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Katsuki felt a weight land on his shoulder.
It was enough to rouse him out of his fitful, pain medication-induced sleep. He forced his heavy eyelids open and stared into the darkness of his hospital room, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light. Katsuki tried to tilt his head down to see what was on his shoulder, but something prevented his movement. He felt bandages and soft strands of hair tickling his jaw. His muscles tensed on instinct, causing a throb of pain to ring through his abdomen.
"The fu—"
A bandaged hand entered his field of vision, coming closer until it rested atop his own mess of hair, awkwardly patting his head.
"Didn't mean to…" a raspy voice began to say, but the short phrase was cut off by a dry cough and a small, pained whine. "...to wake you."
Katsuki felt himself deflate a little, his own voice hoarse with sleep when he spoke. "Stop talking, you moron, or you'll lose your voice for real."
Todoroki grunted in response, scooting himself closer to Katsuki on the bed. He pressed his left side, his warm side, against Katsuki’s right. A soft heat pulsated in the air and made Katsuki relax even further.
He hadn't gotten to see Todoroki much during their stay at the hospital. Most of what he knew, he learned from Kirishima when he visited his room earlier that day. He told him that Todoroki's mother, brother, and sister had showed up to his room. Then, the entire family had disappeared to Endeavor’s hospital room for a good, long while.
Considering everything that had happened—everything that had been revealed just a few short days ago—Katsuki wasn't surprised about the Todoroki family meeting.
But the fact that Todoroki was here, in Katsuki’s room in the middle of the night, could only mean one thing.
"Your family's not here right now, are they?" Katsuki asked softly.
He felt Todoroki shake his head against his shoulder, the other boy’s hair wisping against his skin in such a way that Katsuki unconsciously shivered.
"They left," Todoroki croaked, his words barely audible.
Katsuki let out a shaky sigh, pain creeping in at the edges of his awareness. One cursory glance at the IV bag hanging next to his bag told him his current dose of pain medication was almost up, and he'd need it replenished soon. But until then, Katsuki did all he could to focus on the physical pain so he could ignore the storm of emotions swirling in his bruised, battered, burned chest.
"Are you—" the question was cut off by a sharp intake of breath, followed by a series of short, strained coughs.
Katsuki rolled his eyes, blindly reaching his hand out as far as he could with Todoroki squishing his arm against his side. He patted what he hoped was Todoroki’s leg. "I told you to fucking stop talking," he chided, though his word lacked any real heat.
Todoroki wheezed and ducked his head a little, settling it on Katsuki’s chest. But he avoided the areas that were covered in bandages.
It was quiet between them for a little while. The only sounds taking up space in the silence were the quiet, steady beeping of Katsuki’s heart monitor and Todoroki’s even quieter, raspy breaths. Katsuki wanted to go back to sleep, but the steadily increasing pain prevented him from drifting off. He idly wondered if Todoroki had fallen asleep already, until he saw Todoroki’s hands moving.
"The hell are you doing, half-n-half?"
Todoroki didn't answer, which was probably a good thing since he couldn't talk without hurting himself. He shifted until he was able to sit up, facing Katsuki. Once again, he started moving his hands.
Katsuki recognized the motions as a very unpracticed, very clumsy attempt at signing. Todoroki’s hands were shaking a little, though whether it was from nerves or injury, Katsuki wasn't sure.
"Sign that again, but slower," Katsuki instructed when Todoroki’s hands stopped in mid-air.
Todoroki nodded and pursed his lips. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as his mismatched eyes focused on his own hands as they tried to move in an unfamiliar pattern. If Katsuki were the sappy type, he might have admitted Todoroki looked cute when he was concentrating.
But Katsuki steered himself away from that train of thought, watching Todoroki’s hands sign a very simple, very loaded question.
“Are you okay?”
Another haggard sigh brushed past Katsuki’s lips, a sardonic smile tugging the corners of his mouth upward. "Un-fucking-believable," he said, leaning his head back on the pillow and staring up at the dark ceiling.
Todoroki made a questioning noise that Katsuki almost missed because of how quiet it was.
Katsuki glanced back down and saw Todoroki looking at him curiously with his head tilted to the side. Cute crossed his mind again, but he shoved the thought away with as much mental force as he could muster. "Your entire family's dirty history has been broadcasted to all of fucking Japan, and your not-dead brother is a mass murderer who tried to kill you, and you're asking if I'm okay?"
He didn't mean to raise his voice, but the way Todoroki flinched and averted his gaze made Katsuki bite down on his tongue. He wrenched his eyes shut and blew out a frustrated sigh through his nose.
Katsuki felt a light tapping on his sternum, right above his cummerbund of bandages. He cracked his eyes open again to see Todoroki's finger lightly poking at his hospital garb.
