Chapter Text
It was an accident. A simple, unfortunate accident.
Thinking back on it, he's not really sure how he got here or why he did what he did, but it's too late to change the past. He made it back to the dorms but he's exhausted and he's overly aware of the ice coating his arm. Fuyumi and Natsuo were arguing in that weird 'we're arguing but we're going to pretend we're not' way about Endeavor, and it was bothering him more than usual tonight. Natsuo only agreed to spend the weekend at the house since Endeavor got called out for a mission and won't be back. He had permission from Aizawa to be home, he was supposed to be spending the rest of the weekend at the house, but he stumbled through some excuse about promising to help a classmate with a project in the morning. He simply mentioned that he had left the stuff he needed for the project in his dorm room, which is why he had to go back tonight. Neither of his siblings questioned him, both accepting his excuse without prying for more information.
He knows that it's not because they don't care, but when they barely reacted besides saying good night… he couldn't help but feel like they were glad he was leaving.
It's ridiculous to feel upset over it when he was the one who lied to get out of having to sit between the two as they argued without arguing. Besides, he knows that they're also trying to get used to being around him as often as they are, they probably could use a break from him.
Which is why he left the house around 11 at night and was walking back to the dorms despite how far away it was.
It was while walking back that he ended up cutting the side of his forearm on a jagged piece of metal sticking out from a fence. He didn't even notice it until it already tore through his sleeve and into his skin. It stung. It's a good thing he got his tetanus shot after that encounter with the Hero Killer. He breaks off the sharp edge of the fence, not wanting someone else to end up getting cut by it, and shoves it into his pocket. He goes to feel if there's any more sharp edges, only to startle as he can feel something slipping down his arm. The blood was unexpected, he didn't think the cut was that deep, but it seems to be bleeding quite a bit…
Shouto stares at it. He knows that he should probably press on the wound to try and stem the bleeding, but he just- doesn't.
It smells like petrichor outside, it's kind of memorizing. He knows that it means it's going to start raining soon, which means he should probably hurry if he wants to avoid it. His arm's still bleeding. There are only a few cars on the road, barely anyone out walking. He's not sure if it's because of how late it is or if there had been the weather report stating that it would be raining tonight and people purposely were indoors to avoid it. Perhaps he should start looking at weather forecasts.
He's roughly a third of the way to the dorms when it starts raining. It becomes a heavy downpour quickly, and it's at this point that he realizes he should probably try to stop the bleeding now. Mostly because he's starting to feel a bit dizzy and he knows that's not good.
He was still wearing the school uniform at his house, so he slipped off his tie and wrapped it around the cut. Now that he's actually looking at it, it's a bit bigger than he was expecting, but perhaps it only bled so much because of how deep it looked? Hopefully it will stop soon, he doesn't want someone to see blood on the sidewalk and get worried… there's no one by the gate to the school but that's not really surprising considering the time. His ID lets him in, he knows that it sends a notification to both Nedzu and Aizawa, he hasn't quite figured out where all of the cameras are located so he keeps his arm close to his torso and hopes that it's dark enough that the security cameras can't pick up on the blood coating his sleeve. He'd rather not have to admit to cutting his arm on a fence because he was lost in thought and didn't notice the obvious broken piece of metal sticking out.
He knows that most of the time his classmates go home for the weekend, many of them seem to miss their families. So he's pretty certain that he won't risk running into anyone once he's inside. Anyone who did decide to stay at the dorms should be in bed by now, when the dorms were completed quite a few of his classmates had tried staying up late for a few days but quickly gave up on that once it affected their training. Most of them were in bed by 10:00 although Bakugou always went to bed by 8:00 or 8:30 the latest. All he has to do is make it up to his bedroom, he has a decently stocked first aid kit there. It would be obvious if he took from the first aid kit in the common room, and people might start panicking without taking the time to check why it was needed. Overall, something he wants to avoid, which means he'll have to move faster if he wants to avoid whoever is doing the night patrol. That's something that took him a few weeks to get used to, the fact that the teachers patrol the dorms. Hearing footsteps outside his dorm room had him jolting awake no matter how quiet the person was. He hated the way it left him with his heart beating frantically as he waited for someone to come barging in.
Endeavor isn't like that anymore, he swore to change. No more barging into his room to drag him off to training—
He grits his teeth when he accidentally hits his elbow against the door frame in his hurry to get inside.
"Todoroki?"
Shoutos' head snaps up, eyes uncharacteristically wide in panic as he notices Shinsou standing just a few feet from him. Why is he- no. No, that's right. He had forgotten that Shinsou moved into the dorms at the start of the weekend, it was about time for it since he's been a part of 1-A for half a month now. Shouto didn't notice that he was already in the dorms, he had forgotten, and he doesn't know Shinsou's nightly schedule at all. He tries to hide his arm, but it's too late, he knows by the way Shinsou is staring at his side that he's noticed the blood and the way his tie is wrapped around his arm.
"Did you get attacked?!" Shinsou rushed toward him and it's the most energetic he's seen him.
Shouto twists to the side, moving his arm behind him before Shinsou could reach out and touch it, "I… No. I'm fine."
"I'm pretty sure bleeding means you're the opposite of fine."
