In a world of overpowered catastrophes- from villain attacks to a mountain-sized woman pummeling his ER to smithereens over a six-foot-long papercut- Dr. Yusei Nao had dealt with a lot of shit in his life.
But even he had taken pause when All Might- the All Might- stormed in with a frail form of a woman in his arms, eyes wild and chest heaving. The woman appeared wrapped in strange bandages and algae, blue in the face and a Pollock painting of green and red across her limbs, flanked by three severe-faced pro heroes and a dozen terrified teenagers, all screaming at him for help.
Whoever the woman was, she held more worth than the empress of Japan herself.
Hours passed and every single individual still remained in the crowded waiting room; worse, a few others had also appeared. No matter how the nurses pleaded, pointed out the room's maximum capacity, not a soul moved.
The figure was none other than his past patient, Chiyo Tsutomi.
Her veins could be resewn; the ribs reformed within moments of Recovery Girl's assistance.
The damage of the twelve-inch spindle which pierced through Chiyo Tsutomi's lower abdomen could have been taken care of just as easily, if she hadn't then fell into a septic tank of a pool. Bacteria had invaded the wound in a malignant tidal wave almost immediately.
"Doctor?"
The furry creature's polite inquiry drew the attention of the room. Dr. Nao cleared his throat, a little uncomfortable at the stares suddenly blazing against his skin.
"Chiyo Tsutomi is stable," Visible relief shadowed the room before he could finish, "-but there have been complications. Her sustained wounds filled with bacteria and consequently became infected. Without a next of kin, we had to awaken and give her the progressing options. She is being prepped for surgery as we speak."
"What does that mean?"
"Surgery for what?"
"Are you going to cut off her legs?"
"Is she going to be okay?"
While their concern was touching, Dr. Nao couldn't help but be reminded why there was a mandated capacity limit.
Then again, the room was filled with well-trained heroes and the next generation's highest-performing potentials.
Dr. Nao wisely didn't comment on the matter.
"I'm not at liberty to share Ms. Tsutomi's medical records, but no, we won't be cutting her legs off." Why would they even assume that? "Ms. Tsutomi agreed with my opinion as the safest route. If you intend to wait here-" And he was sure they would- "-the earliest Ms. Tsutomi will be able to take a visitor should be tomorrow morning."
"Just one visitor?"
"Yes," Dr. Nao paused, again noting his audience and how carefully chosen tones would benefit his mental- and potentially physical- health. "Again, Ms. Tsutomi suffered several major injuries and surgery is no laughing matter. A nurse or myself will provide updates when prudent."
It was disconcerting, watching the Symbol of Peace bury his massive blonde head in his hands; even more so to those who knew his secret.
Dusk had turned everything amber, noting an entire day's worth of hours Toshinori Yagi had maintained this form. He received a brief reprieve when each injured individual was examined by the staff, but wouldn't- couldn't- leave until Chiyo Tsutomi was at the very least out of the woods.
And with a quarter of the hero course's students sharing this mentality, All Might had to remain the powerful figure they knew him to be, even if his spirit seemed just as depleted as his energy.
He couldn't leave. Unsurmountable guilt weighed his legs down like concrete; a pound for every injury he should've sustained in her place, every truth he could have given her to avoid this entire situation.
Only one other person seemed to be tearing themselves apart fiercer than Toshinori Yagi.
No one had ever seen Katsuki Bakugo remain so still before then- when she'd forced him into safety, took the fall herself. The plume of scarlet which opened like a parachute in the thick, murky pool stopped every single heart. Bakugo only felt his breath return when a sopping figure surfaced, black hair clinging to his face and a lifeless body in his arms, barking at him to help lift Chiyo Tsutomi from the water.
The fucking idiot.
She was a fucking idiot.
Even Midoriya knew to keep his distance from the ash blonde nestled between the hospital's corner wall and Mr. Aizawa. The two shared a motionless quiet that screamed in volumes, both lost in themselves.
Why hadn't he told her when he had the chance?
Why hadn't he seen the roused Nomu first, curbed her heroism with his own instead?
Shota Aizawa had promised not to save her, and he hadn't.
And now her life might never be the same.
Uninvited deja vu replayed the moment he'd first met her, sitting in a wooden chair before a board of professional heroes, disturbingly calm and blatantly naive, eyes widening when asked why she'd stopped Katsuki Bakugo from blowing up Mineta after his thievery. Her maddening answer that immediately won over his colleagues- My body just moved.
And what of her body now?
A hand, cold and paler than the moon, covered his.
"Chiyo's going to be okay, Aizawa." Manami Seto's smile was as small as her voice, but confident. "She's fiercer than a tiger and just as stubborn; she'd never let this beat her."
"Especially since we have a project due soon."
The entire room turned.
Tenya Iida pinked, quickly hiding behind adjusting his glasses. "She made it very clear late work will not be accepted."
"Do you remember when Mineta went on a tangent because he thought a doctor cut a man's testicles off during a vasectomy, and then Ms. Tsutomi spent twenty minutes explaining the actual procedure and the sexist positions surrounding the general topic?" Asui recalled.
