Guys, I did it! I finished this fanfiction! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I was doing the Sicktember 2022 prompts in September, and then I was taking a small break from writing in October, so I could catch up on sleep from Sicktember, lol. Boy, that was a lot of writing, but it was also encouraging to know that i could write, on average, 2400 words a day when I set my mind to it...
Anyway, here is the epilogue to this story of mine, Gravity. I hope you enjoy, although please don't get your hopes too high.
Oh, and also, I wrote this all in one sitting tonight, like 3 hours worth of writing. And it was all kinda unplanned. So if it's super terrible, blame it on that!
Midoriya knew he had been woken up a few other times that night, but when he finally came to awareness in the morning, those instances were blurry and faded. He could recall being woken, someone standing over him and asking questions, not letting up until he responded. He knew that it had never been Miss Yashiwara, but, after a few moments of thought, he remembered that she had been ending her shift.
He laid in bed that morning after he woke up, trying to sort through his thoughts and memories. It was all blurry, and it almost seemed to hurt when he tried to think about anything too deeply. Must be the concussion, his sluggish mind thought. Sunlight was streaming through the window, the thin, white curtains not doing much to block out nature's lamp, but that was fine.
Midoriya could feel his heart hammering in his chest, as an unprecedented fear lazily lapped through his blood, and he was slightly confused at the lack of a beeping next to him. Then he remembered that the heart monitor had been disconnected the night before, after he went to see Aizawa Sensei. Not that he had seen the man much, he had really just entered the room long enough to know that the man was alive.
And now, in the morning light, where everything that had happened in the past eight hours was a blur, Midoriya wasn't even sure of the supposed truth that his teacher had been alive. He had heard beeping, and what he had thought was lungs breathing. But maybe he had misheard, maybe those were just standard hospital noises, or maybe that hadn't even been Aizawa Sensei's room at all! It was five doors down, he remembered that, and something in his brain thought it should be reassuring, but what was five doors down?
Where was Aizawa Sensei, was he okay?
Midoriya's thoughts kept spiraling down and down and down, and he could feel as his heart rate picked up. His body didn't seem to be able to do anything about it, though; it just stayed there, laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling, eyes wide and growing dry as he refused to blink. The dryness was shortly replaced with something wet, trails of salt water building until they streamed down his cheeks. He didn't even have the energy, the will, to sob. All he could do was lay there on his back, unmoving except for the swimming tears in his eyes.
Aizawa Sensei was probably dead, the building crushed him, the roof had fallen in where he had been, he was still injured, he couldn't move, wasn't conscious, Midoriya didn't get to him in time, he failed his teacher, he failed his hero, he failed his…his…his parental figure, his safe place! Aizawa Sensei had been someone, one of the rare, few adults Midoriya could trust, and he was gone!
He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, mourning the man he thought he lost, but soon his sorrow was interrupted by a knock on the door. He slowly, lethargically, turned his head, feeling a cold spot on his cheek when his tears were pressed between his face and the pillow. His mouth felt dry when he opened it, and the only thing that escaped his throat was a cut off croak. Whoever was on the other side didn't seem to mind, though, and came in anyway.
It was a nurse, but it wasn't Yashiwara. This one had a longer face, and her hair, tied up in a bun, was black, rather than Miss Yashiwara's dark brown. Midoriya watched her as she entered the room. He saw a smile on her face as she greeted him, but couldn't find the effort to even think about returning the gesture.
"Ah, Midoriya!" She exclaimed, offering a quick bow. "You're up, that's good. "I'm Kumoki." She walked over to him and started looking at a few machines, and then checking things he was hooked up to that he couldn't even register. As she did her inspection, she asked him a question. "Can you please tell me your birthday, Midoriya?"
He was confused, but realized after a few seconds that this was one of the questions he had been asked a lot, when they woke him up to check on his concussion. He had to sniff a couple times to clear his airway, then was able to mumble out, "July 15."
"Good," she said, standing back up and meeting his gaze. "Why are you crying, Midoriya, is there anything I can do for you, something you need?"
