Enjoy!

The more time that goes by, the more Shouta begins to think All Might's theory is correct.

It didn't really make sense to him initially. The thing about the mountain's cell tower, and blah blah blah, but Shouta can't really think of anything else. It's probably not damaged, because of the fact that Mic has been on the phone with them at least three times since Shouta woke up. Screaming over the line, making his ears ring. All Might's teasing glint in his eye and the small smile on his face was enough to make the base they're stuck in feel a little more lively. At least for a few minutes.

The point of the matter is that no contact has been made, still . Every time they try to call anyone else, the phone pings a long, dead drone on the other end. Not even the police can be contacted. Even the few private numbers they have of officers they've made acquaintances with over the years seem to be unable to answer. All Might even tries his detective friend, Tsukauchi. Nothing.

It's irritating. Just another obstacle that they really could live without. Just another thing to add to their list of problems.

He remembers the droning thought he had when he was out in the blizzard. Just get to warmth. Just get to safety. After that, it'll be easy. But apparently not. Every step they take it seems a new obstacle rips from the woodwork just to give them a hard time. The villain attack, the blizzard, the lake...shattering...and everything that came after.

He can still feel the blood caked under his nails, even if he had finished scrubbing them clean almost half an hour ago. He tries to ignore the raw feeling along his knuckles and finger tips.

"They have enough stocked here that we could last as long as it'll take for someone to notice something is wrong," All Might says, and his voice has apprehension leaking into it. Like he can sense the anger and frustration festering beneath Shouta's skin, "And that won't take long."

Shouta shakes his head, rubbing his eyes in lieu of pinching the bridge of his nose, already having experienced that mistake. He paces along the threshold of the living area and the monitoring section of the building, thinking. Just thinking , "We signed up for a week here. We won't be expected for another...what time is it?"

All Might swivels in his chair, looking at the monitors. Half of them are just black screens, the cameras outside completely covered by snow. The others aren't faring too well either. Usually there would be staff members available to clear them off every now and again. Now, he's not too sure there's any staff remaining to clear them off. Even if that was a priority, "Uh...2 a.m."

Shouta huffs a dry laugh, "So it's breaking into our second day here, meaning we'd be stuck for five more days, six nights. At least ."

"That's only if the storm doesn't let up. Remember we checked the weather, it's not meant to be all that bad. The blizzard should only last a little bit longer."

"And?"

All Might gestures vaguely, resting his hollowed face in his abnormally large hand, "We could walk down to somewhere we could get a signal, perhaps? To the facility's main building— the ring. Then figure out the situation from there—"

"Only one of us would be able to go in that case," Shouta cuts in, continuing his pacing.

All Might pauses, "I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that idea."

"What?" Shouta eyes him warily, already predicting where this is going, "Why?"

"We don't know the situation with the villain. He could potentially be out there still—"

"You wouldn't be able to help much even if he was!"

Shouta pauses, every thought halting as he processes what he's just said. The words taste sour on Shouta's tongue, and he tries desperately to rein in his sudden outburst. All Might only offers him a level stare, no anger in his eyes. Just understanding. The man knows , damnit.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, Aizawa," All Might consoles, a small smile on his face. It almost looks sad, "You're right, for the record. But regardless, two people in that situation would be better even if one of them is basically quirkless."

Shouta gives in, ceasing his pacing. With a sigh he moves further into the living room and falls backward into the armchair, a perfect view of the couch their resident unconscious teenager now lays on. Half his torso is now wrapped in bandages, arm bent and bound to it. Tight and meant to prevent him from even attempting at moving his arm. Shouta doubts the kid would really want to, but he's done crazier schemes in the past, afterall.

"One of us would have to stay here with him ."

All Might doesn't respond immediately but when he does, there's obviously apprehensiveness, "He would come with the two of us."

And Shouta feels like knives have stabbed themselves into his nervous system because that brings up too many nasty possibilities. It first and foremost brings up the image of Midoriya back out in the fucking blizzard, and Shouta isn't sure he's entirely as coherent as he thought he was because he would literally rather anything else to happen then to see snow even touching the kid.

But in the case that he humored the idea even slightly:

He'd be the sole defender of their group of three then. Would All Might be able to carry Midoriya? In any way— piggyback, fireman's hold, bridal style, sack of potatoes... dragged. Probably not many of those, but the point is if Shouta's job would be to defend them in case the villain out there isn't out of commission— which how could he not — then All Might's job would be to carry their student.

"I'm perfectly capable of carrying him, Aizawa," All Might says, and Shouta get's the sudden jagged feeling across his back that the man can read minds or something, "On my back—there won't be a problem. I may be far from as strong as I was a year ago, but I'm capable."

"He would have to be covered in blankets and such, too," If we choose to actually do this, he doesn't say. He's more than ready to fight tooth and nail with the older retired hero. But, even so. No way would he even consider letting the kid back out in that weather without being bundled in warmth from the top to the bottom. He was still hypothermic, last Shouta checked on him. Skin still ice cold, but he was shivering. And shivering was good . It meant his body was still functioning instead of slowly shutting down— like the kid had been laying on the floor only feet away from where he is now, bundled in all the blankets All Might had brought out for them save for the single one said man had forced Shouta to keep wrapped around his shoulders.

He had planned on laying back down with Midoriya after the stitch job they did, or rather, after cleaning his bloodied hands from said stitch job. His hands were shaking so bad during it and so All Might ended up getting just enough time to manage to get Midoriya settled on the couch instead of the floor. Shouta had proceeded to shove the thing closer to the fire, outright ignoring any offers of help from All Might.

"Probably, and we'd have to—"

"Those warm water bottles you used earlier, when we were asleep— does he still have those on him…? Anyways, we'd need to bring those. Make it as warm as possible. If we have to do this, then it's highly dangerous because we're still trying to get his temperature correct and it's just not doing it. I'm—"

"Aizawa?"

Aizawa shoots from the chair he was sitting in like his name being called had sent electricity jolting through him, and slices through the room in two even steps, stepping right up to the couch. Midoriya, as though in greeting, gives off a few coughs that echo metallically into his respirator. His purple, but much fainter purple, eyelids stay closed however. Shouta frowns but eventually sits Midoriya up and slides himself behind the boy and onto the couch, the kid now laying practically on top of Shouta.

"Aizawa?"

Shouta just shakes his head pensively, rearranging the blankets and wrapping his arms around Midoriya. The kid's skin is still cold enough to send a chill up Shouta's back when his back is pressed to his chest, "I would really rather have him stay here."

All Might's still over in the swivel chair by the monitors, now leaning forward on his knees, "I understand what you're—"

"No, no you don't understand. You dealt with the aftermath, I dealt with the ordeal. You can't understand."

Both of them stay quiet.

Shouta didn't expect to continue, but the words start flowing from him heedlessly,"I just stood there and watched as he— fuck, he sank beneath the ice. Just stood there and when he broke through to give me a way to get to him..."

He shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts, but he's opened the floodgates and he knows All Might is going to want answers and so—

All Might walks in beside the couch he's laying on, looking down at him and Midoriya with a twisted look of distress. He carefully smoothes his hand through the now dry, green curls resting on Shouta's collarbone. It's such an openly tender moment that Shouta's surprised he was able to be present for it. The look clears as soon as he meets Shouta's gaze, turning as reserved as ever.

He goes and sits in the armchair that Shouta had previously occupied, "Aizawa...what happened out there?"

Shouta sighs, "How much do you want to know?"

"Everything."

/i/i/i/

He does tell All Might everything, and it's strange, but the words come easy. Everytime he gets stuck explaining a tough spot of what they went through in the blizzard, he glances at the older man and suddenly feels calmer looking into piercing blue eyes. This was the symbol of peace for several years, after all, so it shouldn't be surprising— his natural aura of calm.

