A Second Chance (Spoilers for Chapter 295, and the current arc in the manga)
Once Again, BIG BIG SPOILERS FOR THE CURRENT ARC IN THE MANGA, DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN'T READ, OR YOU'RE AN ANIME ONLY WATCHER, BIG WARNING BIG SPOILERS!
You Have Been Warned.
Pain, a sharp poisonous feeling that becomes only more prominent and troublesome when focused on, as if a dark cloud hovering over your head that rains down in unforgiving malice upon you. A malice amplified by your mood turning sour at the events of a bad day, or a cruel feeling burning in your chest, a symbol of just how hard times can get for individuals just trying to live their lives, especially for those who find themselves in the hero business, or our current setting: a hospital.
A white textile ceiling, black dots surrounding a single tile bordered by a pale plastic square connected to others of its kind. A sight Midoriya's eyes weren't foreign to, much to his own and his loved one's dismay, always finding himself in here after various missions that left their mark on the young man in more ways than one, the most consistent mark being that on his arms of course, and today it was no different waking up to the sharp joint pain he felt in his barely functioning fingers, his eyes fluttering more and more to get used to the bright light of the sun coming in through the blinds and brightening up the white room, the bright yellow light and white texture's pf the room complimenting each other as they shined brightly in his face.
His face was expressionless, no smile, no curiosity, all there was on him was an onlooking stare and bags under his empty iris', which twitched as the pain shot through his arms again, his blood flowing more as his body became aware of his escape from unconsciousness. His teeth gritted together, trying to absorb or get over the inconvenience any way he could, the unfortunate extremities of his body and the blatant cost of a war he was neither prepared or ready for no matter what he tried to tell himself, memories of Mr. Aizawa's scarred face and mangled body, Dabi's blue flames shooting out from the mad man's body in his quest for vengeance, Nana and the first user blocking All For One from stealing his quirk, Kacchan…, and probably one of the most painful images of his life Shigaraki getting away with his Nomu's stampeding off into the distance.
No tears had fallen from his eyes, no self-deprecation weighing in on his mind, no anger, no fear, just blankness, as he recapped the events in his mind, as the pain swelled around his heart, unforgiving in its spread and frequency, as he kept his eyes focused forward, glued as he wouldn't move his eyes to look away or his head to turn left or right. All he could manage to do right now in his void, was tell his body to do something…
…
'Move,' he thought, signals sending to his arms to obey their master, but they wouldn't heed the order given, only managing an incoherent vibration, twitching as much as his eyes did, finally forcing an expression on Izuku's face, one of grimacing pain and frustration, his eyes closing tight as his teeth bared down more on each other.
"Gah," he whispered, throwing his back more into his pillow, feeling the three layers of bandages underneath his messy hair and spread across his forehead, remembering that he did receive some head trauma after being flung back from Shigaraki's air cannon, hoping that it wasn't going to be anything severe, his danger sense would probably cause an aneurism in the brain if it occurred with this severity. Nevertheless, he tried again.
'Move,' nothing but the shake once again, another sound of agony escaping his lips, but not hindering his determination.
'Move.'
"Gaha!"
'M-m…move!'
"Grrrr agh!"
'Move.'
Nothing.
'Move! Move! Moooove!'
His hero career…
'Move, damnit!'
His promise to himself…
'Do it, make a fist!'
His promise to All Might…
'I beg you just do it!'
To his mom…
'I don't care if it hurts…!'
To little Eri…
'I don't care, if I scream…'
To his teacher…
'I don't care…if this is the end…'
All of it now…
'Please…just, move.'
Meaningless.
Finally, he caved, tears rolling down his cheek, as his eyes opened back up, his lower jaw slowly moving away from the top layer of his teeth, gaping open as reality began setting in for him. The doctor's words were true, his arms would no longer move no matter how much he wanted to deny fate's warning of the consequences of pushing himself beyond what he could handle, noble or not, necessary or not, this was the price that self-sacrifice would charge him, and now here he was at the end of his rope, his dream crumbling before him.
His sacrifice now worthless, because that devious monster got away; on his watch no less, he failed everyone, and even the previous users who died to at the hands of that power.
Darkness swelled over the room, the beeping monitors, the people walking beyond the door, the memories in his head, replaced with a ringing in his ears, the only thing that even existed to him right now was himself and the bed where he laid.
