non-negotiable in that.
Katsuki cannot act like a rabid dog when he is near Shoto anymore.
…
Shoto opens his eyes when he hears the door open again. He looks up, and immediately his eyes blur with tears when he sees the face of his mother, and he hastily tries to sit up, only to groan when pain shoots through his ribs.
“Shoto…” Rei comes and hugs him close to her chest as he wraps his arms around her without hesitation.
It’s his mother. This world or another. She is still his mother, whom he loves more than anything. Shoto’s shoulders tremble as he sobs into her shoulder and buries his face in the crook of her neck.
He feels his chest tightening as he keeps her close because in his own world, he never really got to hug her so tightly and cry into her shoulder after he had turned 14 because it wasn’t really a sign of bravery. Only cowards cried into their mother’s embrace after growing up. But this Shoto can, in this world, he can hug her as tightly as he wants, and no one would tell him to stop and pull himself together, and his mother doesn’t try to push him away as well. She doesn’t tell him he is a big boy who needs to take care of himself now.
She hugs him like he is still a baby.
“Oh, baby, I am glad you are okay. I was so worried, Shoto. My sweet baby, you are okay.” Rei mumbles as she pats his back, and he cries into her warm hug. It has been years since he last hugged his mother in his own world.
“I missed you. I am sorry. I am sorry.” Shoto hiccups as he clutches the fabric at her back, and his whole body shakes into her hold. He doesn’t know what he really is apologizing for. For taking place of her son she loved in this world. Or maybe for not fighting enough to be with her in his own. But now she is here, and she isn’t pushing him away.
“I missed you, too, sweetie. Stop apologising.” Rei says, her voice soft as she caresses his hair and keeps him close.
Shoto cries and cries on her shoulder until he manages to calm down after a few minutes and finally pulls back to look at her face. She is injured, her face burnt in places as he has never seen before, and she looks weak as she sits in front of him, smiling and caressing his face softly. But then a look passes into her eyes. A sudden understanding or maybe just care, and then it turns into endless love, full of warmth. It is fleeting, gone as fast as it came. Shoto cannot name it; he has never been good at reading his mother’s face.
“The doctor told me something—”
“Mother…” he interjects. She needs to know. She needs to know that her son is no more. That he is not the one she gave birth to, and he is just a replacement who ended up here, and her son is gone.
“I am not your Shoto.” He wavers through his teary eyes and wipes at his eyes to look at her properly without that blurry haze.
“What do you mean, baby? You are my Shoto.” She says and caresses his scar as she wipes away the tears from his cheeks.
Shoto shakes his head and exhales deeply as he looks down at his lap.
“No, I am—”
“Shoto,” Rei mutters and guides his face to look at her again. “You are my baby. I gave birth to you. Do you think I wouldn’t recognise my son?”
Something in Shoto breaks because of her smile and the way her eyes have turned glossy. He feels his breath hitching and heart squeezing into his chest as he looks at his mother’s face and decides to let it go. To accept whatever this is and to stay here with her and everyone else. But there is another feeling deep in his chest which tells him that she might know he is actually not her son but also not not her son. Shoto discards that feeling quickly. Even if she has realised it, she has accepted him as her son, and so would he. So he just nods and hugs her again to feel that warmth from her.
…
Shoto is the last one to get his discharge from the hospital. He is given the medicines separately for his supposed disorder, and he takes them with a grimace as they tell him when and how to take each one of them. This world really is strange. They could’ve just him potions, and he would be fine in a few hours.
Fortunately, Aizawa accompanies him back to the dorm as he is dropped off by the car. Which has him scared for the whole ride because there’s too much going on outside the vehicle. People honking, fighting on the roads, and just roaming around. He looks out the window in fascination as tall buildings pass by him, and he sees how some of them also have animals in their hands or on a leash. Keeping animals like that was never really a part of his world, except that Katsuki kept a wolf that was free to go anywhere. These one looks like they aren’t allowed to go just anywhere. Shoto feels sick at the fast motion, so he looks down at his lap instead of the city and breathes in slowly to calm his nerves.
“Are you okay, kid?” Aizawa asks, and he looks at him with a small nod.