She wasn't as nice as Miss Yashiwara had been, so Midoriya wasn't sure whether he should ask his question or not. But, after a few moments' consideration, his need to know outweighed any hesitance he had with a strange nurse.
"Is…is Aizawa Sensei…okay?" He asked with another sniff. He slowly, carefully, brought his right arm up to wipe just beneath his nose, feeling as the motion tugged on the thin hospital pajamas he was wearing.
The nurse, Miss Kumoki, looked confused for a few seconds, then her expression smoothed out. "I believe so. I was in to see him this morning, and he was doing just fine. He still hasn't woken up yet, but his condition is steadily improving. Doctor Tangure thinks he should be waking up soon."
Midoriya mulled the words over in his mind, trying to gather every ounce of reassurance from them he could, holding them close to his heart and letting the good news warm him from the inside out.
"Can I see him?" He asked hopefully, glancing up at her from the side, beneath his limp bangs. He needed a shower, but that was definitely not high on his priorities list. No, the highest item on his list of priorities was seeing Aizawa Sensei, so he just hoped Miss Kumoki would let him.
"He's not supposed to have visitors until he wakes up, I'm sorry," was her reply, which dashed his hopes and extinguished the light from his eyes. "However, we have heard from your mother this morning, and she should be here within a half-an-hour now to see you. Do you want some help to the bathroom before she gets here, and then2 I can straighten up your bed?"
Midoriya didn't want that, he wanted to see Aizawa Sensei, but he knew better than to argue. So, instead, he nodded, and let her help him back into the wheelchair, which he saw was kept in a corner of his room for easy use. After he had been to the bathroom and back, with the assistance of Miss Kumoki, he waited in the wheelchair while she straightened up the sheets and blanket on the bed, then patiently let her help him lay back down. By the time they had done all that, and after Miss Kumoki raised the back of his bed so he was sitting up more, his mother had arrived, coming through the door like a rainstorm, fierce and strong, and with water dripping to the floor.
Midoriya visited with his mother for an hour, listening to her worries, smiling as she dried her tears, and reassuring her over and over again that he was alright, and that he was sorry for worrying her.
She left after that hour, kissing him on the forehead and saying that she would return that evening after her work shift. He smiled back at her, it was small, but it was at least a smile, and told her he loved her. As soon as she was gone, however, his smile fell, and his gaze also dropped, landing on his hands, which were wringing each repeatedly in his lap.
There wasn't much to do, besides stew in his thoughts and listen to the commotion in the hospital halls. Miss Kumoki had left when his mother arrived, and she hadn't come back. Finally having had enough with drowning in his worries, Midoriya shifted on the bed, swinging his legs over the side and standing up, grimacing as his casted right foot touched the ground. He quickly lifted it up, just the toes of the bulky cast skimming the floor. There, that wasn't so bad.
He hopped forward on one foot, carefully letting go of the bedrail with one hand and reaching out for the next support he could use. It happened to be some large machine set up next to his bed, but he didn't think it was even on, so he only felt slightly bad for using it as a support to do something he wasn't supposed to do.
But, Aizawa Sensei didn't call him "Problem Child" for nothing, so he set his mind and will, and hopped forward. It was slow going, and when he got to the door of his room, grabbing tightly to it with one hand, he looked both ways to make sure no one was coming, before hopping out and turning to the right, looking at the long line of doors he had to traverse before he would get to his goal.
Midoriya was nothing if not stubborn, however, and he kept at it, hopping down the cold, white hospital halls, and just hoping that no one would come around to stop him. One, hop some more. Two, more hopping, and in that way, he passed by five doors. His heart sped up as he got to where he knew Aizawa Sensei to be. The door was closed, the room silent beyond, but Midoriya steeled his nerves and turned the doorknob, awkwardly hopping forward as it swung away from him.