Todoroki sat up again and brought his hands back up after getting Katsuki’s attention. He paused to think for a moment, then motioned the sign for “ hurt.” He paused again, a shadow descending over his bandaged face as he more cautiously signed “ die.”
And hell , if that didn't bring up another thought that Katsuki had been trying to avoid since he woke up.
Because Todoroki was right. He did almost die. Todoroki had almost died. And Deku…
Goddamn Deku .
Todoroki tapped Katsuki’s hand this time to get his attention. Katsuki watched as Todoroki struggled to sign out “ Mi-do-ri-ya .”
"What about him?" Katsuki growled out, hoping his anger would hide his worry for his childhood friend.
"…Coma," Todoroki said, sounding like it took every ounce of voice he had left to say it. He wrung his hands together, fingers interlaced tight enough that Katsuki watched his knuckles turn white.
"Yeah…" Katsuki said, trying to swallow around the lump in his throat. "He hasn't woken up yet, the fucking asshole."
"You saved him," Todoroki said, falling into a small coughing fit after squeaking the words out. Even though his eyes were watering from the exertion, the sheer admiration and pride that Katsuki saw in those crystal-colored irises when Todoroki looked at him…
"It wasn't enough," Katsuki said, gritting his teeth. He punched the mattress, but there was hardly any fight behind his fist. "He's still…he might…"
Todoroki lightly touched the back of Katsuki’s fist, holding his fingers there for a few moments. Then, he reached his other hand out and gently took Katsuki’s wrist. He slowly turned Katsuki’s hand until his fist was face-up. Then, his fingertips aligned with Katsuki’s fingernails and Todoroki slowly unraveled Katsuki’s fist until his hand was lying limp on the sheets.
The sensation of Todoroki’s blunt nail lightly scraping against his bandaged, calloused palm made Katsuki shiver. Todoroki’s finger traced shapes into his palm that Katsuki only barely put together.
It was hiragana. “ Go-me-n.”
Katsuki raised a brow and looked up to Todoroki in surprise. "Sorry? What the hell do you have to be sorry for?" he asked a bit harsher than he intended, genuinely confused at Todoroki’s apology.
Todoroki took Katsuki’s hand in both of his and squeezed it tight, staring down at their joined fingers instead of at Katsuki. "I couldn't…" Todoroki tried to clear his throat, but it only brought on more coughing. He wheezed out, "I couldn't save him…or…you…"
Katsuki felt a punch to the gut that hurt almost as much as Shigaraki's tendrils piercing right through him. "Couldn't…are you insane ? You stopped me from plummeting to my death after I was fucking stabbed and bleeding out all over the goddamn place."
Todoroki shook his head. He let go of Katsuki’s hand to sign at him, and Katsuki couldn't help but miss the contact. Todoroki pointed at Katsuki before signing Midoriya’s name again, a little faster this time, and again signing “ hurt.”
Katsuki genuinely couldn't believe what he was hearing…what he was seeing . "Well, yeah, we were hurt, but you saved us both , Icyhot. We would have been goners without you. You know that."
Another shake of his head had Todoroki’s two hair colors mixing together at the part. "My fault," he croaked out, ducking his head low as if ashamed. His hands fisted the sheets, and his knuckles turned white again.
Before he could think otherwise, Katsuki leaned forward and placed his own hands on top of Todoroki’s. He ignored the stab of pain in his abdomen as he jarred his wound. "Stop," he said firmly, perhaps angrier than he intended. And wasn't that always the way, his emotions manifesting themselves as anger to the people around him. "Nothing is your fault, you fucking hear me? Your dad's a shitbag, and he's the one who fucked up and has to answer for that, not you. Never you."
Todoroki looked up at Katsuki, tears streaming down his face and soaking into the bandages wrapped around his cheeks. He seemed...surprised.
Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "Look, Deku isn't awake to make you feel better, so it's my job right now," he said in his own defense. His glare turned more intense as he lowered his eyes to the sheets. Unconsciously, his hands tightened around Todoroki’s. "He better fucking wake up, or I'll kill him."
Something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh came from Todoroki, and he masked it behind a cough.
Katsuki glared up at Todoroki. "What's so funny, you bastard?"
Though there were remnants of tears dripping down Todoroki’s face, he smiled softly at Katsuki. "You care…for Midoriya," he rasped.
As much as it was his reflex to deny any kind of emotional attachment to the nerd, Katsuki fought down his instinct and nodded curtly. "Wouldn't have jumped in front of him if I didn't…"
Todoroki continued to smile at him, sniffing his own tears back and nodding. "I care…for you both, very…" He swallowed, a strained whine escaping his burned throat. "Very much."
