000
THERE'S SUNSHINE IN YOUR SMILE
All Might rescues a rather prickly Doctor with a dark past and finds his life taking a most unexpected change. For someone so small, there's a lot of personality there, and he can't help but be drawn to that, like a moth to a flame. Slash, Toshinori/Harry.
000
CHAPTER TWO
Sadly, the next time Toshinori encountered Harry, he was on the job.
A purse-snatcher had caught his attention while he was running an errand in the city on one of his rare 'days off' that he was unable to spend with Harry due to the fact the doctor himself was at work – another court case today he admitted via text.
But before he could get the jump on said purse snatcher, the suited form of the doctor himself seemingly appeared out of the crowd and belted the man in the head with a truly breath-taking snap kick, and then stomped on him, forcing him to the ground and pinning him down with a foot between his shoulderblades. The villain wheezed, scrabbling helplessly on the pavement as the doctor likely applied more force than was possible for a man that weighed forty, perhaps fifty pounds, all without looking up from his phone which he then proceeded to use to call the police to come and pick the man up.
Toshinori couldn't help but chuckle like the love-sick fool he was as he watched.
Then the man's partner came out of the crowd behind the good doctor with a knife.
He moved before he was even consciously aware of the action, elbow ramming down onto the thug's skull with more force than he should have used, breaking the pavement beneath them. It took a little longer than it should had to turn the snarl of rage that twisted his features into the same proud grin he usually wore for the masses.
"Are you quite alright, Potsu-sensei?" he asked, turning back to the Doctor who was still on the phone, realising at the last moment that he had dropped the briefcase and had a hand outstretched, not looking at him. Toshinori blinked, was the doctor inviting him to hold hand- the knife that the thug had been trying to stab him with promptly dropped into the doctor's palm. Ah, it must have gone spinning into the air. Whoops. How unlike him not to realise there was a dangerous weapon unaccounted for.
"Yes, a Pro-Hero has just arrived on the scene. All Might. Yes, he has subdued a second attacker. I don't think it will be a problem, but I'll ask," he said into the small device before looking up at the Pro-Hero, and no, it wasn't Toshnori's imagination, he was significantly less friendly looking than when they were on their dates. His eyes were downright cold. That... hurt a little. "Hero-san, would you be willing to take these two into custody, or at least detain them until the appropriate authorities can arrive?" he asked politely.
Toshinori grinned tightly at him, "Of course, Potsu-sensei!" he announced with a broad laugh.
The doctor nodded shortly and returned to his phone. Brushing the blond hero off completely.
000
"Eh, I don't hate All Might," Harry admitted, blinking large green eyes up at him as they sat within the owl cafe he had chosen for their third date. Apparently the doctor was a regular within the cafe, he often came in to buy treats and goods for his own pet owl, a gift from his teenage years apparently, and to teach people how to properly care for the raptors on site. Right now, he had a rather cute little elf-owl occupying his shirt collar, and a beautiful spotted owl perched upon the back of his chair.
Toshinori flustered a little, "I see. It's just, your interactions with him were a bit – well, they were remarkably cold, especially compared to how you treat me, and other people I've seen you with," he admitted a little anxiously.
Harry sighed and sat up a little, rubbing a fingertip across the elf owl's head.
"It's my Quirk," he admitted, making the blond pause and frown a little. What did his super strength quirk have to do with a dislike of All Might? "I got unlucky and ended up with a multifaceted Quirk, part of that happens to be Empathy. I can feel emotions within a certain radius depending on my body temperature. The hotter I run, the further I can sense. Think of it as a little like a car engine, on first gear I have a range of about ten feet. Ramp it up to fifth gear, or even sixth, and I can sense everyone within a city block. I can't do it at that kind of strength without risking brain damage though, too much sensory input will make my brain swell. I trained it too much when I was younger and it's growth outstripped my own," he explained as he picked up his teacup and took a sip, staring down at the green fluid. "It's useful as a Doctor, it means I can get an accurate read on how my patients are feeling, where their aches and pains are, what their emotional responses are and whether or not the explanations I've given them are good enough.
"The downside is that I feel what they feel. When I was younger, it was crippling. If someone was next to me, and they were sad, I would turn into a crying mess. If someone was angry, I was liable to start a fight. Growing up was difficult. I had to learn a lot of mental discipline on how to hold myself apart from the sensory feedback, it refined my control a lot as I did, enough so that I could – I kind of turned into an emotional Lie Detector," he explained with a shrug as he set his cup down and looked up. "I can tell when people lie to me. Heroes are constantly obscuring who they are, their whole identity is a lie. That is... exceptionally uncomfortable to be around for me. Like... Like a thistle bush pressed against your skin, under it, not hard enough to pierce, but it still hurts.
"I don't hate All Might, I have a lot of respect for his actions even if I'm not a big fan of the whole... flashy loudness of his personality. The whole commercialism that surrounds Pro-Heroes outright revolts me, but that's just a product of how I was raised so I couldn't even tell you if that is actually my genuine opinion or something I've been conditioned to think." He sipped his drink again, "I don't like liars. I don't like how they feel. How their voices sound when they do it," he summed up with a heavy sigh.
"That sounds like quite the Quirk," Toshinori managed to get out. It sounded horrible actually. A quirk that could literally kill you because of how strong it was, even though your body was completely adapted to it? He remembered the pain of trying to adapt to One for All back in his teens, he wouldn't have wished that pain on another living soul, even though he knew he would have to one day.
Harry flashed him a look, and then huffed a tiny smile, "Not quite a lie, but close enough, Yagi-san," he pointed out wryly.
"Ah, my apologies. And, please, call me Toshinori? I think we're close enough by now for that," he admitted with a hopeful smile.
Harry laughed, "Of course, I was hoping you'd give me permission eventually," he said before his smile gentled, "My quirk was one of the reasons I ended up taking such an interest in you, to be honest." Toshinori froze, blinking at him from the straw of his milkshake, "You felt nice, if it isn't too cheesy to say. It's easy to get a read on people who are honest, what kind of personalities they have. You felt nice. Warm." The doctor coughed a little, laughing as one of the sawhet owls landed on the shoulder not occupied by the spotted owl.
