Behind the Smile | TodoBakuDeku | Book 1

Chapter 4

Third Person POV

Gasping for air as he jolted up from his sleep, Midoriya's being was wracked in sheer terror. 'It was just a dream. This was all a dream. It has to be.'

With his mind racing, the beeping from the heart monitor began to speed up. A doctor ran into the room to find the young, green-haired boy had finally woken, but was in the midst of a panic attack. She quickly ran to him, pulled down the side-rail, and sat on the corner of his bed.

At the time, Midoriya was so transfixed on disproving his mind that he didn't even notice her there.

"Izuku Midoriya," she said in a firm yet comforting voice. There was no response, as he continued to struggle to catch his breath and tears poured from his dull murky eyes. She placed her hands gently on each of his shoulders and turned him to face her. "Izuku Midoriya," she repeated.

Her touch was somehow enough to at least direct Midoriya's consciousness to her, but he still needed to calm down. "That's your name right? Izuku Midoriya?"

Through raspy, staggered breaths Midoriya tried to respond, but it was no use. Instead, he nodded frantically, rocking back and forth.

"Good, that's great. Now I need you to concentrate on only me okay. Block everything else out." He again responded with nothing more than a nod.

She picked up his hand and gently placed it on her chest, just under her collar bone. "You need to match my breathing, okay, Izuku?" She took a deep breath and held it in for several seconds before slowly releasing and repeating. Midoriya closed his eyes and felt the doctor's breathing pattern. He placed his other hand on his chest, and could feel his chest rapidly fighting for air. He could feel his heart prying to escape.

'I just need to copy her breathing. Just match her pace. I can do this.'

Within several minutes, Midoriya's body began to relax and his breathing was controlled and steadied. He pulled his hand back and let out a nearly incoherent, "Thank you."

The doctor gave an empathizing grin, glad to see the patient was doing better but knowing this may become his new normal for the time being. "Now that we are calmed down," she sprung up where she was sitting and assessed his file before continuing. "My name is Dr. Ito," she introduced herself with a bow.

Midoriya bowed as best he could from the bed. "I-Izuku Midoriya. It's nice to meet you," he said weakly.

The doctor pulled a chair over to Midoriya's bed-side, with no care that she was scraping the floor in the process. After flopping down, she continued her assessment. "Do you know where you are and why?"

"Well," he looked around the room and took in the surroundings. If the blinding lights, bleach white walls, and blue privacy curtain didn't easily give it away, the IV drip and monitors attached to him surely would. "The hospital...but I don't know how I got here..."

"Mhm," she briefly stood up and shined a small light in Midoriya's eyes. She jotted down something in his chart and sat back down. "What is the last thing you do remember?"

Midoriya took several moments to flip through his most recent memories, though it was like a fog was keeping some hidden. He knew the memories existed, but could not locate them. "The last thing I remember? M-my friends and I w-were on our way to our internship with Endeavor."

"And you don't remember anything leading up to the fall?"

The freckled teen scrunched his face in confusion. "The fall...what fall?"

--

Bakugo's POV

Icy-hot and I made our way to the hospital as soon as classes were done for the day. We were told Deku was gonna wake up soon, so we wanted to get there as soon as we could. I needed to know that he was okay.

I may come off as an ass to him sometimes...okay, most of the time, but that isn't how I really want to be. I've just been a dick for so long, being anything else seems wrong. When it comes to Deku though, I really do care about him. We've known eachother since we were babies. Hell, we even took baths together growing up. I forced us to grow apart because of my own stupidity, but things were starting to fall back in place before yesterday's shit-show happened.

Before entering the hospital, Todoroki pulled me over to a bench and shoved me into the seat. "What the hell, Half n' Half?!"

He just rolled his eyes at me and sat down. He'd been more quiet than usual, ever since Deku was taken away in the ambulance, but I guess he's finally decided to join me back in the real world. He didn't need to know I was relieved to hear his stupid voice again. "Bakugo, what if that thing makes him..." Todoroki's words trailed off.

"Makes him what?" I knew what he was asking, but I didn't want to speak it into existence. I couldn't. If it happened, I...No, I won't let it happen. I can't.

He glared at me, probably hoping I would finish the sentence for him. I felt a chill coming from his direction, as he clenched his frozen hand into a fist. "What if that thing makes him do something stupid?"

Hearing it out loud made that possibility really sink in even further. As far as we knew, everyone that came in contact with that shitty quirk thing had...

"Deku is the most stubborn person I know. He's not going to do that, got it!" I said, trying to convince him just as much as myself. Todoroki nodded, wiping away a stray tear before picking himself up off the bench and entering the hospital.

'It looks like I'm the bastard that's gonna be stuck keeping these two from falling apart. Well who the fuck is going to hold me together if it all blows up?!'