Work Text:
Work gets extremely boring to Shouto.
As with most jobs, Shouto often finds himself daydreaming and wishing his shift was over. In order to keep himself entertained, he plays a little game with himself. As he's ringing up each item, he keeps them in the back of his mind. With each new item he scans, he tries to figure out how the items fit together.
His most shocking combination so far is when a woman came to his checkout lane with three pregnancy tests, a bottle of vitamin C, two energy drinks, a shot glass, and a container of sushi from the fresh foods section. He remembers looking at everything in front of him, thinking back to everything that Momo and Fuyumi had taught him in his life, then looking back at the woman. She must have been no older than 23 and by the way she made eye contact with Shouto, he was pretty sure he was right in his prediction.
"Did you find everything alright?" Shouto asked. It was common practice as he set every item into a bag and left the sushi tray out as per her instructions.
"Yes, thank you," she replied. Shouto is pretty sure the thank you was directed toward the fact that he didn't say a word about her items rather than the question she was asked.
Shouto's boss loves to stick him in aisle two: the express checkout. In all honesty, Shouto prefers to be there rather than anywhere other register. People go by quickly and the people are usually kinder than those who buy in bulk and use an ungodly amount of coupons.
His job is nice, he doesn't have any room to complain really. He knows some of his classmates are miserable in their fast food jobs, so he is content checking out people at a small grocery store.
As the next person begins to walk to his register, he resets his mind and gets ready to make a new guess. "Did you find everything alright?" Shouto asks. The boy looks to be about his age, no more than a year older. His curly green hair is rather messy and his eyes are almost the exact same color. Speaking of eyes, his are rather big. Not in a bad way, but they are definitely the first thing someone would notice about him.
"Yeah," he says with a smile. He messes with the strings hoodie he's wearing as he watches Shouto ring up the first item. Lettuce, tortillas, sour cream, tomato, brown rice, and black beans. He is definitely making tacos for dinner tonight. He most likely already has the other ingredients at his house.
Seemingly on a whim, he grabs a Payday from the shelf that's next to every checkout to make people buy more. He sets it on the belt with a smile. "Have you ever had one of these?" he asks. Shouto shakes his head as he grabs the candy bar and puts it in the bag. "They're really good. They're my favorite."
That smile is almost blinding. Shouto nods his head to let him know he heard his claim as he tells him his total. "Cash or card?"
The boy hands him a credit card that Shouto inserts into the machine. The card gets accepted and he hands it back to him along with his bags. "Thank you for shopping with us. Have a nice day."
"Thank you, you too," he says as he walks off. Shouto hasn't had tacos in a while. That night he goes home with taco ingredients and drags Fuyumi into the kitchen with him.
Shouto immediately recognizes the boy behind the elderly man who was ringing up his vitamins and instant coffee mix. After a small goodbye and a hand-off of groceries, the boy walks up and drops his handful onto the belt.
"Did you find everything alright?" he asks.
"Yep," he replies, as most people do.
It dawns on Shouto that he was so caught up in that boy's doe eyes that he never asked what he was supposed to every single time.
"Are you a rewards member?" he asks. The boy shakes his head in return. "Would you like to sign up?"
"Not today," he replies with a sweet smile. Milk, rice, eggs, erasers, crackers, apples, a pair of scissors, some cups that are on sale post-holiday, and a Payday. Seems like just a grocery run for household essentials with picking up things he sees he needs along the way.
"Cash or card?" Shouto asks. the boy smiles and he relinquishes the card to Shouto. Is he supposed to do this? No. But he really wants to put a name to the face of the doe-eyed boy who keeps coming down his aisle.
Midoriya Inko
Alright, so Inko is a woman's name. Shouto isn't one to judge but he feels as though he has ground to assume that this is the boy's mother's card he is holding on to. He puts the card in the chip reader and waits for the machine to give him the thumbs up to take it out. He hands the card back to...