“Yeah, just feeling sick.” Shoto answers, and Sensei nods.
“You know you can talk to me about anything. Call me anytime you feel sick in the dorms.”
Shoto’s smiles widen, and his eyes soften as he hears the sincerity in his voice. Even here, Aizawa treats him no differently.
The car comes to a halt suddenly after a few more minutes, and he makes a surprised squeal as he looks at the man driving it.
“We are here.” He says, and Shoto looks outside the window again to see a smaller building. He looks out of the window and sees similar buildings all lined up in one way. So this is where he stays. His mother had said he should meet his friends and rest before they would go to visit Touya soon.
Shoto gulps as he removes the belt around him, as he was told. The lock clicks, and he opens the door with the help of Aizawa, who looks at him softly but doesn’t say anything.
He stands out in front of the building as the car drives away, leaving him standing with his sensei. Should he just go inside? Shoto looks at the man beside him with confused eyes, and Aizawa doesn’t have to be told out loud to understand.
“Let’s go. They must be waiting for you.” He says and guides Shoto with his hand on his shoulder as he walks towards the building in front of him. They stop once he is standing outside the big door.
“I need to meet Principal Nezu, kid. Go right inside.” Aizawa mutters, and Shoto nods and walks inside, leaving the older man outside as he steps inside the vast space.
He looks around the area, and it is even warmer than outside. Like automatic heat without lighting a fire. Shoto then looks to his side as the others suddenly invade his personal space and surround him, hugging him tightly as they bring him towards the sofas and sit him down with excited squeals.
“How are you feeling now, Todoroki-kun?” Shoto snaps his head at the voice and sees the bright green eyes staring at him with the same warm smile he always has.
“Izuku…” he mumbles, and the green-haired boy looks taken aback, suddenly at the name, before he smiles even wider with his eyes squinting a little bit.
“Yeah, you can call me that since we have been friends for a year, I suppose. Should I call you Shoto as well?” Izuku asks, and Shoto nods his head.
“Man, that’s unfair. He gets to call you Shoto, but we don’t?” Denki whines as he comes to drape his arm over Shoto’s shoulder.
“Who said you can’t call me by my name?” He says, and everyone’s eyes light up after hearing it. Soon, all of them are calling him Shoto instead of Todoroki as they shift closer to him on the sofas.
“I…” he begins, grabbing everyone’s attention, and all of them look at him with attentive eyes, and they go silent.
“I am not—”
“Oh, Kacchan. You are here as well. Shou-chan is about to tell us something. Come and sit.” Izuku interjects, and Shoto freezes in place when he hears the name. He looks over his shoulder and sees the blonde walking towards them slowly, with his face still half covered in bandages. But he looks better than he did in that room.
Katsuki makes a grumbling noise in his throat and comes to stand near the sofa on the opposite side of Shoto and looks into his mismatched eyes. It makes Shoto’s heart skip a beat; those crimson eyes still do a lot of things to him. Maybe he really is stupid for still wanting to be held by him, even if his hands might be different, what he feels might be different. That doesn’t change the fact that he isn’t in love with the face in front of him. His eyes are the same crimson color but they don’t have the hatred in them; they don’t hold malice towards him, and they are still the same as they were in that room. He can tell when Katsuki isn’t thinking too much; he is calm, and there is not much on his mind. Shoto can tell he is relaxed and that’s that. He knows how to read the eyes of the man he loves. This world or another.
Shoto feels a pang of hurt in his chest the longer he looks at him. They hold nothing for him, and that’s worse. There is no love or hatred, and he is just Shoto in them. Nothing more and nothing less. It feels much worse because he is not used to seeing this; he is not used to this Katsuki being so distant. Shoto knows he is not his husband here; he is no king, and he is no one to him. But tell that to his stupid heart that this man is not his. Tell that to the lovesick fool inside of him who wants to hold an empty shell and expect love from it. Katsuki doesn’t break eye contact with him as he stares at him, and he feels his throat clogging up. Shoto has to look away from him when he feels his eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“Shou-chan, are you okay?” Izuku’s voice grabs his attention, his voice softer as he exchanges a look with the others. They all notice the way he looks at Katsuki, but decide to say nothing about it.