Izuku was alone, again.
…
…
…
…
Then the door opened, a small creaking sound and a voice canceling out the ringing, Midoriya instinctively moving his head to face the source of the noise, seeing that he was the only one being treated in the room, oblivious to him before the look seeing as how nobody reacted to his cries, but he didn't have time to think. The voice had spoke.
"M-Midoriya," Mei spoke up as she stepped further into the room.
"Hatsume," Midoriya's raspy voice responded to her, but she didn't hear due to it's low volume; not having a drink of water in god knows how long. Mei kept on, until she came into his line of sight, her attire for once being quite different than her usual development studio gear. Her goggles were in her ungloved left hand, replaced on her head by a white band that ran from the tips of her ear to the other, a brown coat covering her jet-black t-shirt, beneath it being a blue pair of jeans, indicating she was here on a visit of her own accord even though she had the goggles. The girl was speechless when she saw him, met with the sight his opened eyes and gaping mouth, one she had not seen in many days, looking at him as if he were a rare species or an event that only takes place once every thousand years or so; Midoriya looked at her the same way. The eye contact lasting for a minute, before they were snapped out of it by Hatsume, smiling big at him.
"Wow that's a relief," she stepped up next to his bed, "Thought you were maybe in a coma or something!"
Midoriya kept looking at her.
"Ya know it's a wonder you weren't with everything that happened, the doctors have been in and out of your room like crazy."
"…"
"I think a few them just sat outside your door for the next operation on your arms and legs, I think one of them had a saw, scared your mom and All Might to death when they suggested it," she giggled, rubbing the back of her head, "I honestly thought about making some prosthetics for you since I was making my support course rounds, checking up on everybody, seeing what gear they made need, it kind of excites me to get to work on so much soon!"
"…"
"Uh," she frowned, her eyes widening as her face turned a little blue, "S-sorry, I know that sounds morbid, I don't exactly have a fantastic bedside manner, you know me though, babies always on the brain," she nervously smiled, heh, a smile, a sight for sore eyes in the mind of young Midoriya as he still looked at her wide eyed still, "I've been told it's pretty insensitive to talk about it right now, sorry if I upset you or anything."
"…"
"Do you need a doctor or?"
"W-Water," he screeched, sounding like a frail old man.
"O-oh, right," Hatsume took a slightly full water bottle out of her right back pocket as she placed her goggles on the bed stand next to him, "You wanna be raised up to drink it," he nodded to her question, "Alrighty, just gimmie a sec, lemme find the right button to raise the back of your bed up, don't wanna break you further or anything, that would be a nightmare," she bent down, searching for the right button, a drop of sweat rolling down the boys forehead as his face paled, picturing the bed folding and destroying his back, a worry that faded once she found the correct button, and his bed started raising from the top.
"Yes, first try," she shouted in victory, pumping a fist in the air, the corners of Midoriya's mouth slightly folding upward, excited for the water, relieved that at least his back would remain intact, and amused by her reveling in her victory, "Oh crap," she shouted as she quickly went back down, stopping the button just in time before it bended him a little too much, "Sorry, that was close."
"It's fine."
"Yeesh, let's get some water in ya," she stood back up, quickly un-screwing the cap and putting the lid to the side, the green haired teen becoming worried, not sure how he would drink it now that he couldn't move his arms.
'I-I could probably use black-whip with my mouth but then I could accidentally shove the bottle down my throat, then again I could just use it on my tongue and lift it over my head, but then I could accidentally pour it all over me, then again I could just get a straw and do it that way,' Midoriya thought of his options for the bottle, before Hatsume just held it close to his lips, breaking his daze as he looked over at her.
…
"Ya gonna open your mouth," she asked, confused as to why he was inactive.
Normally, Midoriya would blush so hard that his skin would be as red as magma, especially given how close she was to him and how much eye contact they've made, but since he had just woke up and he desperately needed a drink, he calmly opened his mouth as the tip of the bottle made contact with his lips, the girl tipping it upward as the liquid slowly poured down his desert dry throat, the young man closing his eyes as the coolness rushed over him, taking gulp after gulp.
"Just say when and I'll stop," she smiled at him again, enjoying the sight of his euphoria, getting a chuckle as he kept swallowing until the water was absolutely gone.