"Here you go, Midoriya," Shouto says softly, testing the waters to see if he even got the name right.
'Midoriya' looks up at Shouto with surprise in his eyes. Shouto glances down at the card to give him the hint of how he knows his name without directly saying it.
"Oh," he laughs softly. After taking the card into a small wallet he slightly leans toward Shouto. "Thank you... Todoroki."
Shouto glances down at his nametag. When he looks back up, Midoriya is giving him that wide smile once again. He pulls the bags off of their hooks and hands them to Midoriya. "Thank you for shopping with us. Have a nice day."
"Thanks, you too, Todoroki," Midoryia says with a smile as he walks away. As the next person in line comes up, his job once again seems boring.
Bread, turkey, mayo, tomato, apple juice, an assortment of cheap cosmetics. Just a turkey BLT and eyeshadow.
The rest of his shift seems more boring than usual.
"Why can't you get it through your head?" the woman snaps at him. "It said that the probiotic yogurt was on sale. Why won't you just add the sale onto it?"
"I'm sorry ma'am," Shouto says, trying not to snap back at her. "The sale isn't coming up in the system. I don't have the authority to add discounts to items. Are you sure it was this brand that's on sale?"
"Do I look stupid to you?" she yells. "I'm not the one working for a grocery store, don't you dare question my intelligence. You know, you should be giving it to me for free with how much trouble you're putting me through."
"I'm sorry, I do not have the authority to discount or veto items. If you'd like, I-"
"This is fucking ridiculous," she says. "I want to talk to your manager."
Trying to suppress his eye roll, he presses the button on the walkie-talkie and looks down at the metal, not wanting to look at this woman. "Aizawa, please come to C2," he says softly.
"On my way," he hears in reply. The woman continues to glare at Shouto as he stands there awkwardly, waiting for Aizawa to get there. Once he gets to Shouto's register and looks at the awkward kid's expression, he sighs.
"What's the issue?" he asks Shouto.
"The yo-"
"Thank God you're here," the woman groans. "Are you the manager?"
"Yes I am," Aizawa replies.
"This kid is causing me so much trouble and mental distress," the woman whines. "I was just trying to get the sale on the yogurt and he refused to give it to me and has been extremely rude!"
Aizawa glances Shouto's way, seemingly unsure of what Shouto was 'refusing' to give her.
"Uh, she said this was on sale but it's not showing up in the system," Shouto mutters. Aizawa swiped his card and type into the computer for twenty seconds before turning back to the woman.
"Ma'am this brand of yogurt is not on sale. The other brand that we carry is," he says.
"You should give me the sale anyway because of the amount of pain and distress your employee put me through," She retorts. Aizawa turns to Shouto, who continues to stand there awkwardly.
"Did you put this woman through pain and distress?" Aizawa asks.
"I wish I did," Shouto says softly. With a sigh, Aizawa voids the entire cart and turns back to the woman.
"I voided all your groceries. You may go back and get the yogurt that's on sale but when you check out, please go through a different checkout line. If not, I may have to take more authoritative measures."
Before the woman could say anything, Aizawa starts putting the groceries back into her cart and ushering her out of the line. Before he walks away, he turns back to Shouto for a moment. "Radio me if she comes back."
Shouto nods his head before turning his head back to the next customer. He is immediately met with two green doe eyes looking at him with pity. There were slight bags under his eyes as he wore an oversized hoodie. "How much of that did you hear?" Shouto asks.
"All of it," Midoriya winces. "Ah, sorry. You didn't deserve something like that."
"Such is fate," Shouto replies, picking up the first item. "Did you find everything alright?"
"Yep," Midoriya says with a tired smile. Bread, sugar, rice, shampoo, cheese, razors, tortilla chips, green onion, soap, bananas, and Benadryl. Just a run for household needs again.
Shouto scans the Benadryl. On cue, the message pops up on the screen. "Can I see some valid form on ID?" he asks.