Why is he pushing this? What does it matter to him if Shouto's bleeding or not? It's not like he was the one who cut him, and he's not the one who's probably making a mess of the entrance. A quick glance down shows him that, yeah, there's a few drops of blood already on the floor. He'll have to clean that before anyone notices it. Maybe he should have tried to stop the bleeding sooner, he's surprised it's still bleeding. He knows that the walk back to the dorms would have taken him over 5 minutes… if an injury bleeds for more than 5 minutes then doesn't that mean he needs stitches? He doesn't like stitches, it always bothers him seeing a needle going in and out of his skin. Maybe he just needs to wrap it tighter, possibly pack some gauze into it? That could work…
Shouto flinches, stumbling back, away from the sudden grip on his wrist. He wasn't paying attention. He wasn't paying attention! Who—
"Hey, hey! It's just me, Todoroki, it's just me. You're safe, shit. I-Im sorry, I shouldn't have just touched you…"
Shouto blinks, a slight headache making itself known as he looks around himself. At some point he must have sat down, Shinsou is crouched down in front of him, staring. Ah, maybe this is a bit worse than he thought it was. He's not sure how long they stay there, Shinsou keeps trying to reach for his arm but Shouto curls over it protectively. Glaring when Shinsou even tried to force him to sit up so he could get to his arm. The only time Shinsou wasn't nagging him was when he was on his phone, typing frantically, only to abruptly stop the moment Shouto decided he wanted to get up.
Well, he tried to get up, instead all he managed to do was unbalance himself and fall into Shinsou. In the end, he knocked them both over and didn't quite have the energy to get back up.
Turns out he didn't have to, instead Shinsou scrambled up and quickly flipped Shouto on his back before going for his arm. He hissed at the sudden pressure on the cut, but no amount of squirming could get Shinsou to loosen his grip. In fact, his grip actually got tighter.
He must have passed out at some point because he woke up, and in order to wake up that means he had to have been unconscious first.
He's laying in the infirmary, a blanket pulled up to his chest and Aizawa sleeping in the chair next to the bed. He's only somewhat surprised to see that it's no longer night time, although he doesn't know why his teacher is here. He knows that he needs sleep and is often irritated whenever he gets woken up, so Shouto doesn't wake his teacher or make any noise as he lifts his arm. Someone changed him out of his bloodied uniform, and took the time to clean his arm up. Although he doesn't think there would have been a lot to clean considering his ice melting must have washed at least some of the blood off. There's both bandages and gauze firmly wrapped around the cut. It doesn't even hurt anymore. Looking around the room shows his phone on the edge of the table next to the bed. His bag is on the ground, and while changed out of his blazer and shirt, he was still wearing his uniform pants. There is a loose button up on him, he thinks it's a size too big, but it smells like lavender and is rather comfortable.
Shouto reaches for his phone, careful not to make any noise.
He's surprised to see that he has a missed call from his sister and a few texts from the group chat Natsuo made for the three of them. It's just a few messages, at first it was just Fuyumi asking him to message once he's at the dorms. Then there are a few messages from her checking in, and even Natsuo messaged to ask if he made it to the dorm yet. The messages start to change after that, less like pleasant conversation and more like demands for a response. Ah, he upset them, didn't he? They were supposed to enjoy their bonding time and instead he ruined it by forcing them to keep messaging thanks to not contacting them first. Frowning, Shouto carefully types out his response.
Shouto: I'm sorry, I fell asleep once I got to my room, I made it back safely.
Barely a minute passed before his phone lit up with a response.
Fuyumi: I'm glad you're okay! I understand that you may have been tired but please try to remember to let us know that you're safe. Good luck with your project!
Natsuo: Yea good luck, it sucks that you had to leave but it's good that you're helping a friend.
Shouto knows that he is reticent about what goes on in his mind, especially when it relates to his family, and he has a tendency to keep his school life private from his siblings. Lying to them about a project was probably one of the first things he's actively told them about school. The swell of guilt sits heavy in his stomach, leaving him to exit out of the messages without responding. He sets his phone down by his side, leaning back against the pillows as he tries to remember exactly what happened when he got back to the dorms. He knows he made it back, and he does remember how he injured his arm, it's what happened afterwards that's a bit blurry. He can vaguely remember seeing Shinsou… but he doesn't know what happened after that. He knows that he must have passed out, and somehow he made it to the infirmary. Since Aizawa's here, that must mean that either Recovery Girl or Shinsou contacted him.
He's just not sure why they did it. What was the point in contacting him?
It's not like this was a villain attack or anything like that. It was just a little cut that got out of hand. He's dealt with worse before, he should have known better than to let it bleed for as long as he did. Thinking back on it, he's not sure why he did that. Seeing the way his arm started bleeding, logically he knew he needed to do something about it, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It's odd, there was a morbid fascination towards watching the blood slide down his arm, he didn't see anything wrong with it. Nor with the stray thought he had about wanting to make the cut bigger.
Something about the pain felt different then anything he's felt before. It was unexpected, but somehow not unwelcomed. It hurt, but it was a sort of distant hurt? Honestly, he's not sure how to describe it.
Shouto slid off the bed onto wobbly legs, something about staying in the room felt odd to him, and he had the strongest urge to leave. So… that's exactly what he'll do. It's not like he's dying or anything like that, he's still not sure why they went through the trouble of bringing him to the infirmary anyway. Yeah, he's still a bit dizzy but it's not too bad. Easily ignorable. All he has to do is make it to his dorm and… and what? What did he want to do?