He tells him of getting a phone call from Mic and immediately running into the snow to find his kids. How he found them, some of them having been wounded including Hizashi, but was still missing Midoriya. He tells him about how their fight with the villain went in particular and unusual dramatic flair simply for the fact that the fight pissed him off . Then the ice breaking, Midoriya falling through. How he pulled both the villain and Midoriya out of the ice. Of doing CPR— which All Might notes he had wondered about because of the bruises spanning a particular spot on his ribcage. He explained why the respirator was put on initially. He even spoke of his and Midoriya's conversation.

"He thought he was going to die," Shouta says slowly, rubbing his thumb over Midoriya's knuckles from underneath the blankets, staring vacantly at the far wall, "He literally asked me if he was. And I, of course, told him no, but still...:"

All Might's face is buried in the palm of his hand, and Shouta finds himself belatedly reminded of the few times Hizashi has been caught on the sofa in the teacher dorms, wine glass in hand, the exact same position of his arm. Trying to process all the information he had been told on his radio show.

All Might raises his head, eyes immediately going to Midoriya because, of course , after hearing all that he'd want to take the kid in. Midoriya's still pressed against Shouta's chest, turned slightly away and head lolled to the side— not facing them. His chest falls and rises deeply in his sleep, a disturbing wheeze sounding off with every exhale. Shouta just listens to it for a long moment before All Might speaks.

"He was scared…" All Might murmurs, something sad shining in his eyes and Shouta might be imagining it, but he thinks he sees the faint glistening of unshed tears in the corner of his darkened eyes, "He was so scared, he asked for his mother…"

"It was pretty...intense, is all I'll say," which is a lie because he'll definitely be saying more before this is over. He still needs to convince All Might of his perspective on keeping the kid here . Safe. Sound. Asleep. No worries.

"...I'm sorry I wasn't able to do more for you two."

...What?

Shouta shoots him a sharp glance, "What? You did just fine here."

"I mean out there. If...if it was a few months ago, I would have been able to stop that villain somehow and prevent all this from happening to you two." To Midoriya.

Shouta once again feels the clawing sensation of subtle guilt.

If he takes a step back he can clearly see this man's perspective. In his shoes, he'd be horrified. Someone dragging in a student on the brink of death and then fainting immediately after. Uncovering more and more problems as he tries to solve the ones he already knows about. Multitasking. Trying to bury the deep-seated horror at the situation now thrust into his hands before he even fully understand what is going on.

The man did great. Just as their training taught them— at least that his training taught him. He treated their wounds and warmed them up enough to be out of immediate danger. He contacted Mic and tried his damndest to see about getting the authorities up there.

All he could do.

And of course the man would feel he performed inadequately in light of their gloomy situation.

"You're a special kind of idiot, Yagi."

The man glances at him, managing to snap out of his apparent misery long enough to look offended, "...hey…"

Shouta simply snorts and shrugs his shoulders.

They sit in that silence for a long time. All Might stays seated in the armchair, his legs crossed one over the other and the palm of his hand supporting his head. The tension slowly drains from his shoulders even if the blue of his eyes can be seen still in the firelight— clearly not asleep. Also clearly lost in thought.

The crackle of the fire and the kid's crackling breath, coupled with the whistling wind from outside fill the dimmed space. It's a strange sort of comfort. Shouta knows the popping sound in Midoriya's chest is far from normal but he still finds himself focusing on it to appease his troubled mind. Breathing, whether wrong or not, if still breathing. And he'll take what he can get for the time being. Especially since a few hours ago he didn't even have that .

He isn't sure how much time has passed, but eventually he jolts awake at the touch of a gentle hand on his shoulder. He didn't even remember nodding off— hadn't wanted to, either.

All Might is kneeling next to them, the tie he hadn't bothered to take off at any point now removed from around his neck revealing his boney collarbones.

"Sorry," he says, "You should sleep, but not like you were. The last thing you want is a crick in your neck on top of everything else."