Midoriya looks at him quizically. "Uh, sure," he says as he fishes out his wallet. He pulls out a school ID card with his birthdate written on it.
Midoriya Izuku
That's a really nice name.
He's sixteen, almost seventeen. Just a few months older than Shouto. But sadly according to the law, not old enough. "Sorry," Shouto sighs. "You have to be 18 to buy this."
Midoriya looks extremely confused as he looked at the Benadryl. Shouto doesn't blame him, if he wasn't studying to be a pharmacist, he wouldn't know either. "It has an antihistamine," Shouto explains. "Antihistamines make you drowsy, so you have to be 18 to get them since they can be a little dangerous."
"Ohh," Midoriya replies with a newfound understanding. "I'll tell my mom she'll have to come here and get it." He grabs two Paydays and sets them down along with his card.
Shouto rings the two bars up and puts the card in the chip reader. Giving Midoriya back the card and his bags, Shouto finds peace in the way Midoriya gets himself situated and looks back up to Shouto with that tired smile. He gently reaches over the counter and sets the bar in his hand. Shouto looks down at the candy and back up at Midoriya.
"It's really good, I'd like you to try it," he says softly. Shouto nods his head as he gently messes with the wrapper. Nobody else is in his line, he's in no rush. Peanuts and caramel. He takes a small bite, pleasantly surprised at how good it tastes.
"I really like this," he says softly. "Thank you Midoriya. Have a nice day."
"Thanks, Todoroki," he says with the voice of a small rabbit. "You too."
Shouto eats the rest of his Payday as he waits for someone else to come into his line.
Twelve items or less. Sometimes Shouto wants to put a huge arrow that points to that sign since some people obviously don't get it.
Aizawa always puts Shouto on the Sunday night closing shift. It's almost as if he knows that Shouto would rather be at the store late than at home at this time on a Sunday.
Shouto easily adapts to seeing Midoriya every three or four days. Once the initial two days pass, he's actively on the lookout for the freckled boy who always comes down his checkout lane.
Midoriya is at the store at his usual block of time in the evening. He has a few more items than he usually has, but Midoriya is the one person Shouto wouldn't get upset with if he came down the express lane with more than twelve items.
He's wearing the same black hoodie he has worn for the past couple of weeks. He looks... tired. Midoriya has been looking tired for a while now, but he looks like he pulled an all-nighter last night and hasn't recovered.
"Did you find everything alright?"
"Mhm."
"Would you like to become a rewards member?"
Shouto skips over the 'are you a rewards member' line since he's already aware that Midoriya is not a member of the grocery store's exclusive club. The club that if you want to get in, you just have to give the store a lot of personal information and your firstborn child.
"No thanks."
With a sigh, Shouto looks dead at Midoriya. "This will be so much easier for both of us if you sign up," Shouto says softly. "Maybe we could actually have a nice conversation at some point instead of this monotonous back and force consumer-producer talk."
For the first time in a while, Midoriya cracks a genuine smile. "Yeah," he chuckled softly. "Okay, I'll sign up for rewards."
"Under your mother?" Shouto asks.
"Yeah, that's alright."
"Can I please have a phone number?"
"080-7284-1994," Midoriya says softly.
"Address for coupons?"
"3-10 Shimoshinjo Avenue, apartment 315."
"Email address?"
"Okay," Shouto says, slightly dragging it out as he waits for the computer to load. He scans a small card and hands it to Midoriya. "If you give this to a cashier or tell us a phone number, we'll give you rewards."
"Sounds good," he whispers as he takes the advantage card. Shouto begins scanning each item. Eggs, apples, pork, alcohol pads, rice, breadcrumbs, onion, green onion, bandages, pocky, flour, tea leaves, and melatonin.
"Katsudon?" Shouto asks. A tired smile tugs at Midoriya's lips.
"Yeah," he breathes. "Do you always do that with groceries?"
Shouto shrugs his shoulders. "It keeps me entertained. I'd like to think that I get right a good amount of times. You were making tacos the first time you came through my line."
