Hehe, I'm back with another story! I decided to write this one because I LOVE this AU and there weren't enough for me to read so I decided to write one :)) We're going to ignore that I'm also writing another story at the same time as this one,, haha.... :,)
I was going to wait until I had more chapters finished to post or at least got to a good point in my other story, but then I was like "I have to post something for Thanksgiving!!" and this is all I had so...
Anyway, enjoy, and happy Thanksgiving!
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"Bakugou, watch out!" Shouto shoved him away at the last second, the villain's blast hitting him dead on. Immediately, a fuzzy heat began to envelop his body, and Shouto staggered a little. What...?
His vision began to blur, and as he tried to take a step forward, he tripped over...something, falling forward and barely catching himself from smacking his face into the concrete. Distantly, he could hear what sounded like Bakugou shouting and numerous explosions, but he wasn't quite certain. Everything sounded muffled and far away.
Realizing he had closed his eyes, Shouto cracked them open and winced at the glaring light that struck his eyes. He tried to move his hand to shield his face, but his limbs wouldn't respond. And so, he laid there helplessly, trying to gather the coordination and strength to move a single inch. Predictably, it remained out of his reach.
He didn't know how long he floated there in that endless limbo, thoughts sluggish and sticky, but after what seemed like a lifetime, a figure came into view. They were blurry and looked more like a vague shadow than a person, but Shouto was too out of it to recognize any potential danger. The heat was starting to get uncomfortable, tingling at his fingertips try as he might to negate the feeling with his ice.
And then - and then the person touched him, and he felt a wave of coolness wash over him. He heard someone sigh - was that him? - and his thoughts cleared slowly. He opened his eyes (when had they closed again?), just to lock eyes with the one and only Bakugou Katsuki. Bakugou was touching the side of his face, his hand a gentle caress against his cheek, before he was pulling away abruptly to stand and look away from Shouto. Shouto thought he saw a tear, but when he glanced at Bakugou again it was gone. Shouto huffed at himself. It was probably just his muddled brain; Bakugou would never cry over him.
Shouto struggled to sit up, but at least his body was responding to him again, and he spared a glance around at his surroundings. He couldn't help the hitch in his breath when he saw the destruction - the bruised and burned villain slumped against a nearby wall, the mounds of debris that were scattered generously around the scene. Shouto couldn't tell if the cause had been Bakugou or the villain.
"Bakugou, what - what happened?" Shouto croaked, his throat suddenly parched. Bakugou huffed, but he didn't meet Shouto's eyes.
"I took out the stupid villain because your shitty ass decided to go and take a hit that was meant for me. I didn't need your protection!" Bakugou was looking at him now, his angry glare drilling into Shouto. Right, Shouto remembered. He had pushed Bakugou out of the way of the villain's attack.
"Oh," he said simply. When he tried to stand, a wave of dizziness overtook him, and he flopped back onto his rear.
"Tch, don't strain yourself, dumbass. You just got blasted to Hell and back by some shitty villain like the idiot you are, so you should just sit there and wallow in your defeat." Bakugou kicked at a rock, eyebrows furrowed. Shouto smiled. Despite the multitude of swears and insults that riddled Bakugou's words, he knew he was just showing his worry in his own way. It was sweet.
"Got it," Shouto conceded. They were silent for a bit before the sound of far off sirens pierced the air.
"It seems the police will be here soon," Shouto said, for lack of a better conversation starter.
"Took 'em long enough," Bakugou bit. The following quiet was deafening.
They didn't speak again until the police arrived, the navy-clad officers hurriedly stepping out of their vehicles and making their way towards Shouto and Bakugou. Shouto watched an ambulance pull up seconds later.
"Are you the ones who apprehended the villain?" a female cop asked, pen and paper in hand.
"Who the fuck else would it be?" Bakugou growled, as per usual. She looked at him, unamused, before continuing on with her questions. Bakugou did most of the talking, Shouto only chiming in during the beginning since he was out of it for most of the fight.