Toshinori blushed vividly before he smiled, "Like sunshine?" he offered, hand involuntarily rising to touch the tulip still in his buttonhole.
Harry nodded, blushing a little, "Yes."
000
It would have been just their luck that the following day a major villain incident broke out, destroying three city blocks and engulfing a forth in fire. All rescue and major Heroes were called in as the team of villains responsible were still causing havoc at the scene. It was absolute Hell.
Three of the villains had been apprehended by the time an aid station had been erected, and it was a scene of organised chaos as civilians were brought to them in droves. Burn victims were immediately rushed into one of the enclosed tents while people suffering from smoke inhalation and general injuries were shown elsewhere, people were going into shock, wrapped up in blankets, some of them hyperventilating into oxygen masks. But there were still people buried in rubble, trapped in burning buildings, and not everyone had Quirks that could identify and find those trapped. Toshinori had the benefit of One for All improving his hearing, he was able to coordinate with the young Present Mic to announce survivors in certain areas that needed help whenever heard their weak calls or stuttering heartbeats. But it was hard to find them, or hear them, over the roaring of the flames that Endeavour was trying to settle down and keep contained, trying, and failing. Whatever chemical the villains had used as explosives was interfering with the Pro's ability to control it, or subdue it.
It was honestly a stressful situation, business as usual aside, it was still one of the worse ones. He was not like Enji who would rage at the heavens, and fight every wrong-doer he could find in a cathartic obsession as if to try and burn his temper out through action and energy. Toshinori was not a man of rage, or anger. He had learned the folly of that flame and burned himself irreparably fighting All for One, he could not forget that heat so easily, and would forever flinch from the fire of his temper now. This kind of incident would have had him crying into his pillow when he got home once upon a time ago, now he kind of just wanted to call Harry and listen to his voice as he complained viciously about idiots in his emergency room, and cooed over the little ones he still had to care for. Listen to him cooking dinner, occasionally stopping to chat to Hedwig, his owl, who occasionally interjected on their phonecalls with demands for affection.
He was not a man of rage.
Until he realised he was.
Until he returned, more injured in arm, to see a stand-off in front of the burn tent, and the last person he ever wanted to see held at gunpoint being used as a human shield by one of the very villains they had been hunting for. Harry had his hands lifted up, showing bloody sleeves and gloves, facemask dangling from one ear, hair under a cap as he scowled and tilted his head back uncomfortably, gun leaving visible indents on his skin.
"No body move! No body! I'll blow this gaijin's fucking head off! I'll blow all the bastards behind me if any of you so much as twitch!" the villain roared, panicky, aggressive.
"He has an explosive slime technique! The burn tent has been compromised!" Harry called over to the gathering heroes.
"Shut up! Shut up, you fucking asshole! I'll kill you if you open your mouth again, I'll fucking kill you!" the villain blazed hysterically, his chameleon eyes bulging and turning in different directions, thick bulbous tongue pulsing out between wide rubbery lips, slick and covered in a milky white slime.
The doctor merely rolled his eyes and grunted uncomfortably when the villain jabbed the gun more firmly into his windpipe.
The villain giggled nastily as a few of the Pros took a step back, "That's it, you spineless sacks of shit, that's it. One wrong move and they all die," he promised, tongue sliding out over the doctor's shoulder, slathering his neck, chest, and shoulder with viscous white fluid, banding an arm around the doctor's waist and edging around the tent. Harry rolled his eyes again, and huffed with a scowl.
"No," Toshinori couldn't help but mutter under his breath, his eyes widening in alarm. If he didn't have so many people on his back he would have – but he couldn't. And he knew Harry's temper, he wasn't the type to go quietly. He wasn't going to go quietly into the night, he would rage and burn, and right now that would – but the Doctor didn't move, didn't do anything. Until –
"I've disabled all the slime bombs!" a nurse shouted from the tent.
"What?!" the villain yelped, and Harry moved.
The hands he had braced behind his head snapped down, he trapped the villain's gun arm in his armpit, twisted his head back so the gunbarrel was no longer digging in under his jaw, twisted, and threw the villain to the ground, neatly dislocating his arm in the process.
The doctor dragged the gun from his fingers and disassembled it, casually throwing bits and pieces aside into different locations, foot braced between the villain's shoulderblades as he pinned him to the ground.
"Someone arrest this idiot," he commanded, tossing the last of the gun to the dirt over his shoulder and glaring at the assembled Heroes, "and the rest of you – stop standing around gaping! Get back to work! There's still people out there! Shoo!" the now golden eyed doctor barked as he began to scrape off the foul slime that covered his right shoulder and neck in absolute disgust.
Almost as one, the Heroes jolted, realising they were still in the middle of a disaster situation, and shot off to do as they were told. But before young Kamui Woods could cross the open area to arrest the villain, the chameleon man twisted his head and spat his tongue up at Harry.
The doctor snatched it in midair before it could make contact with his face.
"Second date," the golden eyed man hissed, his words resonating strangely through the air even as the villain squeaked in growing discomfort, the doctor's hand beginning to smoke.
"No Tongue."
The villain shrieked in agony, writhing, a moment before the doctor released him, his tongue now patterned with a vicious hand-print burn.
Kamui quickly took the villain into custody, for his own safety or not remained to be seen, but the young Hero most definitely kept his distance from the doctor, as if frightened that he too would be on the receiving end of his temper. Harry meanwhile squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and walked away behind the tent, out of sight as he stripped off his gloves, and then pressed a hand over his mouth, shoulders hunching.
Toshinori dropped down beside him.
"Doctor Pots?" he asked quietly.
"It's nothing, I lost my temper, it's nothing," the young man assured him hoarsely, now pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes, rather hard. He took a deep breath, and then another, before his head fell back and his hands dropped. "There's a whole lot of anger floating around right now. I shouldn't have done that," he muttered before he opened his once again green eyes to look over at him. He then frowned, "Shouldn't you be out there saving people?" he demanded sharply.