The teen was quick to shuffle in and close the door behind himself, not wanting anyone to know he was in there. He breathed out a quick sigh of relief once he was inside and behind the closed door, then trepidatiously turned on his one socked foot, wide eyes taking in the sight of the room he had just entered.
It was very similar to his, as far as layout, but there was one, big difference. Instead of the messy but empty bed he had left behind in his room, the bed in this one was occupied. The sheets were pulled up to the chin of the person, the only things showing being the bare arms and the face, but that was more than enough for Midoriya to know it was the right room.
There was Aizawa Sensei, just five feet in front of him, and even as Midoriya watched, he saw the sheets rise slowly, then fall only slightly quicker as the man breathed. The machines set up next to the bed, and connected to the unconscious man by wires that Midoriya didn't know the purpose of, were beeping and humming steadily, showing steady vitals that even Midoriya understood enough to release some of the tension in his shoulders and the set of his jaw.
He shuffled forward, slowly and hesitantly, until he was able to grab the back of the chair set by Aizawa Sensei's bed, and slowly settle into it. He was right next to him, the only person in this hospital that Midoriya could feel safe with, one of the few people in the world that he felt safe with. He was here, he was alive, Midoriya hadn't killed him.
The tears that the greenette had been suppressing since earlier that morning came back with a vengeance, and soon he was full out sobbing next to his teacher's hospital bed as the man slept.
Time passed, but Midoriya wouldn't have been able to tell you how much. He was jolted out of his crying when the door behind him opened. Spinning around quickly in his chair, and swiping a hand across his face to get rid of the tears, he watched as Miss Kumoki entered the room. She stopped in the doorway when she saw him, and her jaw dropped. Heat rose to Midoriya's cheeks just as she snapped out of her shock.
"Midoriya!" She exclaimed, rushing towards him and stopping next to the chair. He crouched down into it, trying to get away from her reproachful gaze. It didn't work. "You are supposed to be resting in your room, not disturbing our other patients, especially when they aren't supposed to be receiving visitors." He let out a hiccup as the tears returned, but these were more tears of fear than they were of regret, and her expression softened just the tiniest bit as her hands fell down from where they had been firmly planted on her hips. "I told you you could see him once he woke up, but you need to let him rest, Midoriya."
Sniff, sniff. He couldn't stop the tears, they just kept streaming down his face, and then his shoulders were jerking with the force of his sobs.
"Come on, Midoriya, let's get you back to your room," she said with a sigh, reaching down to gently but firmly grab his arm, ready to haul him up. Both their attentions, however, were suddenly drawn to the bed when there was a rustling sound.
Midoriya stopped crying at once, instead straining his ears to catch that sound again. There! His eyes snapped to Aizawa Sensei's left hand, the one closest to them, which was twitching, curling around the scratchy hospital blankets.
Miss Kumoki let go of Midoriya's arm and started checking the readings on the machines, then crouched over Aizawa Sensei. Midoriya sank back down into the chair once again, trying to make himself as small as possible while the nurse fussed over his teacher. The boy's tears had frozen in place, and he felt one fall down his cheek as he watched, but he couldn't even be bothered to swipe it away. All of his attention was focused on Aizawa Sensei, and so he was able to see as soon as the man cracked his eyes open.
Midoriya didn't have a good angle to see the man's face, but he heaved out a relieved breath when he saw those eyes open. He was so focused on the face of the man in the bed that he entirely missed the words Miss Kumoki asked him. He saw Aiawa Sensei's lips moving, and then the nurse was holding a plastic straw up to his mouth.
Midoriya refocused on the conversation just as Miss Kumoki was saying, "I'll take Midoriya here back to his room, and then fetch Doctor Tangure to look at you." She had straightened up from where she was leaning over Aizawa Sensei, and Midoriya tried to press himself farther into the chair. He didn't want to be taken back, he wanted to stay with Aizawa Sensei, where he was safe, and where he could make sure the man was still alive. It was silly, he knew that, but he couldn't help but be terrified at the thought of leaving the man.
