Tired

13: Defend Myself?

"What?" Todoroki asked. He was taken back. He looked at Bakugo as he waited for him to talk.

"Why do you let them walk all over you?" Bakugo asked. Todoroki looked down, his bangs covering his eyes, making it hard for Bakugo to see his eyes. His hand was now moved slightly, grazing Bakugo's cheek.

"Why won't you defend yourself?"

"Shh it okay." Shoto sniffed as he looked up. He was pulled into a hug. He cried softly. "Did they hurt you again?" Touya asked. Shoto nodded in his chest. He had a huge cut along his chest, along a few bruises on his frail body. Touya sighed as he combed through his hair with his hand, attempting to calm the boy down.
"It's okay, your fine." Touya shushed. Shoto forced himself to stop crying. The bullying was getting on Touya's nerves. He pulled Shoto away from his chest and cupped his cheeks. "Look at me," His brother said. Shoto did just that and looked at him with tears in his eyes. "Next time they hurt you, you punch them back." Touya said.

"But I don't hurt them!" Shoto whined. His sobs getting in the way of his voice. Touya sighed as he looked down.

"Then they are going to keep hurting you," Touya said. He held both his small hands. "Do you want to keep getting hurt?" He asked his smaller brother. Shoto shook his head. Touya sighed before he picked him up. He took him to another room. He grabbed an first aid kit and began to bandage the wounds. He first started with his chest. The blood was dripping down, trailing down to the bruises that were there. Touya sighed as he attempted to help him.
After he had finished helping him, he stood up. "Come on, take my hand." Touya held his hand down for Shoto to take which he did. He pulled his up. "I am gonna teach you how to fight."

"B-but father already teaches me." Shoto stuttered. He backed away from his brother, scared he was going to get hurt again from him. Scared Touya was going to hit him like his father, like the bullies. Touya sighed.

"I'm not gonna teach you like father does it. He..." Touya trailed off. He clenched his fist, tight. Shoto noticed and took another step back. Touya looked up and sighed, relaxing himself. "I'm gonna teach you, but I'm not gonna hurt you." Touya took a step forward. Shoto didn't move. Touya took that as a sign to step closer. "Are you ready?" Touya asked, he held his hand out for Shoto to take. The smaller nodded and took his hand.

.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to mess it up. Please don't hurt me!" Shoto whimpered. He had messed up trying to attack Touya and was backing away from him. He held his hands up in front of his face to hide himself.

"Shoto, I'm not gonna hurt you." Touya said. He cautiously took a step forward. Shoto whimpered as he fell down and crawled back up into a wall. Touya looked at him, sadly. He sighed as he began to walk to him. "Shoto, I'm not mad." Touya said. He bend down to match his height.

"B-but I messed up." Shoto stuttered out, tears were threatening to fall down. Touya looked at him dearly.

"That's fine. You made a mistake, that's fine. Everyone makes mistakes. What's important about it is what you learn from them." Touya said. Shoto brought his hands down. They stayed like that for a bit. "Are you ready to try again?" Touya asked. Shoto nodded. They got up again and attempted again.

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"Again, I apologize Mrs. Hanako." Enji apologized again. The flaring women eventually took the apology. Her son was bleeding from the nose and bruise started to form on his cheek. She grunted as she grabbed her sons hand and walked away. Enji grabbed Shoto's wrist and the younger could tell he was pissed.

When they made it home, Enji threw him in the house. Shoto's wrist had marks of where Enji had held tightly to form bruises. Shoto bit his lip, knowing what was gonna happen.

"You little shit!" He yelled. He grabbed his son by the collar and lifted him up. His feet were dangling as he was risen about 5 feet off the ground.

.

Touya was bandaging him once again. He looked at his brothers face. It looked so empty. You could still see the dried tears across his cheeks. He sighed as he finished up and stood up to put the kit away. He walked back to his brother who hadn't moved a muscle from when he lasted seen him.

"So you finally punched him, huh?" Touya said as he sat back down on the floor. Shoto nodded before looking up at his brother. A smirk held across his face.
"Not bad."

"Todoroki?" Bakugo called out to him. The boy flinched out of his own little world.
"Are you okay?" Bakugo asked. Todoroki was breathing a bit faster than before. He pulled his wrist away from his grasp, moving his hand also. Bakugo looked in his eyes and saw troublesome, disturbed, fear. The blonde sat up. Todoroki looked down as he tried to get the memory back out of his head.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Bakugo asked. He gently placed his hand on top of Todoroki's. The boy flinched softly. Bakugo held a serious concern look in his eyes. He held his hand and looked at him. "Just breathe," Bakugo motion him to do. Todoroki closed his eyes. "Focus on my heart beat and calm your breathing." Bakugo brought Todoroki's hand to his own chest. Todoroki held his gaze away from the blonde. He began to focus on the beating of his heart.

Thump
Thump
Thump

Thump
Thump
Thump

"I'm sorry." Todoroki said as he finished calming himself down. Bakugo looked at him confused. Todoroki still hadn't looked up.

"For what?" Bakugo asked. Todoroki bit his bottom lip. He held his emotions down, not letting one slip out.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. You were just protecting me and I.." Todoroki let out a quiet sigh as he paused even though it was shaky. Bakugo frowned at the boy and used his other hand to reach up to his cheek.

"It's fine. It was reckless of me to start a fight either way. I should've listened to you. Don't start blaming yourself, you tried to stop me but I didn't listen." Bakugo said. He gently rubbed his thumb across his cheek. Todoroki found it comforting and very unnoticeable leaned into the touch, closing his eyes. Bakugo smiled softly as he knew Todoroki couldn't see it either way. Todoroki eventually looked up at the blonde who's smile washed away. He moved his hand away from his chest and brought his right hand to the bruise on the left cheek. He felt bad that he moved the coldness away. They didn't speak anymore after that. But Bakugo saw through his eyes that he was calmed down.

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