"I wanted to make sure you were alright, Doctor," Toshinori explained, trying not to take the question personally. It was a little hard given how if he had asked that out of uniform it would have netted him a hug and a kiss on the cheek from the young man.
Harry dragged his fingers through his hair tiredly, "Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain, I promise. Now shoo. We both have work to do."
How right he was.
000
The two of them stayed for the entirety of the night, working well into the morning the following day until Toshinori's limit ran out, and Harry was near fainting with exhaustion and dehydration. They both had to quietly withdraw from the front lines and go to their respective homes.
It was Harry who texted him first, even as he was about to send one himself asking how the doctor was feeling.
'Not feeling good. Work was horrible and I kind of need a hug right now. Can you come over?' was quickly followed by an address. Toshinori stared at the address, it was not too far away from the hospital which he shouldn't have been surprised about, with a tube station just down the road. He could be there within twenty minutes if the Sakura line was running today.
'I'm sorry, I'm really tired. I probably shouldn't have sent that. Don't mind me, it isn't important. I hope your day went well' pinged on his phone next, and he didn't have to be an empath to know that Harry was probably feeling insecure and all different kinds of awkward and guilty for what he probably thought was a guilt-trip text. They had been talking long enough for Toshinori to realise that for someone who was usually so confident he did have some surprisingly well hidden self-esteem issues. Usually centred around asking for help and support, feeling like he was being needy and wasting people's time.
'Want me to pick something up to eat on my way?' the Pro-Hero sent instead, because right now, he really wanted a hug too.
000
He had never been to Harry's flat. It wasn't anything fancy he noted, especially given how he knew Harry had a paycheque probably half that of a Pro-Hero (Japan paid their doctors extraordinarily well, but Heroes were celebrities and got paid better), and could definitely afford somewhere better. But it was a good area, as he walked he could see basketball courts, a tennis court, and an outdoor swimming pool. He was fairly sure they were public property but largely reserved for the residents of the tower blocks near-by.
Harry lived on the top floor right at the far end of the building in a corner suite.
When he opened the door, he did not look good. His eyes were red rimmed from smoke irritation, he had bathed, but the faint scent of ashes and blood still lingered, his skin was pale, and his hands were shaking ever so slightly. His Quirk, he realised, how long had Harry been there trying to keep his shit together while he was being battered on every side by other people's panic, fear, anger, and pain?
He set the bag of food on the floor, "Come here," he said opening his arms for the doctor as he opened the door fully and stepped out to wrap his arms around him properly.
The scent of ash was stronger now, mixing with the lemon of Harry's shampoo as he slowly rocked them both from side to side. His mind flashed back to that moment where that villain was digging a gun into the doctor's throat, his tongue dribbling explosive fluid across the man's shoulder. He tightened his grip and buried his face into Harry's damp hair, feeling Harry tighten his arms around him as well with a shaky breath.
He kissed the green eyed man's head before drawing back a little, "Shall we? Before the food gets cold."
Harry nodded, pulling back with another shuddering breath, only looking up when Toshinori gently pushed several strands of hair behind his ear.
There was a stark black bruise on his neck.
The Pro-Hero froze, eyes locked on the small two-hundred and fifty yen coin sized blemish set right between the tendon and windpipe of Harry's throat.
He found himself trying to cover it from sight, pressing his hand over it, unable to stop the small wounded noise of concern from escaping him as he raised his eyes to the doctor's face.
"He didn't hurt me," Harry promised, catching his wrist and moving to press a kiss against the palm of Toshinori's hand. The doctor's eyes slid to one side, his expression falling into one of guilt and self-loathing, "I... I hurt him though. I lost control. I – " he trailed off shamefully and squeezed his eyes shut.
The words 'he deserved it' sat heavy and bitter on the tip of Toshinori's tongue. Words he could never utter because... if All Might allowed himself to think or act like that, what kind of symbol of peace would he be? Not one that he wanted to become, that was for sure. Instead, he kissed Harry's forehead, both his cheeks, and then bent down even further to kiss his neck, covering the bruise with his lips, feeling Harry's fingers tangle in his hair and a short huff of laughter as he tried to push him away.
"Not in the hallway!"
The blond pulled back, pasting on a sunny smile as he scooped up the handles of the plastic bag and offered the doctor his arm, "Then shall we go in?" he asked in the hammiest, cheesiest manner he could.
Harry laughed, and there was still something brittle in his eyes but he took Toshinori's arm and lead him into the narrow flat without comment, or hesitation. Harry took the plastic bag into the small kitchen that opened out onto the left, leaving the Pro-hero to take his shoes and coat off and get a proper look around the place. Being on the corner, Harry was lucky enough to have more windows than his neighbours, the entire left side of his flat was very open plan with only a breakfast bar separating the small kitchen from the living room. He could see the extra large bouquet of flowers he had given Harry separated out into multiple pint-glasses and even a few mugs here, there, and everywhere on almost every flat surface and found himself grinning a little sheepishly. Perhaps it had been a little overkill. The walls were a plain beige colour, likely the standard and he wasn't permitted to change them, a small TV stood in the far left corner of the long room, a pair of sofas surrounded a small coffee table one pushed back against the breakfast bar, and the other against the wall opposite the TV. The coffee table was rather lovely, having an intricate marquetry design of a herd of deer in a forest across it, there was a mug of flowers, and a few coasters on it. To his right were three doorways, only two possessing doors, the middle one merely had a curtain of beads and lead into what was unmistakably a utility room with both washer and dryer, a shelf set to one side with multiple cleaning products, and both a broom, and mop and bucket beneath that.
Toshinori could only assume the two other doors lead to the bedroom and bathroom respectively before his attention was caught by a chittering shrill from the kitchen. Stepping a little further into the room so he could peer around Harry, he spotted the mysterious Hedwig perched upon a wooden stand, watching him with golden eyes.
For an owl almost hitting her twenties, she was beautiful, and obviously well loved.