"Oh, yeah," Midoriya says quietly as if he himself was impressed. "I... forgot about that." His expression turns to something with a little more anxiety now that he admitted that he takes stabs at the intentions of people's purchases.
"I don't judge," Shouto says. Midoriya quickly grabs a Payday and hands it to Shouto. He rings it up and drops it in the bag with the rest of Midoriya's groceries. "Thanks for shopping with us. Have a nice night, Midoriya."
"Thanks, you too," he whispers as he begins to walk off. He suddenly stops, seeming to think. Midoriya turns around and looks straight at Shouto. "Hey,
Todoroki."
"Hm?" Shouto asks.
"If you were doing something only because someone else wanted you to do it, would you keep doing it?" Midoriya asks. Shouto ponders the question for a second before answering.
"Do you like doing it?" Shouto asks.
"Not really, no," he replies with a little pain in his throat.
"Then I say do what you want to do," Shouto says. "This is your life, you don't owe anyone anything. Do what you want with it, not what others want you to do with it."
Midoriya puts on his tired smile, his doe eyes shining bright with the darkness of his eye bags to contrast them. "Thanks, I'll see you around."
"See you soon, Midoriya," Shouto replies.
It's almost closing by the time Midoriya walks to the register. A thousand-yard stare seems to carry through with Midoriya's motions.
"Did you find everything alright?"
Midoriya nods his head.
"Would you like to use your advantage card?"
Midoriya shakes his head.
"How are you doing, Midoriya?"
"Good, you?"
"Good, thanks."
Shouto takes the first item and scans it. Bread, Sprite, pineapple juice, dryer sheets, a single pack roll of toilet paper, a travel size bottle of aspirin, antibacterial wipes, Doritos, and a box of pocky.
The gears in Shouto's head turn as he scans each item, wondering how in the hell any of these items relate to each other. As he reaches the last item, he's still trying hard to find any relations between any of the items. "I'm stumped. I can't find any sort of connection between these," Shouto admits.
Midoriya lets out a pathetic chuckle and messed with the strings of his hoodie. Shouto is half expecting Midoriya to explain his items, but he doesn't. Instead, he stays silent, watching as Shouto does his thing. "Card?" Shouto asks.
Midoriya pulls the card out of his pocket and hands it to Shouto. "Do you want to grab a Payday before I use this?"
"No thanks," he says quietly. Shouto puts the card in the reader and hands it back to Midoriya along with his receipt and bags.
"Have a nice night, Midoriya. Have a safe journey home," Shouto says softly.
"Thanks, see you around, Todoroki," Midoriya replies.
Shouto doesn't like the feeling that irks him as Midoriya walks out of sight.
Seeing Midoriya for that little bit of time every week quickly became the highlight of his job. Shouto keeps track of the days, predicting the day that Midoriya would come through his line and get excited to work that day. He usually shows up every three or four days.
It's been eleven days.
Eleven days without seeing Midoriya in his line. Eleven days without seeing his emerald doe-eyed gaze. Eleven days without smiling as he watches a customer walk through his line. Eleven days without Midoriya.
Shouto couldn't help but be worried. It's stupid, worrying about a customer who hasn't come in lately, but he is. Every day he hopes Midoriya will show up in his line, but he hasn't for eleven days.
Shouto's days are dismal now that he's back to only his guessing game for the uses of customer's items. His only questions are once again questions he has been conditioned to ask customers. The days are all the same, nothing to look forward to every three or four days.
He just gets done typing in the number for someone's rewards when he catches a glimpse of green out of the corner of his eye. He does a double-take as he looks at Midoriya, standing right behind the man he's checking out.
He quickens the pace of the person he's checking out, trying to get him out of his line as soon as possible. Once the guy is out, Midoriya begins setting items on the belt. Shouto doesn't even bother scanning the items or asking if Midoriya found everything alright.
"I missed you," Shouto blurts out without thinking. His eyes widen a little, thinking that may have been a little creepy to say.
