I had planned to wait a bit longer to post this chapter, but decided to just post it since it's been ready for a long while now. Enjoy!
Unit 001 speaking: "It will look like this, hum..."
Unit 001 thinking: It will look like this.
Others who are NOT Unit 001 thinking: 'It will look like this.'
Unit 001's mainframe/AI: [It will look like this.]
═════════•°• ⚠ •°•═════════
Katsuki was a lot quieter in the weeks that followed his rescue. Well, quiet for him, anyway. One could always tell that there was something else on his mind, and it wasn't very hard to figure out what. While he put his all into his hero studies, perfecting his suit and moves, his thoughts often drifted to a certain robot he found himself visiting weekly.
When he first visited him after they got him stable, it was hard to repress his shock. In just days of being under the sunlight lamps, those horrific injuries had healed over. It was fascinating to watch his body mold itself back into shape like he was a type of clay.
"Hello, Bakugou. Visiting your friend again?" Miss Lin, the front desk manager, said. She had a warm smile on her wrinkled face, her age probably just a bit younger than Recovery Girl. He nodded mutely to her, paying no attention to the flowers that seemed to bloom from her happiness at the fact that someone was visiting a patient amiably.
Don't get tricked by that grandmotherly atmosphere she gives off.
Don't get tricked by that warm smile or the treats she gives the little kids who come to the floor.
Don't get tricked by her tiny stature or her old age.
Don't get tricked.
He learned the hard way just how fucking scary she is when she wanted to be. Especially when people are disrupting the peace of the patients on her floor.
"Make sure not to be too loud again, okay? No quirks in the hospital unless you can't physically turn them off or you are medical staff with permission, understand, young man?"
This place was the only place he will never raise his voice in again.
'Scary Older Hag.'
He just nodded, getting her permission to visit.
"Have a wonderful visit with your friend." She said, giving off that amiable smile. He'd given up on changing her mind that the robot was not his friend. Raccoon Eyes, Shitty Hair, Flex Tape, and Pikachu were all the same. They wanted to come with him to visit, but he vehemently denied their request.
...It was not because he was scared he'd get in trouble with Old Lady Lin. That was not it.
But while the others' request to visit could have been seen as more of their stupidity, Shitty Hair's wasn't. That look in his eyes... he could tell he was serious about wanting to go with him. Now that he thought about it, the others were kind of serious about it too.
They wanted to meet the guy who saved their friend, at least once.
But what were they going to say to him when he was like this? Nothing. There was nothing they could say, so he didn't want them to come.
Not now, anyway.
Besides, the way Tin Can talked about humans in general, he would be scared shitless if they met him... no, if he met anyone aside from him, really. Unit 001 told him outright that he was the only human he'd ever met that wasn't a complete asshole.
It made him wonder what he would do when he woke up, surrounded by these overbearingly caring doctors. Especially Doctor Silvan, his wife, and that annoying—
"Hey, kid~" Speak of the fucking devil.
"Go die," Katsuki said without missing a beat.
Lucio just smiled, "Nah," He said, "I'd rather not," He responded with the same ease.
"Do your fucking job or something, Sparkles." Mentally groaning with irritation.
"On break right now, McBlast, so technically, I am doing my job by doing whatever I want for the next 15 minutes." He grinned, "Which includes messing with you, I suppose."
Katsuki glared at the man, who wasn't that much older than him.
Yes. Lucio Silvan. The fourth son of the Silvan family and one annoying fucker to Katsuki Bakugou. His reason for calling him Sparkles? His hair gives off light like a lamp, and there's actually glitter that comes off it, hence his sparkly aesthetic. No, a lamp is too subtle. He's like a damn miniature sun, especially when he's happy.
Katsuki got a pair of shades from his pocket. He knew this extra was going to bother him. He always did, somehow, have his break around the time he visits the bot.
Doctor Silvan had given him the specially made shades the moment he found out they'd become friends. (though Bakugou never said anything about being this glowstick's friend. Why do people keep assuming that they're friends?)
He didn't deny it though, maybe that's why.
Lucio's complexion was similar to his mother, but his eyes were like his father's. He had freckles that gave off a subtle glow in the dark, similar to his hair. Apparently, this particular quirk comes from his great grandparents, having a mixture of light, heat, and something else dealing with space.
