Echoes of Vapor (Shoto Todoroki)

02.14

PART 14

BANDAGE

In his hazy state of mind, Ryou didn't bother going to see Recovery Girl. He's been injured plenty of times before in the past, and he's never needed anyone to patch him up! He's always done it himself.

He could hear Todoroki trying to catch up to him, so Ryou willed himself to walk faster. Ryou felt that he did that a lot. Running away.

The whole situation was almost comical, and a touch embarrassing for Ryou. He couldn't believe that he spewed all that bullshit to Todoroki, saying that he needn't hold himself back and whatnot, and then proceeded to freak out when he did just that. Ultimately, he still believed in the advice he gave Todoroki, he was just upset because his reaction most likely impacted Todoroki's head negatively, but Ryou couldn't be certain.

Ryou stumbled again, taking a sharp turn, not really knowing where he was planning to go. Ryou wanted- no, needed to talk to Ben, or Yuzuki, or better yet, both of them. His phone was back in the class's prep room, but he didn't want to risk running into any of his classmates, especially not after that.

His reaction was far worse than any other minor reactions he had in class for whatever reason, and there was absolutely no way that he would be able to deny that it happened.

Despite the battle being over, Ryou's breathing was still shortened and erratic, his heart rate was elevated, and his head was spinning.

He could still hear Katashi in his head, taunting him and talking to him, smiling at him and laughing at him. Ryou could feel the fire near his face, the left side of his face feeling uncomfortably hot.

As Ryou sped through the hallways, blindly turning wherever he could to try and shake Todoroki off his trail, he spotted a recess in one of the walls. Without knowing what it was for, Ryou hurried over, hoping that Todoroki didn't spot him.

All he needed to do was hide until he was able to escape outside, then things would be okay. He just needed some time to get rid of the overwhelming feeling of guilt that he was feeling, that's all. Just needed to panic for a few minutes, then he would be okay. That always worked! He just needed some alone time, and then he could go and patch himself up. Then, he'd feel and be okay. Things would work out.

Ryou bit back a frustrated yell when the recess didn't go far back enough for him to hide in. The recess was pointless, because there wasn't even enough room for there to be anything!

It was too late. Todoroki had caught up, getting close enough to reach out and grab Ryou's wrist as he turned to speed off again.

"Stop! Stop running away already- you're injured," Todoroki pleaded, his grip tightening around Ryou's wrist as he struggled to get out of his hold.

At this point, Ryou wasn't sure what he wanted. He wanted to get away, but something was telling him that he should stay, but he needed to be alone because he knew he was close to crumbling apart, but he needed to apologize to Todoroki-

***

To say that Shoto felt terrible was an extreme understatement.

In the hallway where only he and Ryou stood, only the sound of Ryou's erratic, yet labored, breathing overlapping with Shoto's desperate huffs was heard for a few moments. Shoto tried his best to keep his grip firm, yet not hurtful, not wanting to scare his classmate even more than he already has.

"C-Can't, can't," Ryou choked out, his voice strained and wobbly, and were there tears in his eyes? His eyes were locked in with Shoto's gaze, but Shoto felt like Ryou was looking through him rather than at him.