To Love, To Lose, To Leave

Chapter Twenty-One

Recovery Girl's Office

"You don't understand!" Katsuki shouts, glaring up at Aizawa. "You have to let me in—"

"Bakugo." Aizawa's expression is stern. "Jirou and Todoroki both said that you being in the room when Problem Child wakes up could cause issues—"

"I don't give a fuck what they said!" Katsuki hisses. "Let me in the goddamn room!"

Aizawa stares down at Katsuki, eyebrow raised as he frowns.

Ah, shit.

Katsuki closes his eyes, taking a step back.

Calm the fuck down, Katsuki.

He takes in deep breaths.

Breathe in and out. You're okay.

"Look," Katsuki starts, voice slow, steady. "I promise you, I won't cause any problems. As soon as he wakes up, if Izuku wants me to leave, I'll go."

Aizawa's expression settles to a more neutral expression, but he doesn't reply.

"Please."

Aizawa stares Katsuki down for another moment, before letting out a huffed sigh. "Alright," he says, stepping out of the way of the door. "Go ahead."

Katsuki practically rips the hinges off the door, rushing into the room and almost blowing up the curtain as he yanks it out of the way, heart dropping to his feet.

Izuku's eyes are closed, his chest slowly rising and falling. Thick, wobbly lines of dried blood stain his skin—it's particularly thick around his eyelids, splitting into three or four thinner, fainter lines that make jagged streaks down across his cheeks and nose, the streak lines falling beyond his chin, marking his jaw and neck.

Izuku...

On each side of Izuku, Jirou and Todoroki sat, staring at him forlornly. They both simultaneously turn to look at Katsuki. Todoroki's face is scrunched up with stress, while Jirou's eyes seem to swell with tears that she's stubbornly keeping from falling.

Katsuki hates the way his stomach twists.

Something's fucking wrong.

"Bakugo."

Katsuki glances over at Todoroki, whose face is filled with regret. "About what I said earlier, I'm sorry. It wasn't true, and even if I was too worried over Midoriya to think straight, insulting you shouldn't have been my reaction." He bows his head towards Katsuki. "I hope you can forgive me."

Katsuki blinks twice. Todoroki was that fucking worried over Izuku, to the point he lashed out at Bakugo?

He frowns.

"Okay, quit this cryptic bullshit," Katsuki says, pointing at Todoroki and Jirou. "Both of you know what's wrong with Izuku, and you—" He pauses to point again at Jirou before continuing, "When I asked you for the favor, you overheard them talking about what's wrong, didn't you?"

Jirou opens her mouth, only to close it again, eyes darting to the floor.

"You overheard them," Katsuki repeats, gut twisting, "and you told Izuku that you heard him, and he either told you to lie, or he told you to make up the lie about the date. Am I right?"

Jirou and Todoroki glance at each other, silently conversing with their eyes. Katsuki crosses his arms over his chest, eyes darting back and forth between the two in a frustrated attempt to decipher what their expressions might mean.