For what it's worth, Shouta listens. Scooting further down the length of the couch and underneath Midoriya. He isn't sure if that's what All Might meant, but he doesn't intend to move if it's not.

"You're a big, annoying softy, y'know," he mumbles, halfway glaring at the older hero, but his words are filled with mild humor. Take the former number one hero as someone who, in a situation where everything is crumbling and they're struggling to figure out how to get to safety, to worry about a crick in Shouta's neck . Seems entirely appropriate considering the man's persona, though. Always rushing around helping people. Even with pointless things like getting cats out of trees. Fucking hero .

God , he needs sleep.

His eyes slip closed, the last thing he sees being All Might standing and walking back over to the dying fire.

Only when Shouta awakens hours later to find the former number one hero passed out in the armchair and the fire completely out does Shouta realize how entirely fucked they are.

He wrestles himself out from underneath Midoriya, taking care to tuck the blankets back around the kid as swiftly and as effectively as he can. His nose pulsates when he moves a little too fast, a quiet curse escaping him.

The fire dying isn't a matter of it not being tended to, Shouta realizes rather quickly. It's a matter of all the firewood being used up. There was a relatively large stack of firewood inside the building, but it's only stocked up to last a few hours since the outposts aren't actually meant to be utilized for hours to days on end, and they've already been utilizing the outposts for an entire day thus far. Meaning their stock inside the building would of course be depleted. The people who ran this facility only provided them with enough wood for a couple hours at most since sessions only lasted about that long to avoid hypothermia.

The majority of people who worked at this facility had ice or cold weather quirks— similar to Todoroki's cold ability, as far as Shouta could tell. Meaning that they were able to traverse the dangerous conditions relatively easy.

From what Shouta remembers of their exercises on the mountain before everything went to shit, Todoroki was doing a lot better fighting off the cold than everyone else— though he had the added bonus of also having a heating quirk.

The point being, with the staff of the facility MIA and no contact being able to be made with the outside world, Shouta figures that they were going to have to take quite a bit into their own hands to keep the outpost running smoothly.

He glances over to the monitors along the walls. He can tell that All Might must have been messing with them quite a bit after Shouta fell asleep due to the complete disarray that the area is in. Monitors tipped over, their back's shown and taken off— probably a last resort solution to the problem. Even if it wasn't a solution. When nothing else can be done, he supposes, make sure all other options are checked. And now they at least knew the black screens on every monitor wasn't from the actual hardware of the computers having an issue.

His clothes are strewn on the floor in front of the fire directly next to Midoriya's. They're straightened and flattened out as much as possible, wrinkled beyond belief, but when Shouta presses his bare foot to his own shirt he can feel that they're dry and warm to the touch.

Awesome.

The bathroom of the outpost is directly next to the small kitchen. All Might and Midoriya don't stir a bit as he walks past them towards it.

The kitchen is in disarray, too.

Or, well at least the storage section lining the kitchen wall. Cabinets and drawers filled with a multitude of the supplies. Just glancing at the area, Shouta can tell that they were what All Might had been ripping into when they had first gotten there, desperately searching for blankets and a med kit. Some drawers rest on the ground— some even sporting cracks along the wooden frame. The cabinets are all wide open— All Might must have not cared what the area looked like even after Shouta and Midoriya were out of danger.

Shouta can respect that.

He spots in the cabinet closest to the bathroom on the far side of the kitchen several coats of different sizes, as well as various other clothing items. Shirts, sweatpants, socks, scarves, gloves, hats— the list goes on. The sweatpants he currently wears match the ones folded in the cabinet.

He keeps the clothing items in mind as he walks through the threshold to the bathroom.

The light is a lot brighter than he expected when he turned it on. Bright. Fluorescent. He's pretty sure that dark spots dance in his vision for a few seconds before his eyes get used to them. He can still feel the lingering sting to his eyes as they adjust— the wind drying them out a ridiculous amount. Sleep hadn't even helped a little bit. He vaguely wonders if his eyedrops survived the journey here, or if he was going to have to suffer the burn until they managed to get back to civilization. He managed to drop his phone without realizing until they were already halfway to this outpost, he wouldn't be surprised if he dropped anything else.