“Yeah. I am fine.” He says and clears his throat.
“What did you want to say?” Momo asks as she waits for him to gather his thoughts.
Shoto looks at them again and deliberately avoids Katsuki’s eyes because he doesn’t trust himself enough not cry or beg him to hold for one last time, since he did not get the luxury of it last time.
“I am not Shoto. I mean, I am, but I am not who you think I am, and I…” he pauses and takes a deep breath. “I do not belong to this world. It’s a mistake that I ended up here in this body of your friend, and I cannot take his place when I had... planned to throw my own life away.” Shoto doesn’t say the last line out loud.
“Izuku,” he then turns to look at the boy beside him and holds his hand in his. “You believe me, right? You always trusted me and understood me when not even Kat…when no one else did. I know this is strange, but I am not the Shoto you guys are friends with. I am not him, and I don’t know how to get back, and I don’t really want to go back…” Shoto finishes, and the last sentence shocks even himself. It leaves his mouth so fast he has less time to dwell upon it. It shouldn’t be so easy; it should make him ashamed, but it doesn’t.
“I don’t want to go back…” he mumbles, weaker now as he squeezes Izuku’s hands tighter.
“Shou-chan.”
Shoto covers his face with his hands as his lips tremble and his shoulders shake.
“Is that place bad?” Izuku asks, and Shoto shakes his head.
“N-no, it’s…it’s not bad.” Shoto looks up at him with a broken smile and teary eyes. “I felt the happiest there. I met you and everyone and—” his eyes find Katsuki’s for a moment before he looks down at his hands again in his lap. “I met him, but…it’s not home anymore. But I can’t stay here as well…” he hiccups and wipes at his tears with the back of his hands.
“Then stay here. Make this place your home. With all of us here.” Izuku mumbles as his own voice cracks, and he tries to fight back his own tears.
Shoto shakes his head. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?”
“H-he’s not here…” Shoto finally manages to stutter out. It makes him angry that he still cannot forget about Katsuki even after everything. Still can’t live a life without him. That’s why he had decided to take that fall instead of running away, because being away from Katsuki was the same as dying, so instead he chose the easier way out.
Even here, Katsuki is here, but he is not his. Looking at him every day would just be worse because there is a big wall in between them, and he doesn’t know if he would ever be able to climb it. If he is even allowed to climb it.
Izuku doesn’t say anything after that. He doesn’t know what to say. So instead, he pulls him in for a hug, and Shoto clutches at his shirt as he cries into his shoulder. He misses Katsuki; there is no other way to explain the pain in his heart. But at least he has his Izuku to hold him the same way he would in his own world. Shoto feels more hands wrap around him from behind, and he shudders as he relaxes into his friends’ hold, surrounded with warmth.
The green-haired boy looks over towards Katsuki, and the blonde narrows his eyes before he realises what Izuku is asking from him, and he fights the urge to scream at him.
“Bro, go and calm him down.” Katsuki turns to look at Eijiro, who is now standing beside him, whispering slowly to him.
“What the fuck do you want me to do?” Katsuki mutters with a glare.
“I don’t know. You are the husband, so figure it out.” He deadpans, and Katsuki pops a vein on his forehead at the word husband as he looks Eijiro dead in the eyes with an unsaid warning.
“How about you cook for him?” Mina suddenly comes to his side.
“I am not going to fucking cook for him,” Katsuki whispers.
“Why not? Sensei said we need to take care of him. So maybe he will calm down if you cook him soba.” Mina counters and Katsuki suppresses his tired groan and rolls his eyes as he reluctantly walks towards the kitchen and starts cooking soba for Shoto.
It doesn’t take him long to make it as the others help out with cutting the toppings, and he is done in under ten minutes as he puts it in a bowl and looks towards the lobby. Shoto has already stopped crying, along with Izuku and round face. Fucking cry babies.
Katsuki grabs the bowl and walks towards him with a not-so-good expression on his face.
“Halfie,” Katsuki mutters, and Shoto looks up at him with wide eyes and that stupid expression he now has and the way he has heart in his eyes whenever he is looking at him. It pisses Katsuki off a little bit.