Harry smiled when he saw where he was looking, "Say hello to Hedwig," he introduced, reaching out to stroke her head and chucking when she immediately twisted her head to nibble at his fingers, blinking slowly in contentment at him. "She's been my oldest and dearest friend for a long time. Hed, this is Toshinori, remember? We talk to him on the phone sometimes," the doctor said to her, his tone gentling as she crooned and then turned to look at the blond with what could almost be consideration.
Well, they said pets took after their owners.
Toshinori padded over, and smiled at her, "Hello young miss," he greeted, and slowly, so she could see him moving, moved to stroke her chest.
The snowy owl puffed up under his touch and crooned, before nipping at his fingers as well.
He saw Harry's shoulders relax a little at the owl's easy acceptance of him, and couldn't help but be both amused, exasperated, and rather charmed that the opinion of his pet was so important to him. He hugged the doctor from behind, chuckling as he noticed the tips of the man's ears turning pink with embarrassment.
"You're very sweet," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of the man's head.
Harry grumbled a little before leaning back against him.
"I'm tired," the doctor admitted quietly.
"Should I go?" Toshinori asked softly, not wanting to, but unwilling to push any boundaries Harry might have.
Thankfully the doctor shook his head and gripped his hands, "No."
000
They ended up falling asleep on the sofa while watching Finding Nemo, empty cartons of chinese food and mugs of tea and hot chocolate on the coffee table, Hedwig having long since taken flight out through the open window to do a spot of hunting. The only reason Toshinori woke up was because he was getting a little chilled and once he was brought out of the heavy grasp of deep sleep, couldn't ignore the bright light and loud DVD menu playing on the TV. Hazily he blinked at the far too bright square, and then down at the doctor tucked into his side, curled into as tight of a ball as he humanly could with his face buried in the Pro-Hero's chest.
He smiled dopily as he threaded his fingers through the doctor's now dry hair, and then paused, a frown of concern crossing his face when he realised just how cold he was. Harry was usually like a miniature furnace, but now his body temperature was bordering on the same kind of chill as a Shock victim!
"Harry? Harry?" the blond called, sitting up properly and shaking the smaller man's shoulder. His head lolled for a moment before hazy green eyes cracked open, blinking up at him in confusion.
"Toshi?" he slurred tiredly, flopping a hand up to grip the blond's wrist, "Whasswrong?" he demanded, swaying a little drunkenly.
"How are you feeling, Harry? Please, don't close your eyes, look at me. Are you alright?" he shook the doctor again and received an indignant frown from the man in question.
"M'tired, an' you're noisy," he complained, blinking rapidly.
"Don't go to sleep, Harry, you're in Shock, shit, I should have checked you earlier," the blond cursed himself out, rubbing the doctor's arms carefully, trying to get some warmth into him. "You're freezing, I'm taking you to your room," he declared, carefully reaching down and scooping the doctor up in a parody of when they first met. With better results.
Harry leaned into him, and draped his arms lazily over his shoulders, hiding his face in Toshinori's neck, "M'cold 'cause my Quirk cools down when I sleep," he explained through a jaw-cracking yawn, "Sorry if I scared you, I f'got."
Toshinori paused as he carefully opened the bedroom door, turning that over in his head. It – made a lot of sense given what he knew of the doctor's power. It got stronger the higher his body temperature, so it would stand to reason that the only way he could get any sleep was if he cooled down to the point where his empathy was contained to himself. Or at least someone next to him as sleepy as he himself. Which one of them had been the first one to fall asleep anyway? (Probably him, as much as he liked movies, he was a bit notorious for falling asleep in front of the TV when he was already tired.)
He couldn't see a lot of the room, it was small though without much in the way of light due to how high they were, he could just about make out the corner of the bed, and a wardrobe to the right of it in the faint glow from the TV on the ceiling above them.
He huffed a small laugh as he pressed a kiss against the junction of the doctor's neck and shoulder where his shirt had slipped slightly, "That's a relief. I was worried there," he admitted as he peeled the not so surprisingly now that he thought about it plentiful bedsheets back and laid the doctor down.
Harry grunted a little in apology before allowing his arms to slip from Toshi's shoulders. Smiling, the blond pulled the covers back over the tired young man and began to move back into the living room – he could sleep on the couch, it was surprisingly big so it shouldn't be too uncomfortable, and his coat was pretty warm.
Harry grabbed his sleeve, "No, Toshi, stay," he pleaded.
"But I – " the blond spluttered, letting Harry reel him back in from where he had been leaning out of the bed.
"We're both adults. I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed, you know, and for someone your height, that sofa will be uncomfortable," the doctor pointed out, sitting back and yawning widely behind his other hand, enough for his eyes to squint shut.
Flustered, but pleased, the blond leaned down to kiss his forehead, "You just want to get me in bed," he teased playfully, feeling Harry lean into the contact.
"Good job noticing, I've only been trying for the last two months," he snarked back lazily, rubbing his face before yawning again and planting his face firmly against Toshinori's stomach, "You deserve wooing though, too good for me," he mumbled against the blond's bellybutton.
That was both the most lovely and patently untrue thing anyone had ever said to him, in either form.
"We're going to have to agree to disagree on that last one," he said instead, rubbing the back of the man's neck listening to him hum sleepily, and even feel his temperature beginning to drop. Making sure he was back under the covers, Toshinori hesitated only a little before climbing in as well, having to lie horizontally across the double bed in order to fit his entire frame in. Harry wasted no time in rolling over and reoccupying his position against his side, face pressed firmly just above the ruinous scar on his left side, a hand closed over it. As if shielding it.
He took a deep breath and then rolled over, wrapping both arms around the doctor and pulling him tightly against his chest, burying his face into ashy lemon scented hair.
Harry was completely wrong about Toshinori being too good for him, it was very clearly the other way around.
000
All Might had always been the kind of man that rose with the sun, Toshinori was a little lazier and liked to have a bit of a lie in if he could manage it, not much, there was always too much to do. But half an hour to wallow in his bed was plenty.
Harry was apparently one of those people who was very reluctant to wake in the morning.