Principal Nezu sputtered tea down the front of his shirt at the question.
"That's nothing; in our class, Monoma asked Ms. Tsutomi if it was ever "ethically okay" to ask a "fan" for "intimate favors". I thought she was going to explode. I'd never seen Monoma so scared until that lecture-"
Even All Might's head had raised. "What...What kind of question is that?"
It started with Yaoyorozu's awkward giggle, then Uraraka's rising cheeks.
A snort from the corner of the room and then Midoriya was laughing, then two others, until even Shota Aizawa's lips twitched.
"Remember when she was waiting for us after the Sports Festival?"
The room quieted- both at the question and who posed it.
Bakugo let out a breath. "She was standing there grinning like a moron, waiting to congratulate everybody like some obnoxious mother hen."
"You didn't seem to mind when she hugged your head up against hers," Mineta's accused. He turned a resentful eye towards another. "You or Todoroki, by the way."
Todoroki snorted. "She didn't know who my father was."
"What do you mean?" Of course Midoriya seemed shocked; he had the top one hundred heroes of Japan memorized, from aliases to their shoe sizes. Something akin to smugness curved Todoroki's face.
"I mean, when she came to check on me after the semi-finals, she ran- literally- into him. She called him an asshole," His two-toned hair swayed as he leaned back, looked up at the ceiling as if basking in the memory. "It...was glorious."
"She called him an asshole to his face?"
"Well, no. He knocked her down when they ran into each other and, being the asshole he is, he just kept walking as if he didn't even see her. She kind of muttered it, but I like to think he heard her. I did."
"She told me she was proud of me," Yaoyorozu fiddled with the hands in her lap. Hands her instructor had marveled at time and time again, unabashedly praising her unique quirk and how she might shape the world one day with them, just as much as she did her lipids. Muscles tugged in her cheeks, as if fighting desperately to remain neutral. "She said she was proud of all of us."
Another silence settled across the room, each caught in their own memories. Mineta's brained buzzed with a tidbit gleaned outside his slightly-unethical instructor's apartment. He'd tucked it away to dissect at a safer time; now, with no impending danger in sight, he cut his eyes towards the corner of the room.
"So, Mr. Aizawa, we came across some rather interesting intel concerning your intimate relations with Tsutomi-"
"Miss Tsutomi!" Iida would die upon his formality hill. Mineta rolled his eyes.
"Your intimate relations with Miss Tsutomi. Luckily my enhanced deduction skills led me to solve this mystery-"
"Are you an idiot?" Shinso also sat in the brooding corner, even quieter than usual until Class 1-A's idiocy reared its ignorant head. His weary expression looked particularly dampened at the moment and Yaoyorozu wondered- not for the first time- what this student's connection was to her favored mentor.
"He's your homeroom teacher. How did it take you this long to figure it out?"
Mineta bounced to his feet, personally affronted. "You knew? You figured it out and didn't tell us?"
Shinso shrugged. "It's none of my business."
"It really isn't any student's business," Principal Nezu piped up. Aizawa's glance showed a distinct, wary sort of guilt. Nezu raised a paw. "Ms. Tsutomi approached me weeks ago over the matter, Mr. Aizawa. Though I am surprised you never did."
"He was too busy sneaking around to makeout with Tsutomi," Mineta muttered. Tsuyu reacted quicker than Iida, smacking the smallest student upside the head for several reasons. Aizawa let out a long, exhausted sigh; also for several reasons. Mineta rubbed his smarting cheek, seemingly chagrined.
"...So are you like, dating-dating?"
"Mineta!"
"What? I'm just asking- have you told her you love her? You should probably lock her down quick; she's young enough to still get-"
There was no animosity between the General Studies, 1-A, and 2-A students as they moved in synchronicity, smacking Minoru Mineta like a racket ball to silence him once and for all. Silence floated the room back into calm waters after the attack.
All Might cleared his throat.
"...Although, young Mineta does have a point-"
"Yeah Eraser, you really should probably tell her, all things considered," Manami pitched in.
"Like if this is any indication of her behavior going forward-" Kayama drifted off with a waggle of her eyebrows. Several of the students nodded in solemn agreement.
The man in question let out a sigh so large a tornado formed in Hosu.
And to think- there was still seven hours till dawn.
"Due to the infection, much of the tissue couldn't be saved-"
"Treatment would be staggering and never guarantee a complete recovery-"
"The best option, in our medical opinion, would be a partial removal-"
I had never considered the possibility- not seriously, anyway.
Now, with the ability taken away, I found myself forlorn over something I'd never have.
A wrinkled face was exposed, viser abandoned to display her heartfelt remorse. In my blurry vision I realized, spotting a name tag beneath her collar, that we shared the same first name.
And, at the moment, the same dewed eyes.
"I'm so sorry, child, but we just want the healthiest, longest life for you."
Ha, my drug-addled brain responded at the poor word choice.