“Here. Eat and stop crying.” He grumbles and pushes the bowl and chopsticks into his hands, and Shoto takes them from him. Eyes wide as he looks between him and the soba.
Just then, Izuku moves from his side and forces Katsuki to sit beside him.
“Kacchan, you should sit since you cooked. You must be tired.” Izuku giggles and completely ignores the glare thrown his way. He is not going to fucking do this now. But then he sees the way Shoto’s looking at him, and he freezes in his spot.
“Whatever, just eat it.” He mutters and looks away from him when Shoto blushes.
“Thanks. You don’t have to do it. I know you are not the one I married.” Shoto says as he picks up the chopsticks and starts eating after making everyone gasp out loud and almost giving Katsuki a heart attack.
“So you are normal. You were just putting up an act.” Katsuki spits out, and the word makes Shoto halt. Chopstick in his hand as the soba touches his lips, but he cannot eat it now.
“Stop the act.” Katsuki had said on the cliff.
Shoto looks at the blonde and fails to see the same old hate he wanted to look for, so he could at least scream. But there is nothing. Just the same words that pierced his heart, but now they were said in a different scenario. But that did not make it any better.
He puts the bowl down, losing his appetite quickly.
“Shoto, why are you not eating?” Ochako asks as the dark cloud falls over everyone’s head again.
“I am not hungry,” Shoto says.
“Kacchan, apologies to him.”
“I didn’t even do anything, what the fuck?” Katsuki yells.
“Bro, that’s not very nice to say,” Eijiro mutters as he comes around to put his hand on Shoto’s shoulder.
“The hell did I even—”
“If I try to kill myself, would you say it is an act?” Shoto cuts Katsuki off, and the blonde widens his eyes. He doesn’t mean it; he doesn’t want to take his anger and frustration out on someone who has no idea about the past.
“Fuck is wrong with you suddenly?” Katsuki shouts as he stares into Shoto’s mismatched eyes that have suddenly gone colder.
Shoto moves before anyone can register what he is doing. He picks up one chopstick and freezes it, making it into a spike of ice sharp enough to hurt. He aims it towards his neck and digs it into his skin, fully ready to end his life for the second time in 24 hours. But he is not fast enough to succeed because in the next second, Katsuki is holding his wrist and pulling it away from his neck. The motion makes Shoto jerk towards him, and he ends up hitting Katsuki’s chest with a thud. The chopstick is jerked away from his grip, and when he looks into those crimson eyes again, he sees anger instead of fear.
“Are you fucking crazy? Do you think it is funny to do something like this and take your life so easily? You already fucking died a few hours ago, and you want to do it again because what? Get your shit together, Todoroki, because next time I won’t stop you, and you can go die somewhere else instead of worrying everyone around you.” Katsuki yells, his chest tight as he stares down at the stupid boy who’s looking at him like he is some god who just saved his life.
Shoto blinks his eyes at him as he gets yelled at, and it should embarrass him, but instead, it makes him happy. So he smiles, with his eyes squinted as he lets out a hearty laugh.
“Fuck you laughing for? You lost your mind completely?”
Shoto shakes his head then.
“No,” he says as he pulls back so he is not half leaning on Katsuki anymore. “Thankyou for yelling at me, Katsuki.” He adds, and Katsuki feels heat crawling up his face at the way his name sounds on Shoto’s tongue.
“I am sorry I worried you. Thanks for cooking for me. I will eat it.” He says and reaches for the frozen chopstick in Katsuki’s hand, but the blonde pulls his hand away, and Shoto gives him a small look with that same smile before he reaches for it again, and this time the older lets it go.
Shoto unfreezes it with the heat, the ice melting away as he picks up the bowl again and starts to eat deliciously while the rest of them are left to stare at him. They don’t disturb him as he eats and just sit silently watching him enjoy the soba Katsuki cooked, as he finishes it all and looks at the blonde with stars in his eyes and a bright smile that they have never seen before. Not one so big and only reserved for Katsuki now, it seems, but no one comments on it.
As long as he doesn’t try to kill himself again, and keeps them walking on eggshells. They are all okay with any of his head scenarios because the most important thing right now is keeping him safe and ignoring his newfound affection towards Katsuki.