Sunflowers (All Might/Toshinori Yagi x Reader)

On Repeat in His Mind

Note: This chapter is inspired by the new OVA, All Might: Rising. Here it is: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72b0zo

The middle of the night. I was in and out of sleep as I heard and felt Toshinori moving around restlessly. I yawned silently when I felt him suddenly thrash, the sound of hysteric coughing and wheezing.

"Toshi? Are you alright?" I raised myself up on my elbows, rubbing my eyes when the bathroom light flooded into the bedroom.

I heard what might have sounded like him falling and vomiting into the toilet. Panic crossed my mind, and I threw the blankets down and quickly untangled myself. He had to be having a respiratory episode, and I'd have to be there to help him through it and possibly call his doctor.

Sleep was wiped away and I crossed the threshold of the bathroom to see him crumpled on the floor, his bony hands gripping with white knuckles to the side of the toilet, his forehead rested on the same edge. His back heaved with labored breaths. His scar on his side almost appeared to be raw and strained.

I knelt down beside him and took his hair back into my gentle grip, rubbing tender circles on his back. "Shh...you're okay, sunflower...I'm right here."

Toshinori's tightly closed eyes opened to look at me, tears of what I assumed was pain pouring in rivulets down his cheeks. His eyes flashed with sadness and despair. I recoiled at his expression slightly.

My suspicion was true...he had coughed up a few blood clots and the small dinner he had before we went to bed. I looked down at my phone... 03:09...

"It's okay, Toshi..." I skimmed my fingers into his hair, the intensity of emotion on his face relaxing a little.

He gave a hard swallow, his gums and tongue stained bright red like he had a strawberry lollipop. He pulled his head away and sat upright, moving his legs out from underneath himself. "I-I'm alright...it was just a bad nightmare, and when I got up and triggered a coughing fit."

I flushed the toilet, leaning in close and hugging his head into my chest. "A bad nightmare? I'm sorry, sunflower..."

"A nightmare about my master's death...It was the whole thing, over and over...I couldn't do anything then and I'm forced to relive the feeling..." His breath hitched in his throat, his shoulders and arms shaking weakly.

I smoothed his bangs, "I never heard anything about that...I never wanted to ask about that, I didn't want to make you talk about it..."

He huffed out of his nose, coughing into his elbow. "Well...I was eighteen. My third year at UA...I was interning with my master and Gran Torino, and we were on an island where we suspected All For One to be hiding...Really, he was there. My master defended us, and then she pushed me away when I wanted to help her... and Gran Torino grabbed me and started flying us away... I screamed for her so loud that I damaged my vocal cords for a few days after...But, I'll never forget the last thing she did." He pulled away slightly, "She pointed behind herself to me...and she said..." He choked up a little.

"What did she say...?" I massaged his shoulders to help him relax.

"S-She said...'All Might...I'm counting on you'...I'll never forget it." He hung his head. "She knew she was going to die, and I was helpless to stop it."

Toshinori rested into my touch, "She sent you away to protect you...She wanted to make sure you'd be safe, so she sacrificed herself..." My expression softened with pity and understanding.

"I know, I understand her reasoning...It just hurts...I felt so useless, and it's a feeling that I never wanted to feel again. I feel it...I feel it right now, and I have been off and on ever since I was injured." He hid his face into my neck, admitting to me all of his woes and troubles.