His body temperature was pretty low, and despite being so light, he was a complete deadweight in the Pro-hero's arms, pliant and warm, he barely stirred when Toshinori slithered out to visit the bathroom and turn the TV off. Hedwig was back from her flight, feathers only a little pink indicating some success, she was dosing quite happily in the kitchen, tucked up on her stand beneath the mug cupboard where she had turned to face the wall. A glance at the clock on the microwave called it at seven thirty in the morning, normally he would be coming back from his jog now, scrubbing up quickly in the shower, and then bolting for work.
Right now, he just wanted to crawl back into Harry's very comfortable bed.
And after yesterday, he felt that he deserved it as well.
So he re-entered the bedroom, absently taking in the fact that it was a lot more personal than the rest of the house with bookshelves on almost every wall, a desk with a computer in the corner next to the window, and... a shrine opposite it, next to the bedside table. There were a lot of pictures. He resolutely did not look, some things were too private.
Instead he lay back down on the bed, not surprised in the slightest that in his short absence all of the covers had managed to bunch up around a small tuft of black hair, still sleeping soundly exactly where Toshinori left him.
Grinning, he angled his phone to take a picture, managing to snap what little of Harry's face was visible as apparently he was prone to curling into a ball when sleeping alone.
The sound of the shutter was enough to rouse the doctor though if the small frown and the way his eyes slit open very irritably was any indication. Toshinori smiled apologetically, reaching out to stroke the young man's hair.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" he asked unnecessarily.
Harry grumbled, squeezing his eyes shut, and wormed his way across the short distance between them to curl up on Toshinori's leg, a hand sneaking out from his warm cocoon of blankets to go around his waist and hook fingers into his beltloops. The Pro-Hero could only chuckle at the wordless protest of the hour and get himself comfortable. With Harry dosing in his lap, it was easier to read through the news reports of the disaster yesterday without feeling that itch to immediately go back out and help.
He chuckled hard enough to wake Harry up a little when he happened upon a news-reel of the doctor's expert take-down of the villain holding him at gunpoint. Watching the video clip was a lot easier than seeing it in person. For instance, Toshinori could see, quite plainly, that Harry was annoyed by the interruption of his work. Not in the least little bit concerned or anxious about himself or his patients. Just pissed off over the interruption. Though, running his fingers through the man's hair, Toshinori did wonder if that was the feedback from his Quirk affecting him. Everyone must have been terrified, furious, and the villain himself was in both physical contact and full of bitter loathing and all sorts of other chaotic and unpleasant emotions. Yes, Harry did lose control, but aside from a burnt tongue and a dislocated arm, all of which were easily healed and dealt with and not at all permanent, he handled himself amazingly well. Better than most Pro-Heroes in his humble opinion actually. Though he was probably a little biased.
Still, keeping all those outside factors in mind, he was achingly proud of how restrained the doctor had been in his actions. He had the physical strength to have ripped the man's arm off. But instead merely dislocated it, pinned him, held him down, and... somehow burnt his tongue.
Just how multifaceted was Harry's Quirk?
"I can feel you thinking, stop it," the doctor complained into his stomach.
"Ah, my apologies," the blond said with a sheepish grin as Harry pushed himself upright, glowering up at him with bleary red rimmed eyes, likely as not still sore and irritated from yesterday. He was still cold to the touch, near hypothermic, but that explained why he was such an aggressive cuddler at least (not that Toshinori was ever going to complain about Harry snuggling up against him).
The doctor huffed, "I'm cold," he complained before leaning up and, before Toshinori quite registered what he was doing, kissed him briefly on the lips and climbed out of the bed, shuffling almost drunkenly out of the room. "M'stealin' first shower. Need the hot water," he explained as he walked into the doorframe, bounced off, swore, and then continued his zombie march towards the bathroom.
000
Harry had a thirty second freak out once he was under the hot-spray and had his body temperature back up. Freezing painfully in the middle of shampooing the last of the ashy smell from his hair.
He had just kissed Toshinori on the mouth without invitation. Fuck!
He had been trying to take this slowly, let the blond set the pace, as he was – well, even with Harry's absolutely terrible history of dating, girls, and school, he got the distinct impression that he was the more experienced of the two and hadn't wanted to push the kind Japanese man into anything he wasn't ready for. He was trying to be respectful of the unspoken boundaries, and the blond's comfort levels with his injury, his poor self-esteem, and the oh so often felt flavour of inadequacy Harry sometimes got from him.
He dragged a hand through his sudsy hair and sighed.
What was done was done. He could apologise when he got out of the shower, or he could brush the matter off as just part of his being an utter horror in the morning before his blood temperature was high enough for cognisant thought. However, the problem now arose that he wasn't actually sorry about stealing that kiss. And in fact wanted to do it again. For longer.
He wondered if Toshinori had ever had a french kiss before...
Okay that was a bad direction for his thoughts to take right now. Harry sighed and turned the shower off, he quickly dried off and snagged the loose comfy clothes he tended to keep in there because he was lazy and forgetful and sometimes just went into the shower without a change of clothes with him – like now. Apparently it was frowned upon in Japanese society to leave the bathroom in just a towel, plus he had a guest, and while he had the advantage of seeing the ruin of Toshinori's chest, he didn't think the blond particularly wanted to see the ruin of Harry's back. He had been a Hero long enough to recognise the marks of torture, and Harry didn't particularly want to have that conversation just yet in their fledgeling relationship. Give it a year and he might be able to stomach sharing it. The physical of it anyway. Torture had its place in war, and war was the one thing Toshinori would not know. Not if Harry could help it.
Dressing, he left the room to spot his guest sat on the sofa in the living room, looking a little nervous, fiddling with his phone and blushing. Aaaaand, now Harry felt guilty.
He sighed, catching the tall man's attention, "Sorry if I spooked you earlier. Can't say I regret it, just that you're uncomfortable now," he said bluntly, dragging a hand through his wet hair again before squeezing his eyes shut and ramping his temperature up hard enough to steam it dry – he hated wandering around with wet hair.
Toshinori was stood up in surprise when he opened his eyes again. "How did – what did you just – " he spluttered.