It seemed he didn't have to leave right away, however, as Aizawa Sensei's next words, spoken a bit louder and more clearly, stopped Miss Kumoki and made her turn back towards the man.
"Midoriya?" Aizawa Sensei's voice was scratchy and rough, more than usual, when he spoke, but it was like music to Midoriya's ears. The boy leapt up, scooting the chair ahead and leaning forward until he was sure Aizawa Sensei could see him.
"I'm here, Sensei," he said breathlessly.
"Is…is everyone okay?" The man asked, shifting in the bed with a wince. Miss Kumoki fussed around him, but he waved her away. Finally, she settled on raising the back of the bed slightly for him, and stepping to the side with a resigned expression while the teacher and his student talked.
"Yes, they're fine, Sensei, Kaminari and Ashido were both treated yesterday and sent home, and the others were sent home right after they were cleared after the…the collapse." Midoriya had to swallow back his fear as he remembered the villain fight and collapse they had been a part of, which was why they were now here. It seemed like it was years ago, and also like it happened only a few minutes prior. It was hard to realize that it had been just the day before.
"And what about you, Problem Child?"
"I'm fine," was the immediate reply, together with a shaky smile. Aizawa Sensei raised an eyebrow, then craned his neck up to look over at the nurse.
Miss Kumoki cleared her throat, then said, almost as if she was reciting from a paper, "Midoriya has a broken ankle as well as a serious concussion, as well as the multiple minor wounds and a larger cut on his hand, which have since been healed with the quirk of one of the doctors here."
Huh, now that Midoriya thought about it, his hand wasn't bandaged and didn't hurt anymore. That was new since the day prior, the doctor must have healed him overnight while Midoriya was sleeping.
"Then what is doing out of bed?" Aizawa Sensei asked, directing that question, as well as a stern look, to Midoriya. The boy floundered for a response, his hands flapping in the air as he searched for a good excuse that would be accepted by his strict but caring teacher. However, he knew that no answer of his would be acceptable, so he was grateful when Miss Kumoki answered for him.
"Midoriya has been worried about you ever since he woke up yesterday in the evening, we've been hard pressed to keep him away from you, and he snuck out of his room earlier. I was just going to take him back when you woke up, Mr. Aizawa."
Aizawa Sensei looked back at Midoriya, staring into his eyes as the boy cowered, unable to drop his gaze from his teacher's. It seemed that the man found something in there, however, that helped Midoriya's case, even if the boy had no idea what it might be.
"That's alright, I'd like to talk with Midoriya for a bit, alone."
"I really should have Doctor Tangure examine you first, Mr. Aizawa, and you're not technically supposed to have visitors yet. Plus, Midoriya is supposed to stay off his feet until his ankle is healed more." Miss Kumoki's protests, however, fell on mostly-deaf ears.
Aizawa Sensei thought for a moment, then said, "Bring that chair over here for Midoriya to prop his foot up on. And I'm fine, I don't need to be examined."
"But, Mr. Aizawa, your leg—" Midoriya was cut off when Aizawa Sensei raised a hand. Miss Kumoki, it seemed, had decided not to protest against the stubborn, determined hero in front of her, however, and wasted no time in pulling the hard plastic chair to just iin front of where Midoriya was still sitting, and carefully lifting his leg so it was propped up.
Aizawa Sensei nodded at her in thanks, and she bowed quickly, then left the room without a word.
"My leg is fine, Midoriya, I'm on strong painkillers, so it doesn't hurt all that much," Aizawa Sensei started out with, turning in the bed so he could see Midoriya more clearly. The teen shifted anxiously in his seat, feeling exposed under that scrutinous gaze. But he knew that he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, or he would be too terrified at being away from his teacher to feel comfortable anyway.
"Then, maybe you should be resting…" Midorya tried, trailing off at the end. It didn't work either way, not that he had had much hope for it.
"Midoroya, stop beating around the bush. Why are you disobeying the doctor's orders? You were, are, injured, and you need to give your body rest so it can heal. There is no need for you to monitor me, as far as I can see, so tell me what was running through that brain of yours."