During Unit 001's first days in the hospital, Lucio actually took it upon himself to provide the boy with the particular light he needed to boost the healing process. It was thanks to him that the bot had a surplus of energy to properly continue with his healing on his own. While the sunlight lamps kept supplying him energy, it wasn't on the same level as Lucio's quirk.
It was a reason he had a specialized cap to cover his hair, but he seldom wears it. He prefers his shiny, glorious dreads to be free. They subtly change color depending on his mood. Usually, it remained a light pink color as he was a naturally happy person. He was honest, positive when he could be, and his favorite pastime as of late?
Bothering Bakugou, of course. Mans was damn near fearless.
"I'll blow you up."
"Miss Lin would be on your ass faster than white on rice and you know it from experience." He replied smoothly, not even trying to hide his amusement as the boy grimaced at the memory.
'Damn Scary Old Hag.'
They called that lady the hospital's guardian deity, ready to deal with any trouble that comes by. It's said that she was a hero during her heyday, though she chose to retire and worked full time for the hospital instead.
Katsuki would not call her a deity, or anything remotely near holy. She was a demon, a fucking demon. A scary-ass demon dressed as an old lady. The moment you caused a disturbance in the hospital, especially her floor, it was the fucking end of the discussion.
You can't fight that old lady in her domain. You can't fucking run either. The moment you fuck up, she... was inevitable.
Katsuki learned that the hard way, like usual. We do not speak of that incident, and no one but the bastard annoying him right now knows exactly what happened.
Of course, Lucio would know. "And then she'd be on mine not a second afterward." All amusement on his face died a painful death at the memory.
He experienced the same thing, no, it was worse because he worked here and should know better. He had to deal with her rampage for a whole hour after she was done reprimanding Bakugou. And then he had to deal with his Dad, and his Mom, and his sister, who's taken over the hospital so their dad could go back into the field.
Let's just say that day wasn't fun for anyone, especially Lucio.
But the irritated look on Bakugou's face was honestly worth it. That kid was hilarious to tease. He was like a little angry puppy. That thought caused the glowing male to snicker a bit.
How that previous altercation started? Lucio took a picture of him, edited it next to the puppy, and then asked every co-worker he passed if they could see the difference. When they kept glancing at the scowling Bakugou only to burst into fits of laughter saying that they couldn't, he snatched the phone and proceeded to go ape-shit on the then guffawing Lucio when he, too, couldn't find a difference in the photos.
That dog had the nerve to steal his look. Even the eyes were similar, barking at whatever it was barking at in a rage. Kind of like he was, at Lucio, at that very moment, with explosions crackling in his hands.
Old Lady Lin was on both of their asses within seconds.
Shaking their heads from the traumatic experience of an old lady's anger, they reached their destination. A clear and clean room, spacious as there was nothing in it but lamps, a heart monitor, and an IV with liquid tinted a special blue. They were on one of the top floors, on the side that got the most natural sunlight, and the window was opened fully to let it all in. An extremely bright room, with only one occupant.
Unit 001.
There was no blood or dirt on him. They'd cleaned him completely, revealing his wonder. There were no dents, scratches, handprints, scorch marks... nothing. His frame gave off a soft glow as it continuously absorbed the light, boasting completely smooth and unblemished skin(?).
Katsuki could hardly recognize him from before, and that said a lot about how bad off the kid was. It made how hurt he was much clearer, and that angered him.
That kid, even that wounded, had been the one to save him. Not the other way around. He still remembered that smile. He smiled as if saving him was the last thing on his bucket list and he could die happy. He hated that damn smile. He hated the fact that the smile was most likely the very first one he ever made since waking up.
He hated it all.
Katsuki wasn't dumb. He knew exactly what that expression meant, he figured it out. Unit 001 knew that he wouldn't make it out.
'His arms had been shaking when he grabbed me. He was scared.'
He'd wanted to be angry with him. He wanted to lash out and just grab him, blasting off into the sky even if his arms would have fallen off.
And even though he smiled in relief, it couldn't be called a happy smile. It was resigned. Saving him had cost him all of the little energy he had left, Katsuki knew it the moment all of his lights dimmed to nothing as they flew away.
