Your voice feels beautiful ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 20: the learning process, just... later than expected

Shoto Todoroki

The world still spun, Bakugo clutching tightly onto me on the floor as my mother watched on. I couldn't separate reality from fiction in my mind, trying to piece together which object made which sound. Some were easy: shoes made the clopping, I made the horrid croaks etc., but that damn ticking noise was still a mystery. I'd narrowed it down to either the clock on the wall, or the small flower on the windowsill.

Anyway, back to things that mattered, Bakugo was silent after the few words he'd spoken to me, just holding me close to him as I began to relax. His voice was...well, beautiful. Just as gravelly as I'd expected, but the soft tone he'd used made it present as a very caring sound, almost protective because of the deep nature of it. It was gorgeous, and I wanted more, but it wasn't something I was going to beg for in front of my mother. She watched on carefully, a small smile cracking her lips despite the occasional tear still trickling down her face.

I rubbed my own eyes once Bakugo began to loosen his grip slightly, and sniffed, the sound once again catching me off guard. Bakugo kept a hold of one of my hands as I stood up next to him, holding me close as I clumsily got to my feet, very little focus going towards movement right now. My other senses felt like they'd taken a beating, and barely worked. My vision was slightly blurry, my nose was blocked, my mouth was dry and my hands shivered to no end, shock still an evident visitor in my mind at the moment.

Getting out of the clinic was no better. Dr Yosano made a point of being silent when reentering and finishing off the necessary paperwork, not paying much attention to my sorry state in the corner. Afterwards, as it was time to leave, the three of us slowly made our way through the waiting room, and I flinched at the variety of voices filling the room.

The soft, high pitched young girl, the old man's slightly slurred words, and the news reporter on tv, a middle aged woman with a matter-of-fact tone. All three of them were accompanied by many diverse noises from many diverse people, leaving me very uncomfortable and feeling very overwhelmed with the whole situation. Of course, in the long term, being able to hear was a wonderful thing, but...for now, it didn't feel so good.

It felt more like a nightmare than a dream. The creak as mum pushed the door open on the way out made me jump out of my skin, consoled only by Bakugo's tight embrace on me. He was basically the only reason I wasn't still freaking out, so for that I had an incredible debt to him. He had proven himself to be an incredible man to be around, and I knew he'd be able to get me through this daunting ordeal, one way or another.

The feeling of the wind blowing on my ears was an unexpected one, and I shook my head in discomfort at the weirdly low-pitched whistling noise it made. Bakugo and I were falling behind mum, who was clearly giving us space, and as we got to her car, he reached out and slowly opened the door, making sure it didn't make too loud of a noise. For that, I was incredibly grateful, and the both of us decided to sit in the back this time, Bakugo wanting to be close to me. This was conveyed silently, neither him nor my mother wanting to make too much noise until I'd had time to adapt to it.

Mum started the car, and the sound of the engine kicking into gear startled me, and I found myself buried in Bakugo's shoulder, him stroking the back of my hair as the engine whizzed and roared as we drove. Mum parked up just outside the dorms, the clutch making a horrible noise again, and the two of us slowly got out of the car, Bakugo once again keeping the noise of the doors to a minimum. I shimmied over the back seat of the car behind him, cringing at the noise the leather seats made against my jeans. Bakugo practically lifted me out of the car, and I slumped against him with a slight thud.

As we walked away, a slight knocking noise made us turn back, and mum waved to us from her car, having knocked on the glass of the window. Bakugo raised an arm to wave, but mine were busy hugging him, so I didn't bother. She seemed to acknowledge this, and drove off, tyres squealing as she did.

Most noises are...unpleasant. That was an overview of my findings today, simplified to one easily understood statement.

As soon as my mother was out of eyesight, I turned to Bakugo, still clutching his midriff with both hands. He gently rested a hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair a little bit, and I pouted up to him in response. He just shrugged at me, before his face went serious and he pulled me up to my feet, staring right into my eyes as he spoke, albeit very softly.

"Listen, we need to get back to your room. Some people in there are very noisy, so I'm going to cover your ears, ok?"

I nodded in response, and he stood behind me, gently kissing my neck once before gently closing his hands over my ears. He made sure not to put any pressure on, but just the feeling of him touching me was incredibly strange, even despite the advancements we'd made. Making our way inside, we didn't encounter anyone on the ground floor, but just by coincidence, the common room on our floor was filled with about 4 or 5 people. Only a couple actually noticed us, giving us strange looks, but we just kept on walking, all the way to the safety of my room.

Momo wasn't there, which was a slight disappointment because she obviously needs to know about this, but on the other hand it gave me more time with Bakugo, so there was no reason to be complaining. I sat down on the couch, and instead of immediately moving next to me, Bakugo crouched down in front of me, cupping my chin as he softly spoke his next words.

"We...we need to teach you how to speak"
—————————————————————

Soft boys are soft.

I hope I'm not overdoing it with the emphasis on sound, it's quite fun to write so I might be getting carried away with it.

Fact of the Day: this chapter being published makes this my second longest fic so far, after "Icy? Or Hot?", which was my first!