Harry shrugged a shoulder, "Ramped my body temp up to dry my hair. I don't like wondering around with it wet," he admitted. "But yeah. Sorry if I upset you."
The blond flushed and shuffled his feet, "You didn't. It just took me by surprise," he explained with a shy smile.
Harry huffed a quiet laugh, "There's still hot water if you want a shower," he offered, jerking a thumb to the door behind him.
"Thank you but no, not this time," the Pro said with a smile as he made his way over, "But I wouldn't object to another," he added with a hopeful grin.
Harry blinked at him, not quite catching his meaning, at least until he tapped his lips and bent down to be at eye level with him. Then he realised, and laughed.
"I think I can manage that."
000
Despite upgrading their relationship to the kissing stage, neither of them had yet put it into any manner of official terminology. They were still both achingly busy with their respective work, Toshinori now also having his hospital appointments on top of that where the specialists that Harry had contacted on his behalf collaborated with each other and him on further treatments. His name was now on an organ donor list, but the chances of a match being found were slim due to what little he had been able to reveal about his Quirk – a Doping type, he admitted, that allowed for minor gigantification of his musculature, providing explosive increases to both speed and strength. It meant the organs found would need to come from a donor with a similar Quirk, even if it wasn't as strong, on top of being the correct bloodtype, and various other needed factors. Toshinori did not have high hopes for a donor being found, but in the mean time he had been given some experimental reconstructive surgery to his diaphragm and lung using a liquid healing panacea that the hospital was known to stock. He had to admit, the reconstruction was the best thus far, and holding even with his transformations – he just had to take said transformations slower than his usual, and use an inhaler with the same panacea loaded into it when he came down.
He hadn't coughed up blood in weeks.
He was not being as stringent as he possibly should have when it came to his diet requirements, at least until the gastroenterologist got into contact with Harry practically pulling her hair out in frustration. He most definitely found himself doing as he was told after that rather chilly conversation. Harry did not suffer fools who refused to look after themselves lightly, and had given Toshinori a dressing down unlike anything he had received since Gran Torino laid into him for reckless behaviour back in his UA days.
But he didn't mind, it meant his phone often pinged with a message from the doctor reminding him to snack on something, or asking if he'd eaten. And whenever they spent the day together, the young man would enforce mandatory snack time with the promise of kisses for good behaviour.
Then Halloween came.
And Harry went a bit... funny. Not amusing funny. But concerningly funny.
His humour took a sharp nose-dive into the morbid and black, almost cruel, his temper and his words became sharper and near aggressive as well. And he had refused the one date that Toshinori attempted to set up in order to celebrate the holiday with a terse 'I'm busy, not this time'.
When he showed up at the hospital in order to pick him up, to see how he was, the nurses told him that he had taken the week off – as usual.
As usual.
He didn't know what to think as he walked the streets, chewing his lips in concern because... well, Harry was acting off. He was as much of a workaholic as Toshinori himself, that he would book a week off from the hospital was actually rather alarming, especially when coupled with his behaviour lately.
He probably shouldn't have done it, but he slid into All Might's skin and launched himself to the roof of the apartment complex opposite the doctor, and peeked in through the windows.
Harry was sat in front of the small shrine in his bedroom, his head in his hands, several candles lit throwing the faces in the picture frames into stark golden relief. Toshinori did not need an explanation to know the red headed woman with Harry's beautiful green eyes, and the smiling dark haired man with his cheekbones and hair colour were his parents.
Quietly, he left the rooftop, and Harry to his mourning.
He would be patient, and wait until the doctor was ready to face the world.
000
Halloween oft saw the return of bad habits.
Harry got into a fight.
The taste of blood was an old friend, one that blunted and drowned the taste of cheap sake and bad beer, the ache of a bruise, the singing fire in his blood, the way the world danced and whirled too bright and blurred as adrenalin moved him faster than his eyes could keep up, as his body grown soft remembered its sharpness. The edges, the cracks, the fractures, and points. The broken shards of himself that he used to cut and claw and rend once upon a time ago.
And though his blood was fire and rust and lightning in his veins, the rain that washed away his bloody knuckles did not steam as though he felt it should.
Harry did not need his Quirk to fight.
He had spent many years fighting without it. Growing up in a house of hatred when you could feel it breathing beneath your skin as if it were your own but disconnected as though on the otherside of a curtain was tough. When a raised voice, and a flush of purple rage could set your blood to flame. When a hand of iron and stone could crush a hollow bone not yet sure of its own strength. A shrill piercing voice could make small ears bleed before a little mouth learned how to knock a picture frame from its hook. The pale embers not yet strong enough to burn smothered beneath corpulent flesh stinking of grease and sweets.
He had spent years fighting without his Quirk. Bloodied teeth, broken skin, bruises, and burns.
Halloween saw the return of his childhood bad habits.
And as he spat blood into the gutter, and shoved his scraped knuckles into his pockets, and returned to the tiny bar to drink once again in peace for as long as the local thugs would allow him, he tried to drown the memories of his mother screaming in sake; the desperate commands of his father for them to run, to escape, while he held off a villain that should have never found them in cheap off-brand beer.
The second of May would see him back.
And not even the local thugs would bother him that day.
His blood burned, and they learned better.
000
"I've been meaning to ask for a while now," Toshinori said when they met up again mid-November, they had decided to give the various themed cafes a break and instead Harry was cooking for them that night. Right now the blond was sat up to the breakfast bar, watching the doctor move between the curry he was making and the rice, making sure nothing was sticking or burning. "I understand that going into the A-and-E is impossible, but how do you think an All Might visit to the childrens' recovery ward would go down?" he asked hopefully.
Harry paused thoughtfully from where he was adding a little more water to the pan of rice, "As long as he didn't bring a large amount of press, pretty well actually," he admitted before throwing him a wry smile, "I think ninety percent of the pictures the kids draw to be stuck on their pin-boards have his face on them. Or as good an approximation as they can do with crayons and shitty hand-eye coordination. How good is he with kids though? Because I have to warn you, over-excited toddlers have a habit of bursting into tears for the most unbelievable of reasons."