'Did he even realize he was crying?'
Katsuki was sure that Unit 001 didn't know. For some reason, that just made him feel worse.
He knew more than anyone else that Unit 001 wanted to live. He could go through the worst shit imaginable if that meant he had even a slim chance of success. He'd waited through almost eight months of pure torture just to seize that golden moment.
'But he threw it away in an instant to save me.'
Katsuki clenched his fist even tighter than he already was. If he did so any harder, he would draw blood. He would have gone back down there if his arms didn't completely give out on him. Every try at making an explosion was but a measly crackle. Even that caused waves of pain to shoot through them. Moving? Running? Whatever got him there and whatever boost he'd had vanished after that. Standing at that point was a feat to be praised.
He was forced to watch it all happen from a fucking screen until he had enough strength to even attempt to make it back there.
And that... was only after everything was over.
He remembered clearly how awful the scene was when he finally got there. Unit 001 was laying in a lifeless heap. His eyes were still open with that damned smile on his tear-stained face. That weird blue blood he had soaking the ground, the doctors, himself as they were shocking him with lightning, trying to revive him.
"If Unit 001... escapes with... Bakugou, Katsuki... will... safe place... exist then, hum...?"
It was infuriating how much he'd wanted to make that true. He didn't understand how or why he felt so driven to do something that was so unlike him. But he had wanted to.
'I wanted to save him.'
It was the first time he had ever wanted to save anyone, the first time he ever understood everything that annoying Deku ever did in his life. It wasn't about defeating the villains anymore, not then. In that moment, he wasn't trying to be the strongest. In that instant, there was no ego and there was no pride.
He just wanted both of them to be far away from that place. Away and safe. Home.
He didn't understand until after everything was over... how much he had wanted that.
'I just wanted to save Tin Can.'
But Unit 001 had saved him instead. He'd protected him, taking blows for him without hesitation.
"This unit... is sorry, hum..."
He was irate. But he couldn't even scream about how wrong he felt right now. He couldn't explain the many reasons that he was upset at the fact that he'd saved him... and that he'd left himself there, all alone to almost die. No, he did die. He was certain that for a moment, Unit 001 was dead. They only managed to revive him because of this ridiculous quirk he's got.
He could say nothing about how wrong it all felt to the robot. Why? It was very simple.
What's the point of yelling at someone who wouldn't be able to hear you?
He wouldn't tilt his head like a confused puppy and ask him why he was upset. He wouldn't look at him with those strange eyes of his and record everything he did. He wouldn't, no, he couldn't.
He'd been sleeping, comatose, for months now. Even though his injuries were healed, the doctors didn't know enough about him to calculate when or even if he'd ever wake up again. If he heard him grumble and complain about him being rescued, if he heard him silently ask for him to wake up so he didn't feel so guilty, if he heard him...
Katsuki wouldn't know.
All he could do was watch as he slowly healed, just like now.
BEEEP-BIBIP......BEEP-BIP.......BEEEP-BIBIP.......BEEP-BIP.......
That irregular heartbeat was the only sound in the room. When he got closer, touching the skin of his hand, he was surprised by how warm it was now. Before, it had been like ice. He'd had the naive thought that it was just because of his quirk that his skin had been that cold.
No, it was him being in fucking denial.
Unit 001 was ice cold because he was suffering from severe blood loss. Aside from his heart and head, no other part of his body was able to circulate his blood, and it was just sitting beneath his armor. If he was a normal person, he would have long since died even before the League found him. Katsuki often heard the doctors marveling at the fact that he'd survived for so long in that state.
They were calling his quirk "Android", a miracle as well as a curse. It was a miracle for obvious reasons. Even in that state, because of his mutation, he remained alive. They figured that as long as he had even a sliver of energy left in his core, he could survive almost anything.
But it was a curse because of the fact he remained alive and cognitive in that type of state. Katsuki had overheard a lot of things about Unit 001 during his visits, and one of them was about his acute sense of touch and sensitivity. He could only imagine how much pain he'd been in just speaking to him, let alone saving him.
It probably felt like he was dying multiple times a second in the worst ways possible.
'Yet he still...'