Setting his clothes down on the toilet seat, Shouta turns to the large mirror above the sink. He meant to check to see how red his eyes were, but he finds himself not even taking notice of them. He stutters a bit, eyes growing wide as he takes in the gruesome pattern of bruises spread out across the bridge of his knows, bleeding into each of his under eyes. It's purple and brown, not enough time to heal it enough to start fading into the healing yellow color. The swath of gauze All Might had applied to his nose is stained a slight red, the blood that had apparently been leaking from the large gash having leaked through.

When he removes it, a smiting ache erupting along the bridge of his nose when the tape pulls at the abused skin, Shouta is met with a gorey and very much red gash cutting across it. It's not large enough to need stitches, but it's definitely large enough to need steristrips.

He finds himself staring at his reflection for a long moment, vaguely noting the dark pattern decorating his sternum and abdomen, too. He hadn't even noticed that…

No wonder All Might kept passing wayward glances his way, a concerned tilt to his brow.

Shouta looked like he'd just got run over by a train.

After a drawn out moment, Shouta turns away and begins getting dressed into his clothes. The warmth of the fire still lingering on the dark fabric and it sends a pleasant feeling trickling across Shouta's skin.

When he walks back out of the bathroom, he finds himself taking in the kitchen once again. Their first priority— well, his first priority would be to grab some steri strips from the med kit and patch up the gash on his face. Secondly, he'd need to go find the supply of firewood they kept around here.

They had to have some— Shouta swears he saw a stack hidden somewhere in the woods by his outpost when he was on the way there the past day. Why they didn't just bring in all of it, Shouta has no clue. Perhaps to keep them from using it all. A sort of cost thing...who knows.

Then the next priority would be food…

They hadn't eaten the majority of the past day. They had started the exercise a little past noon, eating before it in the facility's primary building. The incident occurred around 2 p.m, and everything after that is a bit fuzzy time-wise. They weren't out in the snow long enough for Midoriya or him to succumb to the weather— however miraculous that might have been. And he had woken up a little after 10 p.m, All Might saying he had slept around 6 hours.

They…

Shouta freezes up, glancing towards the couch.

They were out in that weather for close to two hours— the kid for longer. About four, two of them with him freezing solid in Shouta's arms.

God.

Just... God.

Shouta thought that it was taking a long time, but he figured that it was just the adrenaline of the moments making him restless in getting to the outpost as quickly as possible. Like it was making time stretch out. But he hadn't realized they were still out in that weather for that long.

Maybe All Might just got the time wrong or something. Yeah...he'll go with that.

The point being, with wounds like he has, Midoriya was going to need to eat something soon. Something warm— would help heat his internal body temperature as well. They were using as many warm water bottles as they had— placing them on the kid's abdomen, chest, and groin— all the most vital areas to keep warm. But even with that, coupled with the fire, the blankets, and Shouta's own body heat, warmth was just having a really hard time coming back to the kid.

So eating something warm might be able to get things warmed up a little faster. Whenever the kid decides to rejoin the world of the living.

All Might needed to, as well. The guy was a martyr. If he was overcome with stress and too focused on other tasks, Shouta's sure the man could ignore practically anything. And the retired hero's body really couldn't afford to be starved, especially with how emaciated it is on a normal basis. He doesn't know the specifics on All Might's condition, but he knows enough to know that that's the last thing he needs.

Shouta grabs a coat from the cabinet on his way back out into the living room, snatching a pair of the gloves and a hat, as well. He was still fighting off hypothermia, too. He wasn't about to risk getting it again , especially when he wanted their attention focused on their student first and foremost. They couldn't do that if Shouta was out of it again and All Might was concerned for his well being, once more.

