Bakugo paced the lobby, waiting for his friends. He had pushed off the doctors that wanted to fuss over him, but in the end Aizawa forced him to give in. They mentioned something about him having two cracked ribs, a bruised shoulder blade, fractured wrists and a fractured ankle but to be honest, he didn't feel any pain. He just couldn't stop thinking about the night and how everything could have gone wrong. How in the end, they didn't catch Shigaraki and that he was still out there, still a threat. He saved his friend, but how many more would die? How many more would need to be saved from Shigaraki's endless reign of terror. How much longer would he chase Midoriya until he got what he wanted. That thought hurt more than the broken bones he had.
It wasn't that Bakugo didn't think he was strong, he knew he was. He was just exhausted. His emotions constantly ebbing and flowing from rage to calm in the last few weeks, months even. He needed a break.
"You alright kid?" Aizawa's hand was on his shoulder then, reassuring, calm, necessary. He leaned into it, steadying himself.
"Mhmm," he sighed.
"What's in that jumbled brain of yours?"
"I'm tired," Bakugo whispered.
"We'll get you some days off, you and everyone else that was present today," Aizawa said, not fully understanding.
"No, not...I'm just tired Aizawa," he corrected. Aizawa looked at him then and sighed.
"Oh," his eyes softened. "Yeah, I know what you mean kid."
"How?" Bakugo strained. "After Oboro... how did you keep going? How did you not give up?"
Aizawa dropped into the chair, tugging Bakugo down into the seat next to him. He stared out the window for a moment, as if he was trying to remember why himself.
"It wasn't easy, I stopped caring for a while. Oboro wanted us to create an agency and it was the only real plan I'd had in the hero world. I didn't really... feel like I fit in anywhere before and I didn't feel like I did after either, despite everyone telling me how I was the reason so many people survived that day. It was the thought in the back of my head that every time I'd save 100 people, 10 would still die. Would it be worth it? Was being a hero worth it if I couldn't save everyone? That's what you're thinking aren't you kid?"
Bakugo nodded.
"The reality is, you won't ever save everyone kid. But you can try your hardest and that's what matters."
"What... what if I'm tired of trying my hardest?"
"Then we'll figure something else out," Aizawa smiled, ruffling Bakugo's hair. He grimaced, but didn't shove Aizawa's hand away like he normally did. "This got something to do with Midoriya?"
"I let Shigaraki get away?"
"You would have died if you didn't."
"Might have been worth it if I took him out in the process."
Aizawa grabbed Bakugo's arm and he turned to look at him, eyes red, hair floating just enough that Bakugo realized he had made the wrong choice of words.
"Losing your life over a man that has no regard for life in general isn't the way to do it Bakugo," Aizawa pressed. "I know... I know things have been hard for you but I don't ever want you to think that your life isn't worth saving."
Bakugo looked away then and Aizawa slipped a finger under his chin, turning his face towards him.
"You're worth saving Bakugo, even if you don't believe it, Midoriya and I sure as hell do," Aizawa sighed, his hair falling back into place as he released Bakugo's face. "And if I have to spend the rest of my exhausting life reminding you, or making Eri do it, I damn sure will."
