It's a long road...

ch. 8

590 words --

todoroki was... surprised to see bakugo standing on the other side of the classroom door, to say the least. he was sent into a small spiral of panic, realizing that he was crying and that he most definitely did not want bakugo of all people to see him crying. todoroki turned away from bakugo's view and pushed the tears off of his face. he violently pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and stop the tears that were annoyingly still falling from his eyes.

"i was waitin' for icyhot." bakugo grunted. "i got him a lunch."

todoroki turned to look back at bakugo, a but shocked. bakugo had gotten him a lunch? and was waiting to give it to him? what?! why?! didn't bakugo, like, hate him? did he maybe not hate todoroki? or, was todoroki reading too much into bakugo's actions? that was probably it. bakugo didn't actually give a shit about anyone, much less todoroki. someone had honestly probably forced bakugo to bring todoroki lunch.

"... come in." aizawa said, his eyes narrowed as bakugo walked into the room. he walked straight to todoroki, his walk casual but eyes intense.

"here." bakugo said, holding out one of the two trays in his arms towards todoroki. todoroki stared at the tray, still a bit surprised by bakugo's actions despite his conclusion that bakugo didn't really give a shit about him. "take the food, it's getting annoying trying to balance two trays."

todoroki gingerly took the tray from bakugo. he felt sick about the idea of having to eat in front of the three people in the room, all their eyes watching his every movement. todoroki ought to thank bakugo. he opened his mouth to say something, but his tongue was too leave to lift. the words were stuck in his chest, not even able to work their way up his throat and out of his mouth. todoroki couldn't even manage to force the air in the room down his windpipe and into hia lungs. todoroki just had to thank bakugo. just one simple word; "thanks". he just has to thank him for this awful, disgusting food that they were expecting him to eat. but, he couldn't. todoroki couldn't. he couldn't eat. couldn't say one goddamned word. couldn't breath. couldn't do anything.

everything felt fuzzy and distant. the air in the room was so thick it was solid, separating him from everything. his vision went fuzzy, and some part of him registered that he was falling forward, his knees weak, and the tray wasn't in his hands anymore. he wasn't breathing. he wasn't getting enough air. he needed to be able to just fucking breathe.

was he on the ground? his legs were weak and shaky and not fully on the ground. his cheek was pressed against something solid. there was something around him, keeping him in place. keeping him warm, like he was wrapped up in a blanket. had someone put a blanket on him while he was on the ground? the ground was rising up and down, like gentle waves. somewhere in his spinning and spiraling and panicked mind, todoroki was able to latch onto that movement, focusing in on it. slowly but surely, the air in the room thinned out. it was breathable again. todoroki sucked in air and let it out, matching the rythym of the waves.

todoroki realized that his eyes were closed, but he kept them closed. he just wanted to sleep now. he was exhausted, worn out from his panic.

aaayy shout out to the person who voted on all the parts of this story ur super pog my guy :)