It's quick, if also incredibly miserable, putting the steristrips onto his broken nose in the bathroom once he retrieves the kit. He has half a mind to just set the nose by himself, but he doesn't. Setting it would surely cause it to bleed again, and Shouta really didn't want to be distracted by that instead of the other tasks at hand.

Shouta stops by the fire to kick on his boots, tugging on the coat and gloves and hat while he's at it. Casting a lingering look at the two other occupants of the room, Shouta moves to the door.

He isn't exactly sure what he was expecting when he opened the door to wade back out into the snow, but he sure wasn't expecting the two things that did happen.

First, a large wall of snow falls in from the door into the outpost— at least a solid three feet in height covering the doorway. Shouta stares at it, imagining how on earth he was going to make it out there and find the emergency supply of firewood he wasn't even entirely sure was out there.

He doesn't have long to ponder because the retired hero behind him is suddenly jolting awake, a startled grunt escaping him as he jumps up from the seat. He sidesteps in front of the couch before his gaze is even able to focus on Shouta's form in the doorway, wavering into a fighting stance.

Shouta finds himself stuck between desperately trying to force the door closed again to keep the snow and freezing wind at bay, and making sure All Might isn't about to attack him.

It seems he worries for no reason because the older man is suddenly snapping to attention, a disdainful and mildly confused expression replacing the almost threatening look he had on his face previously. He rushes Shouta, coming up beside him and helping with the door.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Shouta blinks warily at All Might, taken aback by the absolute irritation in his voice. He's a rather soft spoken man all things considered, especially recently. His hero form was known for its loud and boisterous nature, but he's calm in this one. Level headed.

This, while not entirely unexpected, is surprising to say the least.

"We're out of firewood," Shouta explains rather dully, "I was going to go get some more."

The look All Might offers him at that answer could be equated to one that a parent would give to a child who has just drawn all over their walls with permanent markers. It's wary. It's disbelieving. It's confused. And, most importantly, it's tired .

"I realized we were out of firewood while you were asleep, Aizawa," All Might says with a rub to his temples and Shouta has the very startling realization that it seems his and the generally lighthearted retired hero have switched places from their usual conservation roles, "But, I didn't do anything about it because of the snow's depth."

Shouta grimaces, "We need to go get some more. It's not arguable."

"I'm not saying it's arguable," All Might's voice rises, a look of betrayal flashing in his hollowed eyes, "But you should have woken me. I was waiting for you to wake up to go do the exact same thing, but I didn't want to wake you prematurely, either."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"You weren't. That's why you should have asked before going to head out into that again."

"It's not like us both being awake would do any good, either. Two of us do not have to go look, especially you of all people."

"No, but if I was awake I'd at least be able to know what happened if you ended up dying out there."

"That's absurd, I'm not going to—"

"Really? Now you're going to say that, after what just happened."

"I'm more than aware of what happened, Yagi. Don't presume I've forgotten."

"I'm not presuming anyth—"

There's a low groan on the other side of the room, and All Might cuts himself off as soon as the two of them hear it. Both of the men's eyes grow relatively wide at the, both twisting to look behind them at the couch.

"Midoriya!"

Shouta and All Might whisper the name in startled breaths at the exact same time before they both go sprinting over to the couch.

Shouta rips off his coat and gloves, shoving himself behind the kid again just as he was before. All Might chooses to kneel on the ground in front of them as Shouta pulls Midoriya into a half-sitting position, face leaning against his chest and his hand instinctively rubbing the length of his spine as though to goad consciousness to the surface more successfully. Maybe getting some more warmth into his while they're at it.

The croak that echoes in the respirator, however, has Shouta stopping the incessant movements along the kid's skin. Whether because his focus is ripped away— successfully distracted by the flickering eyelashes, or because he vaguely realizes that it might be an uncomfortable feeling to Midoriya, he doesn't know.

His eyelids, though, only flick open a small amount before closing again— like he's fighting hsi own body.

"He's having a hard time waking up," All Might observes, his own hands clutching one another in the air between them, knuckles white.