That sounded adorable and he wanted to know the story now.
Harry chuckled, probably feeling his anticipation and sipped at his wine, clearly trying to think back, "We had one little lass, she kept screaming about how she didn't want to go, no one, not myself, the nurses, or her parents could convince her that she wasn't going anywhere. She just did not want to go. Then there was the little lad who got upset when he saw the bin eat one of the nurse's gloves, his mother told me he does that at home as well when the oven eats his dinner. We had another Hero visit a few years ago, can't for the life of me remember who it was now, but he didn't take it too well when one of the patients burst into tears and wouldn't go anywhere near him. They were just so overwhelmed with excitement that he was there they didn't want to do anything but cry," Harry began to list, grinning fondly as he continued to recount some of the more memorable meltdowns of his little patients.
"They're going to get their hands everywhere," he continued with a grin, "He's big enough they'll be using him like a climbing frame, I hope he can handle getting kicked in the junk with a grin because it will happen. They're going to pull his hair, his cape, comment on whether or not he's got visible panty-line, try and poke him in the butthole, stick their fingers up his nose, in his mouth, everywhere," the doctor continued mercilessly as Toshinori started to laugh, unable to help picturing it because, goodness, he could, he could see it very clearly. "Think he can handle it? Toddlers are more nefarious than villains," Harry pointed out laughing.
"I'm sure we'll manage. He's quite fond of children," Toshinori confided with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "But don't tell anyone. The media reactions would be ridiculous."
"And how," the doctor agreed before going back to making sure the curry had thickened up properly.
Toshinori sipped at his white wine spritzer, "What about you?" he asked curiously, "I know you work with children, you can at least tolerate them, but do you have any plans for a family?" Personally, he wanted a family, adopted or blood related he didn't much care. But a family... He hadn't... It was something he missed, and he would have liked one of his own, a child to raise, a partner to love.
Harry hovered over the stove for a moment before he sighed deeply, "I – no. Not right now, no plans," he admitted reluctantly, hand hesitating over the wallet in his back pocket before he pulled it out and moved to Toshinori's side. "I... This is Teddy," he said, thumbing a photograph of a much younger Harry from his wallet. He couldn't have been any older than sixteen or perhaps seventeen, he was cheek to cheek with a toddler bearing right turquoise blue hair and a wide dimpled smile, only four little milk-teeth peeking out from its gummy grin.
Toshinori carefully accepted the fragile old little photograph, from one of the ancient booths that no longer existed, Harry had been a teenage parent? Why was he here in Japan without his child? Had the mother objected to his guardianship, or had Harry given it up in order to pursue his career without neglecting his child?
"I was seventeen when he was born, it was the height of the Villain Disturbance in England. His parents were, his mother was a cousin of mine, his father was my father's bestfriend. They named me godfather when they found out," Harry explained, leaning his head on Toshinori's shoulder. "They were murdered during the Villain attack on my school barely a month after he was born. I was too young, too mentally damaged to take care of a newborn. His grandmother took custody. I tried to be around as much as I could, but there was a lot of unrest, a lot of anger and hurt, lot of confusion. I tried to keep them safe. Andy, his grandmother, had suffered so much. Her sisters had married into the Villain group when they were younger, it was her younger sister, Bella, that murdered her husband, daughter, and son-in-law," Harry explained softly, leaning into the blond's side when he shifted an arm to hug him tightly.
"There was a – the Villains had managed to get into a lot of areas, take control, plant seeds, spread misinformation. They had a lot of sympathisers even after they were dealt with. I was – I was invited to join the local frontline Hero office, Auror, after my graduation, I just needed to take some training courses because I missed my final year. I accepted, and while I was at training for the day... I don't know. I came home to the house in ruins. Andy was on the front lawn, bloody, still. She fought to the last. Teddy... He would have been three the next month. Today, he would be eleven. He would be at Hogwarts, learning how to be a Hero like his mother."
Harry gently recollected the photograph from Toshinori's fingers, smiling down at it, "He was still breathing when I got to him. But I couldn't save him. So I quit Auror training, I went into medicine. The backlash was violent. With my Quirk, they had been hoping to throw me on the frontline. They viewed my change in priorities as dereliction of duty. I – I ended up leaving the country. Teddy's the reason I became a paediatric surgeon. And until I can be certain that any family I have is safe, I don't think I can commit to having one. Sorry."
The Pro-Hero smiled a little sadly, tightening his grip before dipping down to kiss the doctor reassuringly.
"A conversation for further down the road, hm?" he suggested warmly, gently brushing a few stray strands of hair behind Harry's ear.
"Much later," Harry agreed slowly, smiling a little in relief before reaching up to kiss him a little more thoroughly.
000
December eleventh saw the first snowfall on Tokyo as temperatures plunged.
Toshinori found himself in the unenviable position of having to come clean about his identity to a few of his doctors at the hospital, rushing through various secrecy papers for them to sign before coming clean. He still had not even done so for Harry though he kept a copy of the paperwork in his top-desk, and found himself looking at it often, wondering if he would ever scrape up the balls to present them to the young man he was fairly certain he was actually falling in love with, and wondering if he would just tell him and screw the paperwork. Eitherway, in order to further his recovery, and to explain why growing him replacement internal organs using a pig-surrogate, like various transplant organs had been done twenty years prior while stem-cell research was still in its infancy, probably wasn't going to work, he needed to bring his little team of health professionals in on his secret.
The reaction was a great deal more professional than he had expected.
Miyazaki-sensei did however pull him aside and very sharply question whether or not Potsu-sensei was aware of this yet. Toshinori had been forced to very quietly admit that no, he did not, not through lack of trust but... a lack of desire to burden him, or disgust him due to his dislike of All Might's on camera behaviours.
'Disgust or not, you're going to want to come clean with him before you two get serious,' the stern faced rheumatologist warned, 'I can't tell you what I know, but Potsu-sensei has some serious trust issues. Big secrets can break him. If you want this relationship, you're going to have to be as open and honest as possible.'
