Mending the Battle Wounds (TodoBakuDeku)

Chapter 22

Katsuki turned his attention to the ceiling, finding it easier to look at then the other person in the room. "Why not?" He pressed. He could clearly see that the whole 'brother' thing was getting to Shoto.

"What would I even say? Remember me? Yeah, the actual brother you abandoned when I was five. The one that went through all the abuse you ran from. The one you promised you were gonna protect from all of that. Then you up and left one day without so much as a goodbye, only to end up finding a better family that was worth it apparently. I'm sure that'd go great, Katsuki." Shoto said, letting out a breath. He wasn't about to start crying in front of the blond. No way in hell.

That seemed to shut Katsuki up, at least for a few seconds. He had to try and think of what to say next. "Maybe... that wouldn't be the worst thing to say?" He started cautiously.

"Look, I know you might not get how normal family dynamics work, but that's-"

Katsuki quickly cut off Shoto's retort. "Just listen to me, okay?" He said, sitting up and leaning back on his hands. "You've obviously been building up a lot of hurt and anger over him for the past few years. You need to get that out of your system before you two can even think about reconnecting, or else it'll always be there, threatening to destroy whatever you guys manage to salvage."

"What if he doesn't even want anything to do with me? He hasn't exactly been warm and friendly these past three weeks." Shoto pointed out, wrapping his arms around himself. Talking about his feelings like this, it made him feel self conscious and vulnerable. Not to mention it was with Katsuki of all people.

"Then you get to call him out for being a total asshat and walk away with no guilt." Katsuki said with a shrug and a sly smile.

Despite himself, Shoto found that he was lightly smiling at the advice. "When the hell did you get good with feelings?" He asked the blond in a teasing manner.

"Hey, I'm great with feelings... just... not my own." He answered truthfully.

Shoto nodded his head in understanding and the two fell into a small span of silence.

"You know, we still don't know how we're gonna see Izuku." Shoto brought up.

Katsuki groaned, laying back down. "This is stupid. Why can't we just go and see him?" He complained.

Shoto shrugged, looking down at the blond again. "I mean, we could. I don't know how far we'd get, but we can try."

Katsuki sat straight up. "Why didn't you say this before? Why waste time sitting her and coming up with stupid fucking plans?" He asked.

"I figured we should wait until most of them go get dinner. Then we just have to deal with Toga." Shoto explained.

Katsuki shook his head in disbelief at the boy. "Whatever, let's just go half and half."

All week Katsuki had been calling him that. He had steered clear of 'Icyhot', and he wasn't sure why. He knew it was because of how much Shoto seemed to hate it, but why did he care? Why would he ever care enough to stop calling him a nickname?

Of course Shoto had noticed, but for the sake of Katsuki's pride, he stayed quite and didn't comment on it.

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Shoto lightly knocked on Izuku's door. He honestly wasn't even sure if anyone would answer.

Katsuki was leaning against the wall next to his dorm, waiting as patiently as the possibly could, which wasn't much. He had his arms crossed, tapping his index finger against his bicep as they waited for the door to open.

A few seconds later, Toga was glaring both of them down. She had opened the door, but only wide enough to stick her head out. "What the hell are you two doing here?" She asked in a whisper.

"We just want to see him." Shoto answered. While the two boy were in the elevator, they had agreeably come to the conclusion that Shoto should probably handle the interaction with Toga. She didn't seem very fond of either of them, but at least she didn't hold a seething hatred for Shoto.

"No." She said simply, going to close the door.

Before she could shut it, Katsuki placed a hand out and kept it from fully closing. "Why the hell not?" He asked. He kept his voice down, but he wasn't sure why. Toga had been whispering and Shoto whispered when he answered her, so it just seemed like what he should do.

"He's sleeping." She said quickly.

"Toga, I'm not deaf and I highly doubt I'm sleeping. Just let them in." Izuku's raspy voice called from in the room, making Shoto and Katsuki perk up a little bit.

"No." She said again, this time looking back into the room.

"Toga just let them in. Seriously, this isn't your call to make." Izuku argued more.

"No, you can't actually- Hey!" Katsuki cut her off by pushing the door open and walking past her into the room. He had finally ran out of the little amount of patience he had, especially since Izuku didn't seem to have a problem with seeing them.

"Kacchan, you're so aggressive." Izuku pointed out with a small smile as he caught sight of the blond and duel haired boys.

"We did things half and half's way and they didn't work, so I did it my own way." He said, walking over to Izuku's bed.

Izuku was sitting on top of his covers, criss cross, flipping through his phone. He had been trapped in the small room for a week and he was starting to lose it, more so than before.

He moved his head so he could see past Katsuki. "Hi Shoto." He said with a small wave.

"Hey." Shoto breathed out.

"God, you're all so gay." Toga said with an eye roll as she laid down on the bed in front of Izuku.

"How's Uraraka, Toga?" Izuku shot back.

"Hey, at least I have a girlfriend." She said with a shrug.

"I don't want a girlfriend!" Izuku argued with her, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Izu." She said with a teasing smile. "Remember, you have to wait until you're thirty."

"Like I'm gonna follow that dumb rule. I don't understand why it only applies to me." He said, crossing his arms and pouting.

"Because you're the baby brother with depression, we're protective over you." She said casually.

"I'm not depressed!" Izuku exclaimed. It was one moment of weakness, that did not mean he had depression.

"Wow, you sound like Katsuki." Shoto piped up, sitting down at Izuku's desk chair.

"Kacchan's actually depressed, there's a difference." Izuku shot back, not in the mood to argue about his mental health again.

"Okay, we're getting off topic." Katsuki interjected.

"What was the topic before?" Toga asked him.

"I have no clue, but it wasn't me." Katsuki growled back.

"Heh, yes it was." She mumbled.

Izuku threw a pillow at her. "Toga! Get out!" He yelled.

"No, you know I can't." She said back with a laugh as he started to hit her repeatedly.

"I'm with Kacchan and Shoto, I'll be fine." He insisted, purposefully hitting the buns on the side of her head to make them messy and fall apart.

"You little asshole! You did that on purpose!" She exclaimed as one of them finally fell out.

"Leave now, please." He said.

She got up with her hands up in surrender. "Fine, but you should let the angry one know he was the reason you were on that roof for the second time." She said before disappearing out the door.

"What?"