"He's still cold," Shouta murmurs, "probably exhausted. Not surprising, really."

It's a sad fact. The kid's hands are like ice— the one not bound to his chest pressed between his side and Shouta's forearm.

"Maybe if we sit him up all the way…" All Might asks, eyes flickering to Shouta for a moment in question. And Shouta doesn't really have a better idea to help the kid, so he shrugs one should plaintively and adjusts to do just that. Souta manages to get Midoriya into a sitting position, struggling to gather up the blankets and keep them tight around him at the same time. He flinches when Shouta accidentally presses against the shoulder of his broken arm, head lolling away a moment later to hang limply back over Shouta's elbow.

All Might leans forward, "Young Midoriya? Can you open your eyes for us, please?"

He reaches out, and the moment the retired hero's fingers brush Midoriya's cheek, the kid's eyes snap open— pupils like pin points and practically unseeing at this point. A mewling gasp is pushed into the respirator.

"Shit!" Shouta curses as soon as Midoriya begins fighting against him, his elbow jabbing into his abdomen and his legs kicking out against the blankets covering him, dislodging them on the other end of the couch. All Might retracts his hands as if in shock, watching wide eyed as Shouta struggles to get a better hold on the boy.

He almost wraps both arms around the kid's chest— instinct taking over where rationality usually is. But he hesitates. The broken arm. Causing the kid pain would only serve to freak him out more and worsen this situation. He was obviously panicking. Shouta didn't know why or what about. Perhaps fight or flight coming in late now that his body was actually functioning...he didn't know.

He wraps one arm securely around the child's waist, holding his loose arm against his torso despite the struggling. His other arm snakes around his chest, settling on his neck in lieu of grappling with his wounded arm and shoulder. It works for the most part at keeping the kid from hurting himself with his flailing, and it also seems to snap All Might from his stupor.

He stands, leaning over the couch's two occupants and coming in close.

"Young Midoriya!" his voice is loud and Shouta cringes at the volume before the retired hero seems to realize as well, lowering his voice significantly, "you need to calm down. All is okay. You're safe!"

He reaches out again, abnormally large hands practically encasing Midoriya's face in their palms. He latches his thumbs under his chin, preventing him from pulling away from his hold.

"Can you hear me, Midoriya?"

The kid is trembling now, and Shouta isn't sure if it's from fear or from the cold still encasing his body.

Midoriya blinks up at the ceiling, eyes wading back and forth between it and All Might's face mere inches from his own. They aren't glossed over with delirium this time— something that confuses Shouta. What's making the kid panic? If he isn't seeing things then it must be like he thought before. Perhaps remembering what happened? Shouta reacted similarly the first time he woke up with a relatively clear head.

Midorioya stops fighting very suddenly, and Shouta feels like a stone has dropped heavily into his stomach. It takes him another moment to realize that, even though the struggles have stopped, Midoriya is still very much awake. Eyes half lidded and obviously drowsy, but awake nonetheless.

He's staring up at All Might, heavy breathing huffing from him rapidly from exertion and he seems to go boneless in their hold.

All Might shifts between his feet, his thumb moving from underneath Midoriya's jaw to stroke his cheek plaintively, "My boy?"

A small gasp. It's not desperate and it isn't pained. It's soft and almost excited. Relieved. Full of understanding as he looks up at the blonde hero. His breathing is still labored, but the sheer joy that the sound brings to Shouta despite the situation is enough. It's...just enough .

It's apparently similar for All Might. The man sighs a heavy breath, tension draining from his shoulders.

When Midoriya tries to turn to look at Shouta, the man watches almost detachedly. All Might supports his head and eventually the green eyes meet his own, blinking almost owlishly up at him for several long moments. Like he's studying Shouta. Of course that'd be one of the first thing the kid does with a clear-enough head.

But it's when Midoriya's cheek pushes up towards his eyes in what Shouta has to assume is a smile, and a breathy "hi" is whispered into the air between them that everything just slams into him at once.

For the first time in so long, he feels like crying.