Flea

Chapter Eighteen

Todoroki could barely hear the roar of the crowd as he adjusted his snow shoes. Trying to ignore the tremor in his hands, the boy eventually gave up up and waited, forehead pressed against the wall of the corridor.

He could do this, he just needed to put his emotions aside for the fight. Todoroki could deal with them after.

Was that what Maeve thought before interacting with him?

Present Mic called the match and he reluctantly made his way into the sunlight, shoulders slumped as if already in defeat. Todoroki could see Bakugo approaching with a glare plastered on his face, obviously unimpressed by his opponents antics. The half and half boy couldn't bring himself to care.

Even in the middle of the fight, Todoroki felt his mind wandering. It was so unlike him to lose focus as well, which made the experience disconcerting. Memories of his mother that had been lost to time and trauma resurfaced. The strangled whistling of that damn tea pot was incessant. His father's angry voice and frightened responses of two silver haired women seemed to pervade the arena as if through loudspeakers. Maeve smiled at him, blue eyes dark with pain, and said,

"I forgave you ages ago. You should too."

A hazy memory created uneasy ripples in his mind. Todoroki felt the faint itchiness of a hospital gown, empty sterile corridors, and an unbearable searing in his face. Every time he cried it just made things worse, as the salt from his tears ran into the wound. He wanted mom, but... 

His father had been talking to a little girl wearing surgical scrubs over a pink hoodie. When Todoroki was wheeled closer, she smiled kindly at him over wire rimmed glasses. Maeve had eyes like the ocean on a hot day, sparkling in the sunlight. A deep blue impossible to properly describe. How had he forgotten?

Welcome blackness. For a time.

Then.. Agony. Bright, artificial light seared his eyes as they cracked open. The left side of his face was crawling, burning. Every sense was overwhelming, but he could still make out through a drug induced film there was someone - something - standing over him. They were the one doing this, hurting him, like mom.

Todoroki reacted. That was all. Momentarily, he was more animal than person. His left hand cut through the air to grab another's forearm, already searing with heat as he lost control.

A flash of widening blue eyes in a sea of red. Screaming. Then, again, darkness.

Bakugo descended on him as a human missile, and Todoroki let his left hand fall, tears beginning to run tracks down his cheeks. He waited for the impact with a faint sense of relief, welcoming any pain as a distraction from the hurricane inside his head.

It came, and Shoto was released into unconsciousness.

***

"Billy, Deb, you call that holding him?"

Maeve's voice, catching with laughter, wafted over to Todoroki as he blearily cracked his eyes open. He felt soft sheets and realised they were in her office. She was standing over Bakugo, exposed fingers pressed to his temples. The asshole looked almost frighteningly peaceful when he was asleep, even with two stretcher bots reluctantly grasping his body.

"Maeve, we should wait for Aizawa. The boy could be dangerous, you saw the way he was shouting when Midnight knocked him out," one of them said in a monotone. The nurse just snorted with amusement.

"No time, the awards ceremony is in 5 minutes and I still need to wake up Spicy. As long as you keep him held down it will be great. Look at the wee angel, he'll be perfectly behaved."