Your voice feels beautiful ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 22: the troubles of staying silent when noise is so loud

CW // a fair amount of angst, VERY brief mentions of vomit

Katsuki Bakugo

2:33AM, Tuesday morning.

Todoroki is crying.

I was awoken by the soft sniffling, and after a minute of gathering my bearings in the dark room, I realised where he was. He had curled himself up in the corner of the room, doing his best to suppress his loud sobs. He seemed frustrated to have woken me up, but didn't shy away when I knelt in front of him, my own eyes still bleary having just woken up. He didn't object when I gently grasped his hands and cupped them together in mine. He made no objection when I tilted his chin up so I could bury my head in his shoulder, just trying to comfort him as much as I could.

"...s-sorry..."

"Why are you sorry?" I said, voice slightly muffled by his shoulder. He didn't answer for a while, not until I sat up and saw that silent tears streaked down his face. He tried to turn his head away, stop me from seeing, but I didn't let him. I wiped away every single one of those tears, even as they were replaced by more.

"I-I waked y-you"

"I'm glad I woke up, I don't want you going through this alone."

"B-but-"

"No buts. Don't be sorry about that"

"B-Bakugo...?"

"Yeah?"

"...please don't l-leave. E-Ever."

"I won't Shoto, I promise. I'll always be here, right beside you when you need help, and even when you don't. I'll be here to have fun, to watch movies, and to...to love you."

"L-Love?"

"Yes, Shoto. Love."

"I-I want that. A lot!" He said, his hushed whispers sounding more and more excited. His speech seemed to be improving based on hearing me, so I decided it'd be the best course of action to keep talk into him, reassuring him that I was here.

We stayed there for another 20 or so minutes, just me holding him as more and more doubts came, represented by tears. I still wiped them all off, and eventually it got to the point where I knew what I had to do.

"Shoto...if you can stop crying, I'll give you a reward"

"A-A what?"

"Reward. Present? Gift?"

"O-oh, like Chri-Chrizmus?"

"Yeah, like Chrizmus"

"O-ok"

I kept talking to him as he tried to compose himself, whispering praises to him. His throat sounded dry, and I knew it wasn't long until he sickened himself with tears, and I didn't want him to go through that as well. The river of tears seemed to be slowing, and the second he managed to stop, I gave him his reward.

His lips were soft, wet with tears and had the expected salty twang. He seemed surprised at first, and was now crying again, but didn't pull away. It was soft, tender, and had no better place than 3 o'clock on a Tuesday morning. The moment our lips disconnected, he kept leaning forward trying to reconnect them, and seemed genuinely angry that I wouldn't let him.

His cheeks were still glistening with tears, and he looked tired. Really tired.

"How long were you here?"

"A-about an hour"

"Crying for an hour?"

"Y-yeah..."

"And you haven't...thrown up..?"

"T-Twice...t-toilet"

"Shoto, why didn't you just wake me...?"

"...you are...beautiful a-asleep." he said, signing the longest word. As nice as that was to hear, I was annoyed that he didn't wake me. Going through all of that on his own can't have been nice.

"In future, please wake me. I worry about you, so please don't make me worry more"

"Ok....I-I'm sorry"

"Don't apologise, it's fine. Just remember that I'm here"

"Yeah..."

For the first time, I pulled him up to his feet, helping him stand safely on his shaky legs. I pulled him in for a hug and he flopped against me completely, a mix of tired and exhausted. A couple of minutes into our embrace, his breathing steadied, and I knew he'd fallen asleep. Stood up. Slumped against me.

It wasn't much effort to guide him back to the bed, scooping his legs up so he was almost over my shoulder and gently laying him down. He looked so peaceful now, a stark contrast to the distraught face I'd seen for the past 45 minutes or so. As soon as he was down, the most unexpected thing happened.

My phone? Why?

I scrambled over to check it, and it was...Aizawa's reply, to my earlier email. Guess that confirms it, he's nocturnal!

He, as expected, would allow us the week off, on two conditions. One, I was to come and collect work for us every morning, and two, he wanted to meet with Todoroki later in the week, just to check up on him. I sent him a quick thank you back, and he didn't respond to that, not even bothering to ask why I was still awake at this godforsaken hour. I chuckled at the situation, before joining Todoroki in the bed, my eyes beginning to fail me again. Sleep was a welcome customer, and I drifted away with little difficulty, mind finally at rest after the events of yesterday.

Shoto's laughing. It's midday, summer, so very hot, and we're out at the park, having a fun day out. He's sat on a swing, and I'm pushing him back and forth, his laughter echoing through the whole area. A couple of younger teens, maybe 14 or 15, give us weird looks, but we don't care. We're having the time of our lives, together, uninterrupted, and unquestionably in love.

Won't that be nice?
—————————————

Yeah, that'd be pretty cool !

Fact of the Day: true story, I once got an email from my history teacher at 3am, about some homework of mine he'd marked. I immediately responded, and he just sent one back saying "I won't ask". Thanks, Sir !!! If you're reading this, OH GOD-