Always tired (bnha agere)

Chapter Seven: Poor Thing

Cw: Upset little - again, mostly fluff

Shoto bumbled along with Izuku, both arriving in the kitchen. In the common room, Jirou and Momo had taken over the couch and Kirishima was trailing after Bakugo, trying to convince him to help with his homework. Izuku had been careful to avoid them all.

Raiding the cupboards, Midoriya thought about what Shoto could have. There were only two bananas left in fruit bowl, both disgustingly brown. Izuku had cautiously peeled one with the hope that it was just the skin that was undesirable, only to find a gross, past-its-best, banana corpse.

He didn't think giving Shoto something too big would be helpful as he still wanted him to eat his dinner. Eventually, Izuku discovered a box of crackers near the back of the cupboard. That was something he knew for certain that Shoto would eat.

After pouring a satisfying amount of crackers into the bowl, Midoriya turned around to see Shoto sitting on the floor. He wielded a wooden spoon from the drawers and had stuck the handle into his mouth, gnawing on it.

"No, no, Angel!" Izuku gasped, tugging the spoon out of his mouth. The tip of it was darkened with glistening saliva. Gross. It was probably unsanitary for Shoto to put it in his mouth and besides, somebody may have been going to use it to make dinner tonight. Sighing, Izuku nestled it between the dirty plates.

Todoroki watched him do that and then proceeded to put his fingers in his mouth. The same fingers he'd had on the floor... Izuku yanked them out and popped a cracker in the little's mouth instead. This might be trickier than he originally thought.

Helping him off the floor, Midoriya directed Shoto out of the kitchen. He watched with amusement as Todoroki fished the cracker out of his mouth, snapping it in half and began eating it like that.

"Todoroki, can I take a look at the homework sheet from mathematics? I lost mine so I wanted to copy the questions out." Izuku took a breath, turning his head to see Kaminari wandering over.

This was exactly what Izuku wanted to avoid. Taking a glance at Shoto, he saw the boy staring down at his feet and shuffling behind Izuku nervously. Midoriya was about to give a response but Tsu who'd just entered the room, unknowingly came to the rescue.

"How'd you lose it? I accidentally took two, ribbit. Take one."
"Aye, thanks frog chick."
"Never call me that again."

Carefully, Izuku set down the precious bowl of crackers on the bedroom floor as Shoto sat in front of his colouring book again. It was such an adorable sight: Todoroki eating crackers as he coloured a picture of a duck and goose. Mission success! Midoriya was proud, laying down on Shoto's incredibly cosy bed and shutting his eyes. The boy would be entertained for a while longer.

Though he hadn't fallen asleep, Izuku had certainly been starting to till he heard a loud thump. Rolling over, he saw Shoto clutching his foot and whining. Of course, he'd managed to stub his toe. Honestly, some of the worst pain imaginable.

"How'd that happen? Like I thought you were busy colouring." Midoriya said, nudging the whimpering little towards his bed. Maybe if he'd been more observant, Shoto wouldn't have hurt himself. Seeing Todoroki in pain, even if it was over a simple stubbed toe, tore Midoriya's heart out.

The little cuddled up in his duvet, still nursing his foot. To try and provide some comfort, Izuku crawled in with him and held him. That seemed to work for a few moments before Shoto let out an abrupt whine.

"Huh? What is it?" Izuku's cheeks got hot. He didn't know what the matter was. The bowl of crackers was empty, the colouring seemed to be fine, Shoto's toe was slightly pink but it wasn't bleeding. However, little Todoroki's emotions wouldn't stop for anybody and when he realised he still hadn't received what he wanted, he began to cry.

This was when Izuku properly began to panic. Quickly, he ran through the checklist of basic needs, trying to decide if it was one of them. It wasn't that he was hungry because he just ate and it didn't seem to be any call for attention because Izuku was practically drowning him with cuddles and he's still crying.

"Do you need the bathroom?" Izuku asked, rocking the boy back and forth. He'd seen Todoroki cry before but not very often and not like this. Big Todoroki liked to avoid crying and when he did, only a couple of solemn tears came. Little Todoroki was without filter though, his cheeks dripping with tears and making all the weird crying noises. Izuku guessed that was a no.

There was only one explanation left then, right? He must be tired and stubbing his toe may have pushed him over the edge. Despite this, everytime Izuku tried to lay Todoroki down and tuck him in, the boy would sob even louder, shoving the covers away.

Crap, crap, crap. This whole thing was so Izuku could show off how good he was at taking care of his friend but right now, nothing was going right. Suddenly, Izuku remembered the elephant stuffie. Perhaps...?

Jumping out of bed, Midoriya searched around wildly for the stuffed friend. "Shoto, you want your elephant?"

Todoroki nodded profusely, trying to wipe his wet face with his sleeves. Indeed, the elephant was the root of this mayhem. On finding the toy, the boy grinned and gave it back to the little. Shoto squeezed it and lovingly rubbed it against his red face.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand sooner, Angel." Izuku apologised, cuddling up to the now calm and happy Shoto. The little nuzzled his toy and leant into Midoriya's chest with a huge yawn. All he wanted was a nap with his new and important elephant friend.