Your voice feels beautiful ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 21: noise, and its many pericombobulations

Katsuki Bakugo

It was inevitable, writing "we need to teach you how to speak" in that notebook. I'd known it was necessary since this morning, when the implants were fitted. Since he'd never heard any sort of noise before, speaking would be immensely difficult, because there was no way for him to know how to form letters without being taught, as any young child with full hearing might early in life. That was of course something I intended to do for him, y'know, what with being his...

...boyfriend? It wasn't really something we'd properly had chance to discuss after the date yesterday, but it certainly felt as if we acted that way. Whether we were or not, I still fully intended to be there for him, no matter what. Later, when he's asleep, I'll send an e-mail to Aizawa explaining the situation, and asking for the rest of the week off. There was no good reason for him not to allow it, and the excuse that Todoroki was still adapting to things would surely make perfect sense.

Fuck, this feels weird! Hastily scribbling down the 26 letters of the alphabet, I did my best to ignore the looks of "don't patronise me" from Todoroki as I did my best to become a makeshift teacher. I still spoke softly when around him, little more than a whisper to prevent overwhelming him.

"Ok, let's start with this one. This is pronounced 'ay'. Can you try that?"

"a-ay"

"That's good! Can you try it a little louder?"

"a-ay" he repeated, at exactly the same volume. I had to strain to hear it, but I didn't bother mentioning it. It made sense, his perception of noise was still drastically underdeveloped, so he wouldn't be able to make himself louder or quieter.

"Well done, that's really good! Now, this next one is 'bee'. Can you try?"

"b-buh"

"Not bad, try again. 'Bee'"

"b-bee"

"Really really good! Now, what was the first one again?"

"a-ay"

"And the second?"

"b-bee"

"Amazing! Now the third one is...."

And this is how we continued for the next hour and a half, going through every letter of the alphabet in that routine. A, AB, ABC and so on, making sure not to move on until he'd managed to master each letter. It was going a lot smoother than I'd initially expected, and he'd even managed to recite the entire alphabet with near perfect precision. Full words would come with time, even I knew that, but there was a few simple things I wanted to teach him while we were on such a roll.

"Ok, you've done amazingly so far, so I want to teach you some simple words"

He nodded, and decided to start really simple, with the word "ok". He tested it out a few times, getting close like he had done with some of the more difficult letters such as q and x, before he finally managed to echo the word back to me, a smile cracking onto his face as he did. I beamed back at him, and decided to keep the ball rolling, trying to teach him his name next.

"Ok, repeat after me. Shoto"

"Sh-a, Sho, Sho-yo, Sho-to, Shoto"

"Good, now, Todoroki. Take your time with it."

"Todo-to, Todoro-ge, Todoroki"

"Right, now together"

"S-Shoto Todoroki"

"Amazing! That's your name done, now I want to try a sentence"

"O-ok" he said, still using the meek tone he had been from the start. It didn't really suit his voice, he had too much a deep tone to be speaking so softly. Then again, I am somewhat of a hypocrite, given my recent actions, so it's not my place to say.

"Ok, try this. 'Hello, my name is Shoto Todoroki'. Let me know if that's too much"

"h-hello, my n-nay is Shoto Todoroki"

"Almost, just try 'name' again for me, please?"

"n-nay, n-nay, n-name"

"There we go! That's good, now you can introduce yourself to people when you're ready"

"....y-your n-name?"

"My name? Ok, it you want. 'Katsuki Bakugo'"

"K-Katsaka, K-Katsuka, Katsuki"

"Ok, and Bakugo...?"

"Ba, Baki, Baku, Bakugo"

"Perfect! Try it together?"

"K-Katsuki Baku, Bakugo"

"Really good! That's all for today I think, you've done so well, I'm really proud of you"

"p-proud?"

"Yes...yes Todoroki, I'm really proud of you."

"Th-th-th-..." he started, as if trying to thank me, but I put a finger to his lips as he struggled with the word, softly saying "that's enough for today, don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

He simply nodded in response, melting into me as I joined him on the couch. There wasn't anything else we said for a while, just the two of us lying there, limbs strewn across the other's, totally disinterested in the world around us. It was only the creaking of the door that had us both moving, me clambering off him and looking composed, and him covering his ears. I kept a loose grip on his hand as Ponytail entered the room, looking flustered at my presence, but slightly confused. I pressed a finger to my lips, pointing to the bedroom in order to explain to her, and she reluctantly followed.

"Listen, we had an appointment at his clinic earlier, and they said they'd fucked up a bunch of stuff, and that he could have hearing aids after all"

"What?! So he..he can hear now?"

"Yes, but he's still very overwhelmed and conscious of loud sounds, so you need to whisper if you speak to him. I've taught him a few basic words and phrases, but he can't say much"

"I see...thanks, Bakugo, you've really been a great help for him"

"Don't mention it, just stay calm and keep the noise down as you speak to him. He's had a hell of a day"

"I bet..." she said, before slowly re-entering the lounge, where Todoroki sat awaiting her. He smiled up at her softly as she approached, and I decided the fairest thing to do was to leave them to it. I just quickly e-mailed Aizawa, as previously planned, then plodded around the bedroom for about 10 minutes until Ponytail, looking tearful and, with all due respect, a bit of a mess, came to fetch me, claiming I had been requested. This time, it'd be her that left the two of us to ourselves, which was a surprisingly thoughtful touch of her. I was much happier this way, just me and him, together on the couch.

And that's how we would end up in the night. Both he and Ponytail had no objection to me staying, and the couch was suitably loaded with blankets and a pillow for me. Admittedly, I was disappointed not to be sharing a bed with him, but I guess you can't have it all.

But I want it all. And I want it now.
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Who's ready for some more tears next time out~?

Fact of the Day: Pericombobulations is not actually a word. In fact, it was invented during an episode of British comedy series Blackadder, during Season 3. It was said by the main character, Edmund Blackadder, as an attempt to mock Dr Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first "complete" English Dictionary. Blackadder also invented words such as Contrafibularities, Anaspeptic and Fragmotic, none of which are in any dictionary!