Midoriya woke up in the infirmary, his eyes taking their precious time to adjust to the harsh lighting glaring down on him. He could smell the scent of hospitals and scrunched his nose while attempting to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes. He barely had any strength in his limbs but tried to push his body up into a sitting position.

'You're awake,' Izuku heard a deep voice say and his head turned slowly to his left to reveal Todoroki sitting in a chair.

He had his arms crossed and his body was slumped forward slightly, as if he was tired of sitting.

'Recovery Girl fixed you up but wouldn't give any information on why you passed out. She said that you might not have a lot of strength over the next few days…' Shoto said and seemed to hesitate before finishing. 'She also put extra emphasis on eating to regain your strength.'

He doesn't know… No one knows… Midoriya thought and tried to focus on where he was in attempt to ground his mind from wandering. The boy hummed in response and gave a quick glance around the infirmary before turning his attention back to Todoroki.

'Why…' he tried to start talking but his voice came out hoarse so he cleared his throat before continuing. 'Why are you here?'

Todoroki seemed to take his time processing the words and finally calculated an answer that he was able to share. 'Aizawa was worried, he put me in charge of watching you for some reason. I honestly don't even know why he didn't send Uraraka or Lida or even Tsu.'

Does Aizawa know? Could he tell? Midoriya thought and his mind started wandering again. He felt his chest start tightening with panic and his lungs felt like they were being crushed under the weight of an elephant. Breathes turned into gasps for air but he still tried to stay quiet, he didn't want anyone to worry about the panic attack he was having.

Breathe in and out. In and out. Steady breathing helps. But he knows. We don't know that, he might've just been worried. Might've. Even you're not sure. If he knows, he'll tell your mother and she'll force to eat. Everything we worked for will be gone. No, he can't know. How would he even be able to tell? You fainted in the middle of the fucking classroom, how would he not be able to tell? True...

After a good ten minutes of fighting back and forth with his own brain, Izuku was finally able to breathe. He was no longer gasping for air which was a good sign, his chest wasn't as tight as before and he'd regained a bit of strength in his muscles.

'How long have I been here?' Midoriya asked suddenly. For all he knew, he could've been here for hours or even overnight. His mother might be worried about him.

'Don't worry, you've only been here for about an hour and a half,' Shoto said, in a surprisingly reassuring voice.

Without realising, Midoriya let out a sigh of relief and Todoroki's mouth twitched upwards a bit, as if he might smile at the boy for once but his stone-cold expression appeared only moments later and it was as if the whole thing had never happened.

'Aizawa wanted me to report back when you woke up…' Todoroki said and sat forward a bit, more to attention. 'But if you need more rest, I can wait a bit longer. You look like you need it.'

Izuku smiled slightly but couldn't hold the expression for long. He realised there was a mirror in the infirmary and looked into it, noticing just how dark the bags under his eyes had become from not having enough energy and the countless nights he'd stayed up because of the pain he felt in his stomach.

He saw that his skin was paler than it should've been, as if all colour in his face had dissipated along with his appetite. He had a bruise on the side of his face from where he'd fallen and another not far away from the previous one probably from when he'd hit his head on the desk. Luckily, they were only faint which meant Recovery Girl must've done a good job fixing him up without any energy produced on his part.

After a few more moments of examining, the boy turned back to Todoroki and said a brief thank you before lying down and passing out only moments after his head hit the pillow.

Shoto smiled faintly and sat back in his chair, watching Midoriya carefully. Aizawa had been hesitant to let him watch over the boy but the request was so shocking to the elder that he'd let him go, reluctantly.

And he sat there, watching the boy until he woke up again.