Flutters ran rampant in Katsuki’s stomach, hearing those words from Todoroki’s mouth. It was too much for him to handle, the pain in his gut piercing through the kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering about his insides.
As soon as a pained hiss left his lips, Todoroki’s hands were on his face, cupping his cheeks like Katsuki was someone very dear, very precious to him.
“Pain?” Todoroki asked, the very same sensation mirrored in his own voice.
Katsuki nodded shortly. “Damn meds are wearing off…”
Keeping one hand on his face, Todoroki reached around Katsuki with his other hand and grabbed the nurse call remote from the side of the bed. The little button illuminated red, reflecting off the stark whiteness of Todoroki’s hair.
“Nurse’s station. What do you need, Bakugou-kun?” one of the nurses asked through the speaker on the remote.
“New IV bag,” Katsuki said through gritted teeth, trying as hard as he could not to start hyperventilating from the pain. He didn’t need to pass out, especially with Todoroki still on the bed with him.
“Okay, we’ll be there shortly,” the nurse assured him from the other end of the line.
“Todoroki, you should leave,” Katsuki said, in too much pain to relish in the surprise on Todoroki’s face that he’d used his actual name and not some witty moniker. “Before they catch you out of your room.”
Todoroki bit his lip then shook his head, telling Katsuki without words that he intended on staying right where he was. He ran his gentle fingers through Katsuki’s hair, a soothing motion to help dull the pain even a little.
Katsuki was grateful for the distraction.
When the nurse arrived with a new IV bag full of medicated fluids, she didn’t say anything about Todoroki being there. She just set to work on replacing Katsuki’s medication, and once he could feel the cold sensation of the fluids entering the vein in his arm where the needle stuck, he began to relax a little.
Todoroki was still sitting on the bed when the nurse finished up and left the room, running his hand through Katsuki’s hair. But once they were left alone again, Todoroki withdrew his hand.
Katsuki wanted it back.
Todoroki exhaled before signing “ go,” at Katsuki, nodding his head toward the door.
And really, Todoroki should be in his own room, resting.
But Katsuki shook his head.
Todoroki tilted his own head in question.
Katsuki didn’t answer.
A beat of silence stretched between them, and Todoroki’s hands began moving again.
“Are you okay?”
Katsuki blew out a ragged breath, deflating against his angled mattress and shaking his head. His eyes slid shut, if only to stop the burning tears from daring to fall down his cheeks. “No…I’m not.”
Something warm pressed against Katsuki’s side. Something familiar, something comforting. Katsuki felt a weight land on his shoulder, and a tear slid down his cheek.
“It’s okay…” Todoroki said, his raspy yet gentle voice coming from right below Katsuki’s chin. “To not…be okay.”
Katsuki let out a watery laugh, trying to sniff back his tears to no avail. “That sounds like something damn Deku would say.”
Todoroki hummed, the soft noise interrupted by a whine. He didn’t say anything as Katsuki continued to cry quietly, and really, nothing needed to be said.
Katsuki appreciated Todoroki’s quiet company more than anything right now.
After some time had passed, and Katsuki’s tears finally ceased, having left dry and salty tracks down his face, Katsuki let out a tired sigh.
“…Thanks, Todoroki.”
“…Shouto.”
Katsuki blinked, his heavy eyelids slid open, staring down at the mop of red and white hair on his shoulder.
“Call me…Shouto.” A cough, a wheeze. “Please.”
The butterflies were back in Katsuki’s stomach, immune to the medication that numbed his pain.
Wordlessly, Katsuki tapped Shouto’s arm to get his attention. The other boy sat up just a little, turning his head to look at Katsuki. Katsuki felt his breath catch in his throat, having Todoroki’s eyes fixated on him so earnestly and curiously.
Katsuki lifted his own hands, wiggling his fingers to draw Shouto’s gaze to them. Once Shouto was watching, Katsuki began signing.
“Ka-tsu-ki.”
The pure happiness in Shouto’s tiny smile nearly killed Katsuki on the spot.
“Ka-tsu-ki,” Shouto repeated aloud, his damaged voice cracking on the final vowel. His hands also mimicked the motions Katsuki had shown him to go with each syllable.
Katsuki then signed Shouto’s own name, going through the motions slowly and carefully so the other boy could catch on.
They practiced a few more times, with Shouto signing Katsuki’s name and Katsuki both signing and speaking Shouto’s name, until Katsuki grew drowsy from the medication. He settled back down to sleep, and Shouto curled up against his side with his head on Katsuki’s shoulder once more.
“‘Night, Ka-tsu-ki,” Shouto whispered, letting out a content sigh against Katsuki’s chest.
Katsuki let out a content sigh of his own, his eyes sliding shut. “G’night, Shouto.”