Fragmented Shift

19

He didn't want to open his eyes. If he kept them closed then nothing happened, if he kept them closed then he could pretend his body didn't hurt, didn't ache in ways that had been familiar in the past- no, he wouldn't connect those memories with this, he wouldn't because it hadn't happened. 

Tears escaped his clenched eyes, breath hiccuping silently as he laid on his bed. -his bed, oh gods how often has this happened on his bed?- 

*I'm sorry, I should've taken over sooner, you weren't supposed to know how worthless and dirty we are-*

/That's enough./ Yoi cut in smoothly, /What happened, happened and we can't change it. All we can do is move forwards./

'Move forwards? How am I supposed to move forwards after this? Oh gods, I'm ruined. Kacchan would never want someone so dirty and used.'

*As soon as he finds out he's going to be disgusted with us, he's going to hate us! We should do the world a favour and die before anyone finds out what happened!*

Finally opening his bloodshot eyes, Izuku stumbled from his bed with wobbly legs, grabbing the closest clothes and rushing to the bathroom. He needed a shower, needed to be clean, wash away the phantom touch he could feel on his skin even though he hadn't been aware. 

The water was scalding, turning his skin red and filling the room with steam but that was good, heat killed germs right? It would burn him off of his body and if it didn't? He scrubbed everywhere he could reach with tears clouding his vision. 

It wasn't fair!

He'd just realised his feelings for Kacchan, just felt safe for the first time and it had been ripped away from him all in one night. Sure, he and Yoi had speculated what Shōgai's purpose was, especially with his reaction to that boy but the reality of it was-

A loud sob escaped his fine control as he cleaned himself carefully, breath edging into hyperventilation.

He couldn't do this, he- he wanted to escape, run away from it and hide. He could feel both Yoi and Shōgai reaching out, fighting to be the one to take control. He didn't care who, he threw himself towards the back of his brain, uncaring how his body collapsed and the others fought over the driver's seat.

*

Fuck. 

Stumbling down an alley that was extremely familiar, Yoi took a moment to catch their breath. 

They'd lost the fight to Shōgai and woken up to blood everywhere, the damage was…well, it was too much to deal with on their own so they'd bandaged their arms as best they could with numb fingers and climbed out of their window. They couldn't go to Bakugou, Izuku wouldn't ever forgive them for that, so that left Aizawa and Yoi just hoped the man would help even with the amount of shit they'd brought to him within the two days they'd officially known him.

It was still strange to them, even though Yoi had known Aizawa for years, Aizawa had only really known them for a few days but he cared. Gods he cared more than any adult ever had before and that terrified them. What if they lost that care? That support that they were already so dependent on? Shō' even met Aizawa and trusted him within such a short time frame that it was nothing short of astounding. 

Blinking away dark spots in their vision (it was almost a novelty that this time it was from blood loss, not a switch), Yoi pushed off of the wall with a grunt and forced their tired body onwards, ignoring the way blood dripped off of white bandages dyed crimson. They were sure they remembered where his house was, even if it had been so long ago but going through the alley where they used to meet him couldn't hurt. 

They were desperate, unsure if they would make it, the house was still quite a distance away and their body felt weighed down, like they were walking through treacle, their heart rate was becoming erratic too. 

Shōgai had done quite the number on their body this time. 

They almost cried when they heard the gods blessed baritone from above them.

"Midoriya? What are you doing out so late?" Hearing the almost silent thump of their teacher jumping into the alley behind them, they turned around too eagerly, head spinning and making them stumble into the wall where they slid to the ground gasping for breath.

*

Shouta had been on a late night/early morning patrol when he stumbled upon the kid. Concern led him to jump down into the alley and pushed him forwards when Midoriya collapsed.

"Midoriya? Kid? Can you hear me?" The boy's breathing was ragged, chest heaving as he gasped for breath. Reaching out, he was startled by how cold his face was, how rapid his pulse beat against his fingers.

"Sensei," oh, this wasn't Midoriya. "We couldn't stop him, it's bad, I'm sorry, we don't mean to be such a problem, I tried-"

"Easy, easy, where are you hurt?" He'd tried to see but the alley was dark, the nearest light was out of the narrow corridor and to the left, not conductive for finding injuries though he could smell the blood. It was a scent he couldn't forget if he tried and it was worrying that it was so strong.

"Arms." The boy gasped, "Mainly the arms, sensei please." 

Closing his eyes for a moment to gather his composure, Shouta reached for the vague outline in the dark and cursed when he felt soaked bandages, fingers coming away wet. 

Ok, think. The nearest hospital was five minutes by car so that wasn't an option, the kid would bleed out half way. He gently lifted the boy's arms and wrapped his capture scarf tightly around them, putting far more pressure on the wounds than the paltry bandages had, automatically soothing the pained whimpers with meaningless noises as he searched through his pockets for his phone and pressed his last call.

"Hey Shou, what's-"

"No time," he interrupted briskly, "Call Recovery Girl and get her to the house asap, it's not me, a kid with heavy blood loss." He had never been so grateful to live close to the school like he was now.

"Got it. E.t.a?"

"Two minutes, maybe three." Ending the call, Shouta scooped the limp boy off of the floor and set off in a sprint, hauling ass as fast as he could without hurting them further, an old memory floating to the forefront of his mind.

Hearing a choked scream he made his way to the familiar alley where he'd met Aibō for the first time, eyes widening in shock when he saw a small green haired child shift and shrink until a very familiar kitten sat where a boy had once been.

"Aibō!"

Clenching his jaw grimly, Shouta took a moment to glance down at the boy in his arms.

'Don't die on me kid.'