"Great, thank you," she murmured, finishing scribbling down something on the notepad. "Oh!" she exclaimed, as if remembering something. "Are either of you hurt?" Bakugou scoffed.
"Are you even looking at us right now? And shouldn't that have been the first thing you asked us? Halfie here got fucking knocked unconscious for half the fight!" She flinched at his words.
"Right, sorry...I'm still new to the job..." Bakugou rolled his eyes, then pulled Shouto up to his feet surprisingly gently. He stumbled against him, but Bakugou was a solid wall and successfully supported him. Shouto mumbled a thank you, then began to extricate himself from Bakugou's hold.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Icyhot?" Bakugou snapped, pulling Shouto back into his hold. Shouto wiggled in his arms, but Bakugou easily restrained him in his weakened state.
Shouto eventually sighed and gave up. "I'm going to the ambulance for clearance. What are you doing?" He pointedly looked at Bakugou's arm around his waist.
"I'm fucking making sure you don't fall on your face like an idiot. Do you really think you can walk by yourself?" he scoffed, glaring at Shouto. "You couldn't even stand up without falling over."
Shouto frowned. "I'm feeling better. I can walk by myself."
"Oh, really?" Bakugou released his hold on Shouto, stepping back slightly. "Show me."
Shouto glared at him, ignoring the way his legs almost gave out immediately just from standing without support. He stepped forward, and-
-immediately fell over. He cursed his stupid pride internally and shut his eyes, bracing for the fall. It wasn't like he would be able to catch himself like this; his head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and his legs felt like spaghetti. It was all he could do to stay upright, and he was already failing at that.
Before he could hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around him, breaking his fall. He cracked an eye open and peeked over at Bakugou, who was giving him a smug smirk. "You were saying?" Shouto huffed, feeling heat rise to his face.
Bakugou snorted, then maneuvered Shouto so his arm was slung around Bakugou's shoulders and Bakugou's hand was around his waist. His touch made his head feel clearer and the aches go away, and Shouto leaned into him more than was probably necessary. Bakugou didn't seem to notice, however, simply shuffling towards the ambulance with Shouto without preamble.
By the time they reached the ambulance, Shouto was feeling infinitely better. His thoughts were no longer cloudy and he felt like he wouldn't crumble into nothingness if he tried standing on his own, although he didn't mention that to Bakugou. Call him selfish, but his touch was cool and refreshing against his overheated body, and the feeling of his arms around him made Shouto feel...secure.
"Thank you," Shouto said genuinely as they stopped in front of the ambulance. Bakugou tsked, looking away.
"I can't have you injured the next time I kick your ass. I don't need an advantage when I beat you." Shouto hummed.
"Right." Bakugou pulled away, and Shouto felt almost...disappointed, which was definitely strange. He'd never wanted Bakugou to touch him before, and now here he was, reluctant to leave his arms. He shook his head slightly. It was likely a result of his injuries.
His thoughts were broken when Bakugou was ushered away for his own treatment. A kind-looking paramedic approached Shouto, and they went through the basic procedures.
"I understand you were hit by a quirk?" they asked.
"Yes, but I believe it simply caused me to be immobile for a bit. I think it's worn off by now, I definitely don't feel as horrible as I did after I was hit by it." They nodded, looking at some sort of clipboard.
"We should run some tests to be sure there's no lingering effects, but then you should be good to go." Shouto nodded.
"Thank you." They smiled at him, then left to presumably gather the needed materials.
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It didn't take much longer after that for Shouto to be deemed healthy enough to leave. His tests came back fine, and thus he was sent off with a few bandages and some words of gratitude.
When he and Bakugou arrived back at the dorms, they were immediately swarmed by their classmates.
"Oh my God, we saw the fight! Todoroki, are you okay? After you took that hit for Bakugou, you seemed really hurt!" Shouto sighed a little, sparing a glance towards Bakugou. It wasn't surprising to see his face twisted into his usual frown.
"He didn't take a hit for me, he was just incompetent! I didn't need him to do that!" Explosions were crackling at his fingertips, and Mina quickly backtracked.
