Heartbreaker | BNHA x Reader

[34] Forever Mortified

Your efforts had helped your team secure victory. Unfortunately, in the process of doing so, you had completely burnt out, and were now lying motionless on the ground.

Since you were unconscious, you had no way of knowing it, but countless people were worried about you.

"[N-Name]!" Izuku exclaimed. Having seen what had just happened, he couldn't even focus wholeheartedly on the fact that he'd placed first again. Instead, he hopped off your teammates' shoulders and rushed over to you.

Someone else beat him to the punch, though.

"Ah," was all Izuku could think to say. He watched, somewhat bewildered, as Shouto wrapped his arms around you and used a hand to carefully cradle the back of your head. To the freckled boy, it came as quite a shock. After all, just moments ago, he and Shouto had been going at it without pause, and he also remembered how harshly Shouto had spoken to you before the Cavalry Battle even started.

Yet here he was, holding your limp body as if it was something precious and delicate. Something that needed to be protected.

Izuku was perhaps too innocent for his own good at times, and a touch naïve as well, but right now, there was very little doubt in his mind.

Shouto clearly cared for you a lot more than he was willing to admit.

"I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like she pushed herself too hard," Shouto mumbled. He gently placed his hand on your forehead, as if he was checking for a fever. He couldn't tell what exactly had gone wrong, but you were out cold.

Great. On top of feeling guilty about unconsciously using his flames, he also felt guilty for making you overexert yourself.

No matter what I do, others suffer because of me.

The thought weighed heavily in Shouto's mind. He refused to be like his father. He could hardly think of anything he would loathe more. But looking back on it, even before the Cavalry Battle started-even before you started fighting for real-he'd said some rather unpleasant things to you.

Shouto didn't mean to speak to you that way. He didn't mean to come across as insensitive, or cruel.

But he'd done it anyways. Fuck. Was he really no better than his father, after all?

"H-How is she?" Izuku couldn't help but ask. He crouched down to get closer to you, and instinctively, Shouto recoiled, pulling you further into his grip.

"I don't know," he replied, tone clipped. "I can't tell if she's hurt or not. But she clearly needs to get some rest. I'm going to take her to the infirmary."

Shouto wasn't trying to be petty. He wasn't trying to keep you from your friend, who was clearly very worried. Perhaps he'd shrugged Izuku off because he was already wary of him to begin with. He was a rival, and Shouto instinctively felt as though he had to prove himself-especially if his shitty dad was watching.

So, maybe that was why he chose to lift you into his arms instead of allowing Izuku to do the same. Maybe it was his way of finally obtaining a victory, however small it was. He'd certainly done a lot of losing to Izuku thus far.

But somehow, Shouto couldn't help but feel like it was more than that. As for how, exactly...

He just didn't understand.

STATUS UPDATE [HIDDEN]:

[Todoroki Shouto is jealous of Midoriya Izuku, even if he doesn't realize it.]

[+40 love points.]

[Current progress: 60/200]

Only the top four teams had qualified and earned the right to move onto the third and final stage of the Sports Festival. The rankings were as such: