These Things Take Forever (I especially am slow)

Hospitals and Heart-to-Hearts

Izuku had texted Shouto with the details of the ward so when they arrived at the hospital, he didn't have to wait to ask the receptionist for directions. Pro-heroes often went to the same ward near the top floor, out of the way of prying eyes.

Shouto headed straight for the nearest lift, giving Momo a brief hug at the lobby before doing so.

Between his chaotic green hair and the fact that he was still wearing his hero costume, Izuku was easy to spot when Shouto got to the waiting room. He tried to ignore the curious stares and unsubtle phone cameras as he fell into the seat next to his best friend.

"How is he?" Shouto asked.

Izuku jumped, having not heard Shouto's quiet approach, and tried to give his friend a supportive smile through his wide glassy eyes and slightly quivering lip. "Hey Sho," he said, leaning into Shouto. "He's going to be fine; he spent the whole ride to the hospital cussing out the staff for making him go in the first place. He wanted to chase after the villain."

"What happened?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. It was a fairly standard bust but there was an unexpected person there, holding a baby of all things. I tried to approach carefully, get the baby away, you know, they didn't seem to have an offensive quirk but you never can be sure. Anyway, she didn't even seem to notice me, just ran off with the baby while I got swarmed by the gang we were trying to bust. By the time I went to catch up with her she'd pulled out a gun, which was pretty unexpected. But again, she didn't seem to even see me, she was focused on Kacchan, said something about his quirk, and then shot him."

Shouto flinched.

Izuku seemed to remember who he was talking to and pulled Shouto into him, "don't worry, I don't think she was even aiming to kill, it just glanced off his shoulder. He was mostly angry at me for coming to his aid rather than catching the villain. I wouldn't even have called you, but I know you get upset when you're kept out of the loop and he'll need someone to take him home; they have a good set of recovery quirks here but he's bound to be sleepy afterwards."

"I'm glad you called," Shouto whispered.

Izuku smiled, looking a little less shaky than when Shouto had first arrived. No matter how long they'd been pro-heroes, it was never easy to see another hero get injured, especially when it was someone dear.

"Have you called my in-laws?" Shouto asked.

Izuku reached up a hand to absentmindedly tug on a few of his baby hairs at the nape of his neck, "urm... not yet."

Shouto raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I mean, they both love you, especially Auntie Mitsuki. I think it would be better coming from you."

Shouto merely shook his head, "aren't you supposed to be the symbol of peace?"

"I know when to pick my battles."

Shouto let out a long breath, slumping more in his chair.

"You're not moving," Izuku pointed out, unhelpfully.

"I'm trying to weigh up who's wrath I'd rather face: Katsuki if I tell his parents, my mother-in-law if I don't."

"Mitsuki adores you, she'd probably just blame Kacchan."

"You make a compelling argument." Shouto turned to Izuku, eyes sharpening, "Did Katsuki run ahead of you? Was he being reckless?"

"Not this time, honestly. It was bad luck and the villain seemed to have it out for him for some reason. Granted, he's been pretty unbearable in the aftermath, but you know how he is."