"Chiyo, we need your verbal consent."
My mouth felt surprisingly slack compared to the last time I'd awoken in a hospital.
"I consent to the surgery. Please, proceed."
Dr. Nao took a moment to bask in the stillness of the waiting room.
One of them- the red-headed woman, he suspected- had left only to return with a fortress of blankets, pillows, and snacks, reverting the sterile atmosphere to some Bohemian hangout littered with both teenagers and adults alike, all bizarre in their various uniforms.
And while the nurses were going to have a field day over this later, they all seemed to have fallen into some state of slumber, at last returning the peace. It almost seemed a crime to stir the masses and inform them of Chiyo Tsutomi's successful surgery and readiness to take a visitor.
Perhaps he should wake only one of them, he surmised; Eraser Head seemed a serene choice. He was who Chiyo Tsutomi had fought tooth and nail to reach during the last hospital visit, after all.
Yusei Nao had spent too much time pondering his options; with the appearance of one set of eyes a dozen more were suddenly on him as well, as intense as infant crocodiles sensing prey. Damn.
"Good morning. I see you all waited and made yourselves...comfortable," The red-head was the culprit indeed; she nervously straightened from the shoulder she'd been sleeping against, wiping away the trail of drool left on the man's blue spandex. "Chiyo Tsutomi's surgery was successful. There were no further complications and she should make a full recovery with plenty of bedrest-" Dr. Nao paused as a tremor ran through the floor, followed by frantic voices.
In response to the earthquake, a white, incessant light began to flicker on his belt loop.
"No. Not again." He whispered.
The majority of the room looked to him in confusion.
Two men, though, rose to their feet, already watching the door behind him.
"Where are they? Get the hell out of my way."
She burst in the room like the sun, blinding and fiery and raging, eyes like two infrared lasers seeking out targets to annihilate. Her lips pulled back in a grimace, catching sight of her victim.
"You." She hissed.
Katsuki Bakugo didn't even have time to veil his nervousness with anger before her warm fingers were cupping his face, turning his reddening cheeks side to side, checking for injuries.
And then her fist slammed into the top of his head with enough force to be heard in the morgue.
The teenager shifted through a variety of wide-eyed emotions as her concern melted into unadulterated, terrifying rage. "I don't know who you think you are, but your behavior back there was unacceptable. Don't you ever speak to me like that again! You think I'm one of your little bro-friends?" She pinched his nose between her fingers, hard. "I am your teacher. You will never address me as dumbass again."
Bakugo settled on a mixture of perturbed-anger as he covered his head from her ongoing attacks. "Stop it, you crazy old lady! That hurts!"
"I am not old- take that back immediately-"
A snicker caught the dragon's attention. Chiyo spun and caught their heads before cracking them together with vigorous tenacity. "And you two. You're supposed to be professionals; who the hell takes a group of children into a villain's hideout? What kind of ethical code of conduct is that?"
"They would've followed us no matter what!" Kayama whimpered.
"It was their idea!" Yamada defended with a cast finger in Yaoyorozu and Todoroki's direction.
Oddly, Chiyo ignored this, picking her IV pole up and whacking All Might across the face with it.
"You." Mineta swore fire really did breathe from their teacher's mouth as she preyed upon the largest man in the room. "You idiot. You knew you were the target- you had to know. And now look at you- how long have you been here?" Chiyo turned towards Dr. Nao who, understandably, jumped at the sudden demon's attention. Unimpressed, she looked back to a cowering All Might with a scowl. "Too long! Admit yourself into this hospital, now, and get some sleep- you look awful. You'll get your lecture after you get rid of those bags under your idiot eyes."
Chiyo Tsutomi was barefoot and wild haired and practically frothing at the mouth, still a little too pale under the fluorescents and, had they been standing, far shorter than all of the heroes she was abusing.
And yet the room seemed to view her with more adoration than they would the queen of the entire galaxy.
Under their gazes, she seemed to remember herself.
Someone was watching her, a little differently than the rest.
Red creeped into her skin like peonies in the spring.
"You." She said.
"Me." He replied.
Midoriya gave the IV pole a little nudge as she moved past him, forgotten in her sudden attention to the rising figure across the room.
Uraraka handed it off to Yaoyoruzu, then Todoroki and Mineta, settled to a safe stop by Tsuyu as their Ethics instructor met their Homeroom teacher in the center of the room.
She was a foot shorter than him, head bent to meet his eyes.
But the dragon had seemingly run out of hellfire, only able to glower with a handful of golden embers left in her lungs.
"You let this happen? Kind of irrational of you, Eraserbrain. And not exactly the instructions I left for-"
"I'm in love with you, Chiyo."
The entire room held its breath.
And when Chiyo Tsutomi's lips broke into a smile so abundant the chipped tooth appeared, even Katsuki Bakugo couldn't manage a scowl.
Sixteen days had passed- twenty-three thousand and forty minutes since Shota Aizawa had last kissed her.
Waiting a single minute more proved impossible.
