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Shouto had known about Katsuki's business trip thing for a week by now. His parents had something come up about their business and Katsuki just had to be there, not that he particularly wanted to be, but facing the wrath of his mother wasn't something he typically wanted to deal with.
Shouto was fine with it. Just one weekend where he'd leave Friday evening and be back on Monday morning, just before school. It was completely and utterly fine. He could go two days without Katsuki, nothing he hadn't done before.
"Bye, Shou-Shou. I'll be back Monday, okay?" Katsuki brought him in close, keeping a hand in Shouto's hair, ruffling it slightly.
"I'm not- " Shouto began, a subtle smile creeping onto his face before he giggled to himself, "M'not little Ki, s'okay."
"Yeah, I know but," Katsuki spoke into his ear before moving away and gesturing to the couches, "Momo's gonna keep an eye on you, kay? Even if you don't need anything and you aren't little, she's gonna be there for you, I promise."
"Mmm." Shouto hummed, not exactly listening, just trying to soak up as much Katsuki as he could for now.
Katsuki hugged him quickly, before heading over to Momo.
"Just remember his thing about communication. Yumi - his elephant - gonna do most of the expressing, just so you know. Likes touching things when little and just fidgets a lot; keep his hands busy if he seems overwhelmed and he'll be alright. And his pacifier, that too, easy way to calm him down. Mostly alright but gets pretty young sometimes, so might need help with feeding himself and stuff like that. Oh, and he forgets to eat sometimes so just remind him. And one last thing, don't call him Todoroki when he's small either, throws him off a bit. And-"
"Bakugou, don't worry, you already told me about all this. You wrote it down and nailed it to my door with a hammer. I think we'll be alright." Momo chuckled slightly, moving her hand towards her mouth.
"Yeah, well. Just don't fuckin', you know- "
"Yes, yes. Now, go. You'll miss the flight."
Katsuki sighed, giving Shouto one last hug goodbye.
"Bye, Ki. Miss you."
"Bye, Shou. Be good, kay?"
Shouto nodded, a bit sleepily at that, hanging his arms around Katsuki's neck.
And with a final wave, he was gone.
•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•
Saturday went by uneventfully for Shouto. Homework for each class, going over materials, studying with Midoriya and Iida. Nothing out of the ordinary. Momo would knock on his door every so often, asking if he was okay and reminding him to come down for food. He didn't intentionally forget to eat, but it just kind of happened sometimes. Nonetheless, he was doing good. Totally fine and totally normal.
Every so often though, he'd catch Momo just looking at him from across the common room. It wasn't annoying, just very... constant. He was okay with it but... Ki didn't do that. Ki just... let him be. Mostly.
Ki would remind him to eat too or wake him up some mornings. He'd let him play with his fingers when he couldn't start outwardly flapping his hands around in places. He would-
But Ki wasn't here right now.
Saturday night left Shouto awake, more so than usual. His overthinking and his headaches were back and the night was brewing into something he'd rather forget. Yumi was lying on his chest, just sitting there with him as he stared up at his ceiling from bed. He was in Katsuki's hoodie again, the black one with the sleeves that he liked. It still smelled like him, mostly.
He didn't miss Ki, really. It was all okay. Just one more day.
Shouto moved to the floor, almost instinctively. It had become their thing to just sit on the floor sometimes, when everything felt too loud. They'd just sit in each others presence and Shouto would lean against his shoulder and trace the scars on his hands while outlining the lines on his palms and he-
He wasn't here.
Shouto was alone.
Again.
He didn't think before getting up and walking through the corridors, Yumi in hand, the moonlight illuminating his path. Not that he really needed the light, the path had become muscle memory at some point. He found himself outside Katsuki's room.
He didn't know what had brought him there, really. The door was locked and he just...
He slipped down the doorframe and pulled his knees up against his chest, sitting on the floor once again. It was only when Midoriya tapped him on the shoulder the next day that Shouto realised he had slept there, outside Katsuki's dorm, on the floor.
He was fine. He was fine. He was fine.
Heading towards the common room, Shouto held Yumi close to his chest. He sat on a free couch and began stroking Yumi's ears, clutching her, almost as if he was trying to absorb her. He hadn't noticed when Momo walked in.
"Morning, Todo- Shouto. Do you want some breakfast?" Her voice came soft and soothing, spreading like honey over his mind.
"Hm? Hi, Yaoyorozu." Shouto spoke, clear and controlled. Too controlled. "Um, yeah. Breakfast is good."
"Okay. Anything in particular?"
"Umm." Shouto's voice grew quieter, something in the back of his head nagging at him to speak, "Mm mn."