It was a bit – well, he didn't know how he felt about that but when he found out that Miyazaki-sensei was the doctor that Harry had been 'apprenticed' to for the duration of his training it was a bit eye-opening. Different departments, but Harry's Quirk was apparently one that could see him anywhere in the hospital, so every department had attempted to sway him into their clutches. But his heart had been firmly on paediatrics, and despite the fact that doctors were seldom present within the Emergency Wards, typically in and out, and rarely ever remaining with just the one patient all the time, Harry had some manner of special dispensation to linger as he wished.
But still.
With the knowledge of his Quirk now known to them, his treatments were amended to take his workload into account. He received a new inhaler with silver pills, an oxygen tank to have at home, and his office for inbetween hero work, and an increased appointment schedule with Miyazaki-sensei to deal with the ruin of his pectoral and abdominal muscles. He also learned some interesting information about the gigantism of his quirk, it did not affect his digestive tract. His lungs, and heart swelled along with his musculature in order to support his quirk, allowing for greater oxygenation of his blood and stronger heartbeats, etc, to keep up with his activity. But his stomach and all affiliated organs remained as they were. Meaning that the proposed plan to grow him a new stomach and pancreas from stem-cells in a donor pig was actually viable. He could have a new stomach transplanted into him within three years if he agreed.
Of course he agreed.
His lung was holding fairly well with the assistance the silver inhaler gave him, with the extra oxygen he took between jobs he no longer felt so sluggish or dizzy anymore, he was healing faster, feeling more energetic, genuinely happy – though he entirely put that down to Harry's continued presence in his life. These days... Toshinori was actually more prone to spending time at the doctor's flat than his own. Several changes of his clothes had found their way into the Doctor's draws, he had a toothbrush in the bathroom, his own shampoo and bodywash, even a towel that had unofficially become his (the white and yellow one), and the blender had become a permanent fixture of the kitchen counter much to Hedwig's dismay as she was not fond of the overly loud device.
They hadn't gone further than kissing, and yes sometimes things got a little involved, but at the first hint of reluctance, discomfort, or even just surprise, Harry would be pulling back and cooling things down. He never pushed, and part of Toshinori was a little frustrated with that but at the same time that Harry respected his boundaries and his inexperience in this matter and let him set the pace was heartwarming. It made him a little giddy because the doctor respected him, as a person, without All Might's achievements clouding his perceptions.
In the end, it was their fifth date out that made his mind up.
One of the parks had opened an outdoor ice-rink, Toshinori had always enjoyed skating when he was younger and that had also transferred into ice skating. He was pretty good at it too, having always made a point of visiting during the winter. Harry had never been skating before in his life, let alone ice-skating. "Scotland got cold enough, but the black lake never froze over," he explained as he carefully copied how Toshinori did his laces up in the strange unfamiliar black boots.
"You never went to any of the indoor rinks?" the blond asked curiously as he got to his feet and held hands out for Harry, the doctor nervously allowing himself to be pulled upright to his bladed feet, gripping Toshinori's fingers a little tighter than he normally would. The blond smiled fondly, was he frightened?
"If they existed, I never saw one," Harry admitted as he found his balance and nodded, letting his date lead him towards the ice and pausing with both hands gripping the wall as he eyed the frozen surface sceptically, "Are you sure this is a good idea? I might ruin it," he warned.
"I'm sure you'll be fine, look, just watch them for a bit and then when you think you have the hang of it, I'll hold your hands," the Pro-Hero said, nodding to a few girls who were easily skating around and laughing with each other. Harry grimaced a little his eyes tracking their progress before he took a breath and grinned widely enough to hide the obvious discomfort on his face.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he declared before stepping onto the ice – and slipping immediately.
Toshinori caught him with a laugh and pushed him back to his feet, Harry swore under his breath, glancing apologetically to a few of the children around them and clung to the side of the rink with both hands.
"Hardest part is getting on the ice," the blond declared cheerfully, holding his hands out for the doctor again.
"Says you," he snarked before glancing to his grip on the wall and gritting his teeth. If there was one thing Toshinori had learned about Harry, it was that once he had set his mind on something, there was no stopping him. Fear, anxiousness, hesitancy, they weren't going to stop him for long on anything. If he had been a Hero it would have driven Toshinori to grey hair already. As it was, he caught the Doctor's hands and carefully began to slide backwards, the two of them keeping their eyes focused on Harry's feet.
"There we go, move them in Vee-shapes. Weight on the back leg and push off, slide the forward leg in a V-shape, and transfer your weight. There you go, going great!" Toshinori praised happily as Harry gracelessly followed his instructions and began to do more than just mutilate the ice with his blades.
Eventually Harry found his feet, and began to move with more confidence, enough so that he released Toshinori – but not entirely.
It was around about the time it started getting dark, snow once again starting to fall, that the blond Pro-Hero glanced over at the doctor and stared for a long moment. He wasn't doing anything particularly amazing or poignant. He was still glaring at his feet, tongue poking out a little in concentration, his nose was red with chill, and his glasses were sliding down again. Snow was settling into his black hair in little white tufts, and the tips of his ears were as red as his nose. He was wearing a hand-knitted red and yellow scarf that matched the sweater he had on under his black biker jacket, and a pair of ratty old washed out blue jeans that were covered in little darning patches where Harry had sewn the little wear and tears up.
He didn't want to lose this.
Lose him.
It just kind of struck him then, staring at the doctor as he nodded his head in time with their skating, the sound of bad foreign christmas carols playing in the background, children laughing and squealing as they fell on the ice, people talking around them, and snow falling on Harry's hair.
He wanted this. He wanted it so much it made his heartbeat stutter in his chest when he realised it.
He tightened his grip on Harry's hand, smiling down at him, "When we get home, there's something I have to tell you," he said, catching the young man's attention.
Harry frowned up at him in concern, not quite understanding the confusing tangle of emotions he was getting from the blond, "Is everything alright?" he asked.
Toshinori kissed him.
0000
Look at these adorable nerds. Enjoy your fluff.