"Ahhhhhhhhh," Izuku smiled as he breathed, his voice coming back to him, the cool water soothing the ailment, "Th-thank you Hatsume, I really needed that."
"Hehehe, I'll say," she scratched her cheek, as she looked down the water empty water bottle before tossing it in a nearby trashcan, then taking a chair and pulling it up next to his bed so she could sit beside him.
"O-oh sorry that I drank all your water," he frowned feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about it, you needed it more than me anyway."
"Are you sure, I can always get my wallet and," Midoriya stopped, remembering that he not only probably didn't have his wallet, but also didn't have a way to grab it, he frowned once more, hanging his head, "…Pay you…"
Mei became saddened as well, looking down at his arms, his left arm now had scars in a few places namely one across his wrist, palm, a couple on his forearm, and a long one that ran down just below his wrist right to his elbow; not as bad as his right arm was before, but now would've been an excellent companion to it. Speaking of his right, it was much worse than before now, scars in various new places and connected to old ones as if he was cut over a thousand times, lines all across his arms and each one making his burn from Dabi look miniscule in comparison. Hatsume didn't want to think it, but she knew deep down that his right arm would be immobile for the rest of his life now, a sharp and drowning feeling rising within her.
'Calm down, he doesn't need that right now,' Mei's eyes rose and looked over at her favorite customer, seeing his eyes now vacant and empty, the light from them had disappeared, it was almost enough to make her cry.
"R-really it's no problem," she forced a smile onto her face, flicking his nose playfully, snapping his gaze from his arms to her, as she kept talking "I don't need it right now, I drank plenty before I got down here!"
"…"
"S-sorry if you tasted some of backwash, I ate a lot of chocolate since there isn't much to eat around here, at least stuff I like anyway!"
"…"
"But that isn't that big of a deal, I love chocolate! My dentist says I eat it a bit too much though."
"…"
"I-I…I've had a couple root canals before I got into U-A ya know, people say they're scary," her smile started to go away, as she saw him looking down again, her efforts giving no leeway to seeing him smile again…it was naïve to think she could get him to after the events of the raid, but she had to try didn't she? He was her friend, her only real one, the one that put up with her carefree attitude, accepted her enthusiasm and drive no matter how much it annoyed other people, the one that visited her the most often, the one she could talk to about her craft and be listened to and not wrote off, the one that made her feel special…not alone, and cared for whenever she felt like none of that was true.
Yet, even though he's done all of this for her, she couldn't do anything to relieve his depression right now, failure never scared her before, always finding it as a way to learn, and strive forward in the face of the overwhelming odds.
However, now she did, and it was terrifying to her, no solution in sight…
…
"I-I don't find them all scary," Mei muttered, as she lowered her head, gripping her knees with her hands almost tearing her pants from the grip. Feeling, like a failure.
…
…
"H-how do you do it Hatsume?"
"Hm," Mei perked up.
…
…
"…How do you always smile, even when you fail? How do you always find a way to keep pressing onward even when you've messed up so bad that you disappoint everyone around you, feeling like you're unworthy of the gifts you've been given," Midoriya started crying again, voice now cracking from the tightness he felt in his chest, "Despite everything you've done to improve, to be better, to feel better, to do BETTER and be the best that you can possibly be…and to still end up screwing up so bad over, and over, and over that you can't save anyone, you can't ease your friends suffering, you can't stop the most vile person you've ever met, you can't keep people safe and make them feel at ease with a smile, you can't move when you want to and someone else pays the price, you can't fast enough or strong enough when you need to be, and when everyone else is still up fighting you just lay there unable to do ANYTHING! As you watch your friends almost die and you can do absolutely nothing to stop it from happening!"
…
"*Sniff* *Sob*"
Light sobs broke his rage and sadness, the tears halting as he focused in on the girl next to him, crying her eyes out as she looked at him, not knowing what to say in the face of his unfiltered feelings. Izuku now believing himself to be even worse than before, not only was he inadequate in making her efforts to cheer up validated, but he did one of the worst things he thought he could ever do:
Make someone cry.
He almost wished the unthinkable, before opening his mouth to mutter the only thing he could think of, "H-how…how do you do it?"
A pause and silence filled the room, before being shattered by Mei pulling down the side bar on the bed, locking it into place with a click, and before Midoriya could even question what was happening, he found Hatsume now wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight embrace, placing one of her hands on the back of his head pushing it against hers gently.