"That's okay. I'll make you some toast."
Why was she asking him that?
Shouto watched as she returned with the toast, placing some in front of him as she sat close by. He picked it up carefully, all of his movements mechanical.
He didn't need help eating. He was fine. Fine. Fine. Fine.
She took his plate once he finished and he retreated to his room.
Not much to do anyways.
The boy sat in his dorm, against the wall with Yumi in hand, waiting out the day. The class movie night was later, so something to look forward to, he supposed.
Soon enough, Momo came in to collect him. Spotting him on the floor, seemingly in his head, she crouched down next to him.
"Shouto? It's time for the movie, come on."
Shouto looked puzzled, almost, being pulled out of his thoughts. He stared wordlessly at her, before realising that his body was moving on its own and he was suddenly sitting on a couch.
Momo was... nearby. Not next to him, exactly, but, close enough to touch him if she stretched herself out. Yumi was still clutched to his chest, his knees pulling up as he began rocking back and forth absent-mindedly. Someone had switched off the lights and the room suddenly felt a lot... smaller.
The TV in the common room was large enough for anyone to see from wherever they were sitting, meaning people were spread across couches, on beanbags or just lying on the floor. Blankets and pillows were scattered throughout, with the odd popcorn bowl in someone's hands. Shouto wasn't exactly sure what made the room feel so small but he could almost hear the walls shrinking and trying to close in on him.
The movie was something he hadn't seen before, not that he was paying much attention to it. What intrigued him more was Momo, sitting a foot away from him with Jirou leaning on her side.
He noticed Jirou's ear defenders; something he'd seen her wear sometimes. He figured it was just a quirk thing. Her earphone jacks made everything feel too loud all the time so, of course, she'd want to block out noise.
He watched the way she curled in on herself, tucking her body into Momo's side, almost like she was trying to hide away, or maybe sleep - he wasn't too sure.
He wasn't entirely sure if Jirou got cold easily, though he often saw her in fluffy socks, even in summer. Then again, it wasn't like she had a temperature based quirk like him, so maybe she struggled to regulate herself. She must just get cold easily. She had to. Otherwise, what was the purple blanket doing around her shoulders? The same purple blanket, covered in black music notes, in the same style as his one.
He watched as her mouth moved repeatedly, in a way so synchronised that only Shouto would recognise because he knew what the plastic bulb felt like on his tongue and how soothing it felt and-
But.
No.
She couldn't have been.
Or, maybe she could've?
Was she?
"Shouto?" Momo whispered, keeping her voice low so as to not disrupt the movie, "Are you okay, honey?"
Shouto was pulled out of his thoughts by Momo staring straight into his soul.
'Woah.'
He had wanted to say that, yes, he was all good, totally fine, totally okay, totally not missing Ki at all, whatsoever. Instead, his mouth opened and closed without a sound and his lip trembled, just a bit.
"You can come and sit. If you want to." Momo's eyes looked so sweet, stars shining in the night sky that was her pupils.
Shouto's hand twitched.
Not a lot. Barely noticeable.
Except to Momo.
Katsuki had drilled Shouto's tells into her. The fidgeting, the not putting the elephant down for the life of him, the far away look in his eyes, the silence before his tears fell.
She wasn't Katsuki, but she was a good listener.
Shouto paused, eyes flicking between his hand and Momo's warm smile.
For a second, only a split second, Shouto's attention was dragged away from Momo and shined onto the sleepy child against her.
" 'ama..."
"Shh... Go to sleep, Kyo. It's alright..."
Shouto stared, eyes fixated on Momo again.
"Shouto?" Momo asked, low and calming.
He inched towards her slowly, Yumi in his arms. Momo placed her soft, delicate hands on his head as she lay him across her lap, stroking his hair away from his face as he turned to face her, eventually burying his head into her stomach.
"Mama.." he tried slowly, enunciating each syllable, foreign on his tongue.
"Momo is fine, honey. Don't pressure yourself."
"Momo..." he tried again, this time feeling the syllables melt in his mouth, almost naturally, "Mmm..."
His eyes closed at that.
Momo sat patiently, carding her left hand through Shouto's hair, splitting the red and white onto each side whilst resting her right on Jirou's thigh. Slowly, she lifted her right hand away from Jirou, slipping it behind her to grab her phone from the back of the couch.
Click!
Momo opened her messages, only to find a complete flood just from Bakugou alone. She replied with a simple image of Shouto's messy bedhead laying against her, curling into her as best he could, Yumi tucked by his knees as his arms wrapped around Momo's middle.
'He's all good.' She sent, an immediate reaction of a heart and the notification that Bakugou had saved a photo to his camera roll following that.