Midoriya ducked his head, not wanting to admit his fear, his weakness, to his sensei, but knowing that he didn't really have a choice. Aizawa Sensei wouldn't let him leave until he knew the truth, and the longer it took, the longer it would be before the doctor could look the man over.
It was this thought that spurred Midoriya on to start talking, although it could probably be more aptly described as stammering, as he tried to explain his thought process, which was a hard thing to do on a good day, let alone when they were both in the hospital for serious injuries, including concussions.
"I, I was scared, I didn't know if you were okay, or, or, or if you were even alive, cause I saw the building collapse, and that's right where you were, and I heard your heart and breathing, but then I couldn't remember, and I didn't know if it was you, and I thought you had died, and you can't die, Sensei, cause then I'd be all alone." The tears were back in his eyes, but he only spared a moment to breathe and wipe them away violently, before he continued. "And I don't feel safe here, cause there's too many windows, and strange people, and noises, and doors, and it's not a safe place, so I need a safe person, but other than Mom, and maybe All Might, you're the only one I feel completely safe with, but I didn't even know if you were alive, if we got you out in time, because the building fell, Sensei, and what if you were still inside? You would have died!"
He brought both hands up to his face then, balling his fingers into fists and viciously wiping at the tears streaming steadily from his eyes. They were blurring his vision, and there were big red splotches on his eyes from the pressure of him wiping them away, and he couldn't see Aizawa Sensei, unable to calm down.
"Shh, Midoriya, kid, it's okay," his teacher's calm, steady voice finally made it through to him, and then there was a hand buried in his curls, warm and strong and there and alive! "It's alright, Problem Child, just calm down, okay? I'm right here, with you, and we're both okay. I'm alive, you got me out, and even if you hadn't, it wouldn't have been your fault, got that?"
After a few more hiccupy breaths, Midoriya was finally able to direct his gaze up to his teacher. Mouth dropping open at the sight of the man pressed against the bed rail, arm stretched out so he could plant his hand atop the boy's head, Midoriya tried to come up with a way to tell his teacher to sit back down and stop straining himself. Before he could come up with the words, however, Aizawa Sensei gave the green curls one last ruffled, then took his hand back and settled more comfortably onto the hospital mattress.
"Midoriya, I'm going to tell you something I've noticed since the beginning of the year, and I'm going to need you to be honest with me, alright?"
Midoriya nodded numbly, his mind still trying to wrap around everything he had spewed out to his teacher, and what was even happening. His concussion was still making it a bit hard to think, but he was pretty sure he just spilled all his fears and pathetic weaknesses to the one person he didn't want to have a bad opinion of him.
"So, if I'm right, you look for safe places in any room or place you enter, finding places where you can be safe in the case of a threat. And you also look for safe people you could go to, noting where they are, and watching any time they move. Is that right?" Aizawa Sensei's question was very direct and plainly put, and Midoriya felt a blush rising to his face as he nodded slowly. "Good, now, I don't mean to presume, but I've noticed for a while that you always see where I am whenever you enter a room or go anywhere, and always know where I've been. So, Midoriya, am I one of your safe people?"
Midoriya just nodded again, letting his gaze drop to his lap, finding himself unable to meet the man's eyes anymore.
"Alright." Aizawa Sensei's voice was even as he spoke, no sign of scorn or a scoff in it at all. It gave Midoriya the courage to look up again, but he kept his head ducked, peeking between his bangs. "Can you please tell me everything that happened in that convenience store? I don't remember much after the first collapse."
Midoriya took a deep breath in, his mind searching back through his memories to get everything straight, then he started talking. It took a while to recount everything, and he trembled slightly as he relived a few of the parts, his voice stuttering and stumbling over when they had to remove the metal shard from Aizawa Sensei's leg. It was a rushed account, and he was sure that the teacher would be pressing him and the others for more details later, as well as looking at the police report. But it seemed that the sloppy retelling was enough for the man at the moment.
