•Manipulation• [BNHA × Male!OC]

Chapter 187: is my love your drug?

What came after was blurred with exhaustion.

Days of working double-digit hours, overusing my quirk then sobbing my eyes out had finally taken it's toll.

Hawks sent me back to the dorms, but he was smart about it, he was trying to send me back straight to my room without risking me being seen by my classmates.

That was all the better for me, I'd probably worry them if I showed up looking so exhausted.

Still, Hawks was struggling to lift me with what smaller feathers he'd grown back.

Thankfully, before he had to give up and walk in the front door, someone stepped out into the cold spring air.

"Hawks...? Ryo-!" Shoto gasped before running over.

"Yo! Sorry to drop in on you like this," Hawks laughed uneasily, his gaze dropping down to the half-awake boy in his arms.

'For someone who's grown so big, you're still just a kid, huh?'

"I think Ryo needs some rest, it seems he remembered something and it took a toll on him..." Shoto caught the worry in the pro hero's tone.

"I'm sure he'll tell you guys about it when he'd ready, but now he needs some rest," Hawks looks back up at the half-and-half boy.

Shoto nods, scooping Ryo from Hawk's arms.

He felt light, too light for someone of his stature. It seemed he still hadn't regained the weight he lost after becoming Nora.

"Then, I'll see you," Hawks grinned, making a move.

Shoto looked down at the boy in his arms, then back up at the hero.

"He'll tell you too," Shoto's words make Hawks stop in his tracks.

"He trusts you a lot," he added.

At the student's words, a knot in the hero's chest seemed to dispel.

Since Ryo had recovered from his amnesia, they'd had one thing after the other.

He never had the time to sit down and hear out what exactly had happened to the boy, and Ryo never brought it up himself. Maybe some part of it had hoped it wasn't anything of note.

But seeing him cry like that...

It made him realize it was stupid to assume the worst villain in hero society hadn't been nothing but cruel to a young child.

But one day, one day they would be able to sit down and talk about it.

Hawks would be there for him, as he always had.

"Yeah," Hawks glanced back at the boy, unable to hide the cheeky grin on his face.

Shoto returns it with a small nod.

They both slowly part ways.

Then, a final message from the avian-centric hero.

"Don't think this means I've given you my blessing! You've got a long way to go until then," he laughed, waving a hand.

Shoto looked back blankly.

'Blessing...?' he thought, 'like a shrine maiden...?'

_____________________________________________

When he brough Ryo back up to his and Katsuki's shared balcony, Shoto recalled that Katsuki was likely already asleep in his room at this hour.

And how did he get up there?

His ice of course!

'Ah.'

He looked back at the ice.

He shuffled Ryo over onto one arm and freed up his left, melting the leftover ice pillar just enough for it to collapse into a small pile on the floor.

'I'll have to apologize to the gardener tomorrow...'

He slid open the door to Katsuki's room and stepped in.

Almost immediately, the blonde grabbed his shirt and raised a glowing hand.

"What the-?" he squinted upon seeing Shoto's mismatched hair.

"It's just you... the hell are you-?!" The blonde gets shushed by Shoto and is about to blow his top when Shoto looks down at the boy in his arms.

"The fuck?" Katsuki muttered before running over to make space on his bed.

"What happened to him?" he demanded in a hushed tone as Shoto set the boy down.

Shoto settles the sleeping boy before taking a seat on the edge of the blonde's bed, patting the empty space beside him.

"You better have showered, bastard..." Katsuki grumbled before sitting down.

Shoto explained how he'd come to be in possession of the slumbering boy and Katsuki looked back at said boy with narrowed eyes.

"Fucking assholes..." he spat under his breath.

"The fuck did they do to him for a memory to do that?"

Shoto didn't respond, instead he twisted his body around to face Ryo.

He reached his left hand to the boy's face, wiping at the tear stains on the edge of his eyes.

Hawks must have wiped away most of those marks. How swollen his eyes were showed that he definitely warranted more stains over his face.

Katsuki clicked his tongue.

"And why the hell is he still so skinny? I'm gonna shove food down his pipe tomorrow," he hissed.

It seemed that while Shoto was a silent worrywart, Katsuki's way was to fuss like mother would.

"...so you're gonna hand feed me...?" a soft voice laughed.

Both boys looked at each other, confused, before whipping their heads back at the white-haired boy who had now sat up.

'Ugh, my head.'

It felt like someone was pounding on it like an 808 drum.

GASP. KE$HA???

'God I feel like shit...'

"What time is it-?" "How are you feeling?" Shoto reached a hand to my face, staring into my eyes like he was trying to read my mind.

"I- I'm fine-" "Bullshit." Katsuki hissed, causing Shoto and I to turn to him.

Just then, he throws a towel at my head.

I pull it off with a huff.

"Kat-" "C'mon," he spoke gruffly, stepping to the door.

"We're headed to the baths."

'What's with everyone cutting me off...?'

"Yeah, okay," I would be lying if I said a nice hot bath didn't sound amazing right about now.

I swing my feet onto the floor.

And that's as far as I get before I'm hoisted into the air.

"Shoto-?" I gasp, quickly wrapping my arms around his neck to keep from falling.

I thought about resisting but that didn't work too well all the previous times so I just settled in for the ride.

He carried me to the door, trailing behind Katsuki.

Then he looked down.

"You do need to eat more," his brows furrowed slightly.

"You're too light."

I blink up at him with a blank smile.

'Huh?'

The last weigh in I had said I was 75kgs. Sure it was lower than before but...

-

'Shouldn't a normal person be complaining that I'm too heavy?'