The old Midoriya starting to spark up as his cheeks turned red, but was more shocked than anything, as she still sobbed, slowly leaning into his shoulder, her speech slightly muffled, as if she was whispering so only he could hear.
"B-because of people like you…"
"…What?"
"I was always an inventor by heart, ever since I was little I always loved dealing with machines, devices, tools, everything of the sort, I enjoyed fiddling with them, making them, and helping my parents with them, but they didn't always work, and sometimes they'd mess up so bad that they either explode, break down, or…even hurt somebody by accident, and back then it would always get to me no matter how hard I tried to push on and deal with it. It cracked and chipped away at me bit by bit, and at one point I almost wanted to give up and just forget about my dreams of being in the support course, throw it all away," she paused, Midoriya reflecting on his own journey as she continued, "But my parents wouldn't let me, no matter how bad I screwed up, no matter how bad everything got, I could always count on them lifting me up to support me and keep me cashing after my dreams, and then so did Power Loader, and then…so did you."
"I did?"
"Yeah, you always smiled and told me how great my 'babies' are, how good I am at making them, how I've helped you and everyone else so much by giving them the right gear to move forward, how smart I am, and how much you trust and care about me, even when some people are creeped out or annoyed by me, you stay right there cheering me on no matter what happens. That's why I'm able to smile Midoriya, because of people like you reminding me of how much good I'm able to do and…how much I matter."
Midoriya nuzzled his head against the girl, softly and slowly.
"And no matter how many times you fail, or end up in a hospital, or break your arms even a thousand times over, I'm always gonna be here to help you stand up again, and keep chasing your dream, the same way you do for me every day. Count on it."
She softened her grip, a smile replacing her frown and glee replacing her sadness, not hearing him sob or deprecate himself anymore, just silently allowing her to ease his pain and feel a little better about all that happened, he wouldn't be able to get over it soon, but he would be able to as long as she stayed by his side.
"…You mean it?"
"Always."
"Even when I do something stupid."
"Hehe, especially when you do something stupid."
"If you insist…thank you Mei."
"You're welcome Izuku."
Wanting to express his thanks, Izuku tried one more time.
'Please, if not for me, then for her, please move…'
…
…
…
Slowly, a black vine flowed out of the sleeves to his hospital gown, beginning to loop and wrap around his arms. Midoriya's eyes shot open, taking in the sight of his sub quirk activating without him even commanding it to do so, greatly confusing and shocking him, before he received an explanation in the form of a voice that rang in his head.
"I got you kid, in our line of work moments like these are the most important thing."
The black tendril continued to wrap until it reached his palms, another one sprouting out each of his sleeves to slowly lift his arms upward, and finally allowing to hug Hatsume, who was pretty shocked also, but she was just happy that he was able to move.
'Th-thank you Banjo," Midoriya thought as a single tear dripped from his eye, grateful for his second chance.
"Don't sweat it, just do us all a favor and enjoy it while you can, some of us didn't get a chance like this…and we're happy to help you take it in kid."
…
"Hatsume…"
"Mhm?"
"Are you doing anything today?"
"No."
"Can you…stay with me?"
She pulled her head back to look him in the eye, before kissing his cheek.
"Of course I will."
Despite the pain, the anxiety, the worry, and everything that made him feel overwhelming pressure, Izuku couldn't have been happier.
Eventually falling into a peaceful sleep that night, Mei's arms still firmly wrapped around him, and thanks to Eri the next day, he could do the same from that day on.
THE END.
Authors Note: 2 Years...i've been writing for 2 full years as of yesterday, and it's been a wild ride to say the least, i've been so grateful for every single one of you that decided to check out my stories and consider me worth favoriting and following as an author, despite all the grammar mistakes, misspelling words from time to time, and not being able to keep a proper schedule to save my life, and I don't think i'll ever be able to express how much this changed my life for the better and how happy/thankful I am that all of you have stuck by me this far, and I hope you continue to do so in the future...as long as 2021 isn't another dumpster fire nightmare but I digress.
Thank you for reading my work, and thank you for making me feel like I'm good at something like this. You guys are the best.
I hope you all had a happy holiday season, and you'll have a wonderful new years.
Stay safe out there, be good to each other, and have a nice day.
See you in the next one.