"Thank you for telling me, Midoriya. You all did well in that situation, I'm proud of you. And I'm grateful. It sounds like, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now. So, thank you."
"I—I didn't do much, though, it was the police and heroes, and the medics, who cleared the area that got us out," was Midoriya's muttered response.
"Yes, that may be, but it was you who knew where to find me, and who got me out before the roof collapsed. And, if what I understood from your story and ramble is correct, it collapsed just about where I had been."
Midoriya nodded, biting his lip. His heart still sped up whenever he remembered it. The image of the secondary collapse was so fresh, in the forefront of his memories, and he imagined it would spark fear in him to remember it for a while to come, even when he had a living, breathing Aizawa Sensei right in front of him.
"Midoriya, I remember moving around in that convenience store while you were all shopping, trying to keep an eye on you all. There was no way any of the others would have known where I was in the store, let alone where exactly in the collapse and rubble I was. But you, because you always track where I am, were able to dig me out and get me the medical treatment I needed before the medics showed up, and before the roof collapsed again. I need you to understand this, because it looks like you feel guilty, and I can't imagine why."
Midoriya didn't think he had ever heard Aizawa Sensei say so much at once, and definitely not in such a soft voice. It was making him cry, or maybe it was just that everything was making him cry. He wasn't sure, all he knew was that he was crying, again.
"But I, I…It may have helped this time, but it's creepy!" Midoriya managed to say, before he curled in on himself. "I shouldn't know where you are all the time, that's creepy and stalkerish of me."
"Midoriya, no," Aizawa Sensei said softly, and then a few seconds later his hand was back. Midoriya looked up and saw a brief wince on the man's face, before it was smoothed away. He sniffed, but scooted his chair even closer to the bed, so the man wouldn't have to reach so far. He would have told Aizawa Sensei to sit back and rest, but he knew the man wouldn't have listened and, if Midoriya was being honest, he needed the comfort, even if just for a little bit.
"You're not creepy, and you're not a stalker. You're just trying to practice self-preservation in the only way you know how, and I am so proud of you for that. Goodness knows you don't have any other self-preservation instincts." Midoriya could hear the small smirk in Aizawa Sensei's voice, and it gave him the courage to once again meet his teacher's gaze. He sniffed, then offered a small, weak, wobbly smile. But that was okay, because it was a start.
It was the start of a smile, and it was the start of much more. It was the start of Aizawa gaining hope that his student would have some basic self-preservation instincts in the future. It was the start of Midoriya letting more people in, and of accepting the small things he had that set him apart from others, even if he thought they were bad. He had people who cared about him now, who would reassure him over and over again that he wasn't creepy, and that they loved him.
It was the start of healing, the healing of both the physical wounds, and the invisible, mental, psychological ones, for both of them. It was the start of something new, something good, and it all came about because of Midoriya Izuku's gravitation towards a safe place, towards his teacher, Aizawa Shouta.
And, yah, that's the end. I gotta admit, if I haven't said this already, when I first came up with this idea, it was gonna be like six or eight thousand words, top. Not, like, twenty thousand...I think it is kinda boring and drawn out, kinda lame, and it definitely dropped towards the end. Plus, I never had an ending for this fic, just the main idea of Midoriya seeing Aizawa as a safe place, then I had to find a plot and scenario where that would be useful, and then I had to find a way to tie it all in at the end. I don't think it was that great, but I'd love to hear what you all thought, even if it is constructive criticism!
But, this has definitely also furthered my resolution to only post stories that are finished, or at least not cliffhanger type stories. Like, i have my MHA "It's Okay" fanfiction to write two more chapters for, which is probably what I will do next. And then I have the third and last fanfiction of my short Hunter x Hunter series to write, but again, that's not a cliffhanger type of story.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!
Also, P.S. or whatever, I did not like Miss Kumoki, she was definitely not as nice as Miss Yashiwara. But hey, that's kinda what she was supoosed to be, kinda not as nice, so Aizawa could just push her out of the room without me feeling bad :D
