Star Damaged [BakuDeku]

An Unexpected Decoy

A/N: Welp guys, now that the most of us are stuck in our homes for who knows how long, hopefully this chapter will cheer you up! (Because holy cow, I accidentally activated the Deku protection squad in the last chapter lmao ('⊙ω⊙')！
Thank you for 70k reads and 3k votes! ｡;+*(★'∪'☆)*+;｡
This week's art is by @ShipperCalledDarx ~! It's Itsuki after Izuku stabbed her, and the bandages reminded me of Erza lol °˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °
Enjoy~!

In the hospital bed, Shouto looked pale and frowned, slowly opening his eyes. The very moment he woke up, he saw concern for him in those bright green eyes. The very person he wanted to see. "Zuzu..."

"How are you feeling?" Izuku asked, still using a gentle tone.

"...Am I dreaming...?" The frail Apha looked at the Omega before him in a daze. Every time they met up, they would argue and separate on miserable terms. He couldn't even remember the last time when Izuku had spoken to him so sweetly. Shouto even thought he heard him say 'Shou-chan' just now...

Izuku straightened up and got off the bed, returning to his cool facade. "You just had an operation, and the doctors said that you're fine now. You only have a small concussion and need to stay in the hospital for a bit longer to recover. If there's nothing else, I should go..."

He turned away, getting ready to leave when suddenly his wrist was grabbed and yanked back—

"Zuzu, don't leave me! Please, don't go..." Shouto pleaded anxiously.

Izuku looked indifferently back at him. "Anything else?"

"I..." Shouto struggled to put his thoughts into words, and staunchly watched the greenette as he let everything out in one breath, "Although I know you don't want nor care about it, I'm sorry... I still want to tell you that I'm sorry! I made a mistake and misunderstood you!"

He ducked his head, smiling sadly, "You know what? When I thought that I was going to die, at that moment, I couldn't think of anything but how I still haven't had the chance to apologize to you..."

Outside the door, Kaminari looked at Izuku's ensnared wrist, which was being held hostage by Shouto. He shivered in fear and swallowed, slowly turning back to see his cousin's face. As he thought, it looked abnormally scary...

No seriously, he was really angry this time. What was Midoriya thinking?!

"Shouto, you don't need to apologize. Even if you were given a second chance, you would still choose to believe in Itsuki again," Izuku stated matter-of-factly, still calm.

"No, I wouldn't..." Shouto weakly protested.

"Don't say that you wouldn't. Let's take this incident as an example. Itsuki told you that she was innocent and put all the blame on Yarra, right? And you believed her, hm?" Izuku spoke sternly and clearly. He stared at the Alpha seriously. "If I said that she was lying, would you believe me?"

Shouto subconsciously avoided his eyes and answered hesitantly, "I-I will put more effort into investigating the matter!"

Izuku smiled and shook his head sadly. "True belief doesn't need investigation. Back when you chose to believe in her, you didn't listen to me at all."

"Zuzu..." He swallowed harshly, the heavy lump in his throat suffocating, "I..."

"Shou-chan... don't."

"Zuzu!" Shouto jerked his head up in surprise. This time, he wasn't imagining things: he clearly heard Izuku call him 'Shou-chan'.

Izuku looked out the window, into the inky black of the night, and felt as if he had gone back in time. His voice was gentle with nostalgia: "Shou-chan... do you remember? Back when I was nine, I really, really wanted that All Might backpack, but my parents wouldn't buy it for me?