Behind the Smile | TodoBakuDeku | Book 1

Chapter 5

Third Person POV

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

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

Before the doctor could respond, Bakugo and Todoroki entered the hospital room unannounced. Todoroki's face beamed as much as he would allow when he saw his best friend was finally awake. Bakugo tried to fight back a grin and seem unfazed, until he decided he didn't care what others thought of him at that moment. He was just thankful his childhood friend was finally responding.

"About time you woke up, damn nerd!"

"Midoriya, how are you feeling?" Todoroki was not usually much of a hugger, but he put that aside for the day and squeezed Midoriya as tight as he could.

"Hey guys," Midoriya tried his best to sound enthused, forcing a smile. On any other day, he would have given anything for a warm embrace from either or both of his best friends, but something was different. He had no idea why, but he felt like a part of him was missing. The part that allowed him to feel anything other than the negativity encircling his mind. "It's great to see you."

Bakugo's POV

'Shit. Something's wrong. He seems off...he seems...fake...'

The doctor stood up from the chair and said she would give us time to catch up. Before leaving, she told us that barring some tests, Deku'd be free to leave in the morning.

"That's excellent news. Thank you for taking care of him, doctor," Icy Hot said as he bowed.

He glared over at me, and so I rolled my eyes and joined him in offering my thanks and appreciation to the doctor. After she left the room, I gave Icy Hot a smack to the back of the head.

"Ouch! What the hell, jerk?"

"You know what! Looking at me like I need to do as you do. I'm not a goddamn performance monkey!" Before the half n' half bastard could rattle off a smart-ass comment, I flipped him off and walked over to Deku.

"So, you didn't answer flamin' Jack Frost's question," I gave Deku a nudge on the shoulder. He didn't notice though. He was zoned out, eyes fixated in front of him. "Deku! I'm talking to you, nerd!" I gave him a shake this time. He finally snapped out of it and brought his attention back to us.

"What was that? Sorry."

'Yep, I'm going to have to pry it out of this bastard.'

"How are you feeling, nerd?! And if you say you're fine, I'll smack that fake ass smile off your face!"

Icy Hot let out a small gasp before pushing me to the side. "Sorry, Midoriya. We've just been really worried and he's probably on edge...more than usual anyway."

"Why would you be worried?" Midoriya asked with a blank expression.

Icy Hot and I shared a look of confusion with one another before redirecting back to Midoriya. "You almost died."

"Oh..."

'Oh? Oh?!'

I gritted my teeth, while my blood began to boil. I wanted answers. I wanted our agonizingly happy and care-free Deku back. "Don't you remember what happened?" I grumbled.

"Not really," Midoriya answered, though he didn't even look interested.

I bit my knuckles in frustration before plopping myself in the chair next to his bed and scooting closer to him. I told him about the mission, the attack, his fall. The only detail I left out was the causality. It's best if he never remembers that. I gave Icy Hot a glare of death, telepathically threatening him not to open his mouth. I think he got the hint.

"Okay..." He says and nothing else.

"What do you mean okay?! You could have died! And we have no idea what kind of effect that quirk attack will have on you! You don't have anything more to say than 'okay'?"

Deku only looked back in front of him with a blank stare. "It sucks that I could have died, but next time don't be so worried for me."

'Next time?' Those words felt like a punch to the gut.

"What do you mean, 'next time'?" Todoroki asked. He looked just as disturbed as I was.

Midoriya laid back down on his bed and turned to his side facing away from us. "Nothing. I'm just tired. I'll see you tomorrow." He then tucked the whole blanket over his body, even covering his head.

"Deku, I swear if-"

Icy Hot froze a small patch of ice over my mouth to keep me from screaming at Deku. I was about to blast his ass, when he yanked me out of the room and shut the door behind us. I was fueled by rage, but kept my cool to prevent making more of a scene.

As he defrosted the ice-gag, he told me something I already knew but didn't want to hear. "We need to figure out how to stop the effects of that quirk, or he will do something stupid."