Detective Midoriya

Chapter 44

Hinata paced in the waiting room, heavily debating with himself. The waiting room was almost completely empty, which hadn't been the case since Dek- Midoriya had been shot. He knew the police had been looking for him since that day, but almost his entire life had been spent running from heroes and police officers, and who knew what they would do to him if Midoriya wasn't there for him.

There wasn't a police officer in sight. It made Hinata feel a little twitchy like he was in a haunted house waiting for his worst nightmares to jump out at him at any second. But when he saw Mrs. Midoriya leave, Hinata knew this would probably be his only chance to see Midoriya without being arrested.

He knew exactly what Midoriya was in. Hinata stalked through the hallways quickly and doing his best to seem like he belonged there. He had made it into the hallway that Midoriya's room was in when an alarm sounded and a handful of people rushed around, hastily grabbing medical equipment and rushing into Midoriya's room.

Breaking into a sprint, Hinata rushed down the hallway, skidding to a halt just before the medical personnel were clustered around his bed, blocking Hinata's view and talking over each other. Something happened to make them all gasp and fall silent, and a single voice asked, "Have I missed Eri's recital?"

At the sound of Midoriya's voice, Hinata froze. He felt like he couldn't breathe, couldn't blink, couldn't move in the least. Could that really be Midoriya and not some cruel trick of his mind? Without thinking, Hinata pushed his way into the room.

De-Midoriya was sitting up in bed, pale but clearly arguing with the surrounding medical professionals.

"You just woke up from a coma after a nearly fatal gunshot," one of the nurses said, clenching her fists so she didn't shake the detective. "You can't leave the hospital!"

"It's a dance recital, not a rave," Izuku said, glaring at the wires that seemed to be everywhere on his body. "I can tell I've been in a coma long enough that I'm stable - clearly I can sit up without bleeding out. You can strap me into a wheelchair - or even take the entire hospital bed. But I promised Eri that I would be there."

"You just woke up, Midoriya," Uraraka said, forehead creased in concern. "Everyone would understand - they would be thrilled that you're awake. A lot of people are recording it for you."

"I promised," Izuku said, his voice cracking the slightest bit.

"And we promised to keep you alive," one of the nurses argued.

Seeing the defeated look on Midoriya's face, Hinata mustered what little courage was coursing through his body and he spoke.

"You're going to find a way for Midoriya to go," Hinata said, forcefully layering his voice with his quirk. "You'll find someone to come with him to make sure that he's fine, but he's going."

The vacant look in their eyes was familiar to Hinata, but he didn't expect Midoriya's eyes to immediately snap to his face. "Hinata! You're here! You're okay!"

The outburst surprised Hinata enough that he almost lost control of the room's occupants. "You can resist this?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you about this during your training? One of my best friends has a mind control quirk similar to yours. I've done a lot of training with him, and I've done a lot of training with him, so I can usually resist it, especially when I'm not the primary target of your quirk. I have a lot of questions for you, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me, but right now I have a recital to get to." Izuku gingerly lifted his hospital gown, examining his gauze-covered torso. Poking it lightly, he said, "I should be safe to go in a wheelchair if we're really really careful. Can you release Uraraka from your quirk? She can help us do this safely, but she needs to be cognitively aware."