Mistakes ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 6: Ghost Hunters

Shoto Todoroki

It's a bit of a strange thing to get used to, waking up at 6pm. Not something that I'd ever done before, and not something that will feel even remotely natural for at least the first couple of weeks.

It struck me as soon as I rolled out of my bed in the small room that was my home for the duration of my stay here that I hadn't eaten anything substantial in a fairly long time - my stomach was voicing it's displeasure audibly, and I sleepily made my way into the kitchen after throwing on some clothes. One benefit of my work was that, while I had to look professional, I could be quite lenient, so I just wore normal clothes with a smart shirt over the top of my t-shirt. I went without a tie tonight, seeing as I'd been annoyed by it while I was willing my time away in the early hours of this morning.

As boring as the latter few hours of my night were, I can't lie about how enjoyable I was finding the job as a whole. It was exactly what I'd wanted and more, and I was pleased with what I'd already been able to unearth from my three patients so far, admittedly some more than others.

I do, of course, mean Katsuki. Even I was surprised with how much the man had said to me, especially considering the impression I got from him when he'd first entered. He'd surprised me with his openness first and foremost, but also generally with his personality. He'd struck me as arrogant, but it seemed to me after getting to know him that he was far from it.

I couldn't help but wonder if he'd be back. He seemed to appreciate the time away from a mass of people, so I was intrigued as to whether he'd be tempted back by the thought of solace. Or...near solace. As much as I would be happy for him to stay and enjoy some peace and quiet for the whole night, I can only give him 60 minutes at most. A rule I don't personally agree with, but I didn't have the platform to argue just yet.

I decant some cereal into a bowl and more some milk in as well, conscious of not using all of it for fear of annoying my coworkers, who all seemed to be on shift, bar one. A man, probably close to my own age, was sat watching tv in the staff lounge, and he chuckled as I leaned around to peek at what he was watching to see if it was worth joining him.

Upon hearing the noise, I knew he'd be cool with me teasing him a little.

"Seriously? Ghost Hunters?"

He scoffed, saying "what? Don't tell me you don't believe in them!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, questioning his seriousness, and a smirk gave him away.

"Couldn't find anything else, thought it'd be quite funny"

"Good, I thought you where serious for a second there. Thought I'd have to book you an appointment with me"

"...oh! You must be the therapist guy!"

"Counsellor, but...yeah, that's me"

"Right, right, sorry!"

"...somebody mention me or something?"

"I'm here on placement as a nurse, and the doctor was talking about you"

"Final year of nursing school...you must be like 24 then? I thought you looked about my age"

He chuckled again at that, pointing at his face. "Baby face, right? And yeah, I am 24, but thanks for the compliment"

"No worries. How'd you find your first shift?" I asked, casually sitting beside him and eating the cereal, which had unfortunately gone soggy and soft by now.

"Pretty ok. Still not used to the whole 'don't touch him until he's cuffed' thing. What about you?"

"Yeah, it was...definitely interesting. Are you night shift too?"

"Yup. Sucks, huh? Breakfast at 6pm, lunch is midnight, dinner is 5:30 if you're lucky"

"I'm glad I'm not the only one, no offence. I only had three visits last night, all of them before midnight, so I spent like eight hours doing fuck all"

"Oh no! If I'd known, I'd have come and kept you company, I barely had anything either! And plus, the doc could always just text me if I was needed, it's not far from the infirmary to your room"

"God, that would be great, I swear I nearly went mad in that room"

"Well, I'll do my best to get over there if I know you aren't busy...oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Yoichi"

"Shoto. And how about you give me your number, and I'll text you if I get a free spell?"

"That would be great!"

I pass him my phone once I finish my cereal, unlocking it and letting him put his number in my contacts. Once he was finished, I took my bowl over to the sink to wash it out, before slumping back onto the couch to continue watching Ghost Hunters.

Yoichi seemed pretty nice, pleasant to talk to at the very least. And it wasn't worth lying about - he's attractive too. Tall, lean, has glasses, and easy to talk to. Practically a perfect description of my type...

Aw fuck, I see where this is going.

This has happened before. Me, suddenly realising that a person I've spoken to once, maybe twice, is attractive, and all of a sudden I'm imagining a retirement in the countryside. For the record, we have three cats.

I know it's stupid, he's probably just a friendly straight guy that'll stop talking to me if I make a move. That's how it always seems to go with the good looking ones.

"So, how has your studying time been? 6 years is a hell of a long time"

He did that soft chuckle again, and stroked the back of his head awkwardly, rather embarrassingly making my heart flutter.

"Yeah, it's been...tough, but I'm sure it'll be worth it when I'm done. I'm looking forward to being done with studying and starting...complaining about funding cuts...more often."

I don't know whether my budding interest in him prompted me to laugh aloud, or if I genuinely found him funny, but he seemed pleased either way, so I was happy. We continued to make idol conversation for a while, and before either of us knew it, we were scrambling to our respective rooms with nervous laughs to get ready to start our shifts. I did as I'd planned and lazily buttoned a shirt over my casuals, changing from sweats to jeans and leaving it at that, waiting outside Yoichi's room until he emerged.

He had a slightly stricter dress code; he was clad in scrubs, and had a surgical mask wrapped around his wrist. He smiled when he saw that I'd waited, and I walked him all the way to the infirmary, saying "see ya soon?" with a grin that said "please god come and visit I'll miss you if you don't!"...but maybe a little more subtly than that.

I made my way into my room just before 8, half-listening to the scolding I was getting for being "late" from the other daytime counsellor. Once the older man had left, I slumped into the chair and awaited for ...something to happen.

I genuinely half-considered texting Yoichi already when my computer made a noise, and I checked my emails to see if it was an alert about an appointment. It seemed different receptionists contacted me in different ways, but it made no difference. They all knew that if I didn't answer, I was "busy."

An inmate's name was on the email, and my eyes widened, then narrowed, then I permitted myself a small smile.

"Katsuki Bakugo, back already?"
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What do you guys think of Yoichi? Any clues as to where I'm going with this?

If you do, that'd be great, because I'm honestly making this up on the fly-

Fact of the Day: I used to watch paranormal shows all the time, even though I knew they were fake...OR ARE THEY MWAHAHAHA-