He still chose to save him over saving himself. Of all of the things to chose, he chose him.
'Damnit.'
With him sleeping like this, no longer looking like a crime scene or a twisted version of Slenderman, he seemed a lot more... human. Though he was still like a lifeless doll. He didn't seem to breathe, or move at all, not even a twitch. Not a sound out of him.
Katsuki had to check the heart monitor to make sure the kid was still alive.
BEEEP-BIBIP......BEEP-BIP.......BEEEP-BIBIP.......BEEP-BIP.....
'Yep. Alive.'
If Lucio saw him do that, he said nothing of it. Katsuki always did that when he noticed he wasn't breathing.
No, it wasn't quite right to say he didn't breathe. He did something that was like breathing, but only every so often. The doctors classified it as 'venting', which he used to cool down his internal workings to a manageable temperature. Before, there had been no need to do it, because he'd been a fucking ice cube.
Doctor Silvan had told him that those were signs. The more often he did that, the better he was getting. Before, it was only once every few days. Then it became every other day. Then once a day. After that, it happened a few times within the day, and had stayed that way until now.
Yes, now. There was a sort of anticipation in the air now. The Doctor had told him that his most recent scan revealed that his healing had finalized. Whatever his body had been doing for the past few months, it was in its last stages. He was hopeful that this meant he would wake up soon.
Katsuki will not admit that the news had made him smile. It didn't happen, and no one was going to say it did. Cause it didn't.
It didn't.
Katsuki's thoughts from before had thankfully been wrong; a hospital was able to help him, even if it wasn't the normal way. Doctor Silvan had his complete respect, even if his son annoyed him to no end (he would not admit that they were actually pretty good friends at this point). They managed to save his life with the tip he gave them, so... he'd fulfilled a bit of his self-promise to get him help. This annoying debt he felt towards the robot was repaid in a sense.
That didn't make him feel better though. The only way that would happen was if he'd stopped being comatose already. The old hag had been dying to meet him and his old man wasn't much better. It was fucking annoying. Even more, he himself wanted to speak to him again, too.
'Stupid Bolts for Brains. Wake up already.'
As usual, his thoughts went unanswered. The bot was silent and still, but... at least he was healing now. He was healing, he'd get better, and when he woke up, Katsuki would be able to give him an earful to never pull a stunt like that again.
Lucio paid Katsuki no mind as he went about his business. It had become a routine for the medic to check Unit 001's vitals, marking them down. He celebrated every single time there was an improvement. Every break he came to check on him, and every break he did this. One could tell that he cared for the kid a lot. It was the same for Doctor Silvan and his wife.
"Heart monitor going steady... I can see they finally removed the rest of the bandages, that's nice... Sun lamps are fully charged for nightly use... This and that is fine, that and this is fine... Okay! Everything looks great!" He said to himself. His hair lit up in delight that everything was fine.
Just as he finished, his watch went off, letting him know his break was over. "I'll come to check on you later, buddy." He gave the kid a quiet farewell as he turned to exit the room. Everything was quiet except for the beeps of the monitor. He stopped briefly at the door to speak to the only other visitor in the room, "Same time next week?"
Katsuki was silent for a moment before saying anything. "...Yeah." He ignored that meaningful look Lucio shot him as the medic went ahead and left the room.
Now it was just him and Unit 001, but he didn't say anything. His silence, however, didn't mean that his thoughts were quiet.
Along with his parents, four idiots had been begging him to let them come along, too. One of them was already in this hospital due to some type of hero work he'd done, but the other three were probably waiting at the dorm. They did that every time he visited Unit 001, bombarding him with questions about the robot's condition.
Eventually, he sighed.
'Next time... next time, I'll let them come along, too. Then they'll stop bothering me.'
And with that thought, he too decided to leave. There was a project he had to do, and the aspiring hero that he was, he wasn't going to let it infringe on his fucking grades. He worked hard to keep that shit up, and that isn't changing.
"I'll come back later, Tin Can."
After listening to the silence for a moment longer, he got his things and finally left the room. Next week would be the same as the week before, it was set into his mind after months of waiting. So, he didn't turn back or falter in his step, already used to this routine.
Maybe that was why he missed it.
The twitch of Unit 001's finger as he closed the door.