"Right, of course!" she said. "But still, are you okay?" Shouto nodded.
"I'm fine. Their quirk just rendered me incapable of fighting for a few minutes, but it's worn off now." A ripple ran through the class.
"That's relieving!" Midoriya chirped. "I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious!"
"As am I!" Iida added. "It would be terrible if anything had happened to you!" Shouto thanked them, but itched to leave and go to bed. Somewhere along the way, his headache had returned, and his body was feeling a bit warm. He longed to sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful his friends cared about him, but all he wanted to do was be alone to sleep off the day's events.
As the rest of his classmates crowded him, he began to feel a bit crowded. He tried to answer their questions as best he could, but with the voices coming from all sides, his hands grew clammy and his chest tight. It's getting hard to breathe...
"Oi, fuckers! Step back and give him some space! He just came back from getting his ass kicked for fuck's sake!" Shouto glanced at Bakugou, surprised. Had he noticed how Shouto was feeling? He had thought he'd hidden it pretty well, but maybe some discomfort had slipped through his mask.
"Oh my gosh, Todoroki-kun! I didn't even notice you were uncomfortable, I'm so sorry!" Midoriya spluttered, quickly scurrying backwards to give Shouto some room. That was strange...if even Midoriya, the person who Shouto was closest to, couldn't tell how he was feeling, how did Bakugou?
"Me too, dude, it's so unmanly to crowd someone! I'm sorry bro!" Kirishima stepped back, and the rest of the class followed suit, murmuring apologies.
"Ah, it's fine..." Shouto said. He put a hand to his head. His headache was getting worse. He should probably go to bed and hope it goes away in the morning. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night, but thank you guys for your concern. Have a good night," he told them. They all smiled and returned his farewell, telling him to sleep well.
He began to trudge toward the elevators, the pressure behind his eyes increasingly slightly every few minutes. Then something brushed against his knuckles, and it all subsided. Not enough for it to fully go away, but enough that he could actually ignore it. He glanced quickly to his side and saw...Bakugou? He was walking right next to Shouto, and after a few moments Shouto realized it was his hand that had brushed against Shouto's knuckles. Was that what made the headache go away? It would be strange for that to be the case. He didn't remember Bakugou having any sort of healing quirk that would help his headache. As far as he knew, Bakugou's quirk was solely explosions.
He hadn't noticed that he was staring until Bakugou snapped at him. "What the fuck are you looking at, Halfie?!" Shouto averted his eyes.
"Sorry, I was just thinking." Bakugou tsked.
The elevator dinged and they stepped in together, standing side by side as it traveled up. It was quite awkward, even Shouto could tell that much, but he was lost on how to improve the situation. He wasn't good at talking or making jokes like his classmates were.
They reached Bakugou's floor. The doors opened, and Bakugou exited. Shouto expected him to continue walking until he reached his room, but to his surprise, he stopped right outside the doors.
"Don't ever pull the shit you did today. I can handle myself, I don't need you looking down on me like some prissy rich boy." Shouto was shocked. He hadn't done it out of condescension. He opened his mouth to tell Bakugou just that, but the doors were already closing and Shouto was left alone in the elevator.
Did Bakugou really think he pushed him out of the way because he thought he couldn't handle himself? Of course Shouto hadn't, he'd done it because...he paused. Why had he done it?
He thought about it all the way until he reached his room. The headache was coming back a little, but not enough that it was super uncomfortable yet. Shouto went through his regular nighttime routine, then settled onto his futon.
He supposed...he supposed he'd done it because that's what a hero was supposed to do: help people. And Bakugou had looked like he'd needed help, so Shouto had leaped in to do just that. Yeah.
He turned on his side.
His skin prickled.
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Bakugou doesn't know how to deal with his feelings 😔 I promise you he is just acting like this out of fear for what could have happened to Todo!!! He cares!!!
Anyway, that's the first chapter!! I hope you enjoyed. If you liked it, you can come holler at me on Tumblr!! my username is sad-sausage :))