"Oh," he says, a small smile on his face. "I missed you too."
"Did you go somewhere?" Shouto asks as he scanned the first items. Eggs, ice cream.
"Yeah, was out of town for a little."
Peaches.
"Where did you go? Anywhere exciting?"
Soap, coffee.
"Oh... uh... I just went a couple of hours away... to... my aunts. For a bit."
Tea leaves, deli meat.
"Oh, that sounds nice."
Pack of gel pens, one of those big bottles of fancy water.
"Yeah," Midoriya grimaces. He goes to mess with the string of his hoodie, only for it to be missing. He puts his hands back in his pocket as if he remembers it has been missing. Shouto reaches for the next item when Midoriya quickly stops him.
"Hold on!" He says quickly. "The rest of that... is it okay if I pay for that with cash?"
Shouto glances over at the three items. "Yeah, that's alright," he says. Midoriya hands Shouto the credit card and he checks out Midoriya's card buy. Handing Midoriya the receipt, card, and bag, he moves on to the next three items.
Ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, and razors.
Odd that he wants to pay separately, but once again, Shouto doesn't judge. He scans the three items and Midoriya hands him the yen. Midoriya quickly puts up two Paydays. With a soft smile, Shouto rings them up as well. Shouto makes change for Midoriya and tries to hand it to him only to be stopped.
"It's okay, you can keep the change," Midoriya reassures. Shouto scrunches his nose at the yen in his hand.
"Are you sure?" he asks. "This is quite a bit."
"I'm sure," Midoriya smiles. He slides one of the Paydays over to Shouto. "Hey, I've been meaning to say this. But uh, thanks for being nice to me and for... talking to me."
"Of course," Shouto says softly. "Talking to you is the highlight of my shift."
Midoriya smiles pathetically. Shouto swears his eyes were brighter at some point in time. As Midoriya takes his four items, he shoves them in his pocket instead of putting them in the bag.
"I'll see you later," Shouto says. "Have a nice night."
"Thank you," Midoriya replies. "Bye, Todoroki."
Everything about seeing Midoriya two hours ago rubs him the wrong way. He mindlessly checks out everyone else in his line as he thinks back to everything about that encounter.
He just bought razors recently, why does he need more?
Maybe he has a lot of older brothers.
Why does he need so many painkillers?
Maybe he left all of theirs at his aunt's house.
Why did he talk to Shouto the way he did? With those words? Why did he speak as though it was the last goodbye?
Maybe he knows something that Shouto doesn't.
Oh.
Maybe he knows something that Shouto doesn't.
Shouto is sure it took so long to click because he doesn't want it to be true. But now that he is aware of what was happening, what the fuck is he supposed to do? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He knows Midoriya's name. Is that enough? How can get to him before it's too late?
Shouto's mind is running a million miles an hour as he thinks and thinks about anything and everything that can help him.
"Um, excuse me?" the customer in front of him asks. Shouto looks up at the woman who looks extremely concerned. Shouto glances down to see what she had set on the counter before he started losing his mind. Her advantage card sits idly on the flat top.
Advantage card.
"Advantage card," Shouto says with a little too much shock. He turns to the computer and begins to search faster than he ever had in his life.
There are three Midoriya's in the system. He taps on Inko and looks at the address. 3-10 Shimoshinjo Avenue. He types the address into his phone and scans for the time. Fifteen-minute walk. Six to seven minute sprint. "Sorry ma'am," Shouto says as he books it to the aisles near the pharmacy with a bag he grabs from his register. He dodges people as he sprinted to the first aid aisle. He swipes whatever gauze, bandages, and wraps he sees first. He grabs a bottle of water he finds on his way back towards the exit. Snatching the entire box of Paydays and putting it in the bag, he goes for the exit.
Aizawa comes storming out of his office and his eyes lock on Shouto. "Todoroki what the hell are you—"
Shouto takes out a card and throws it at Aizawa. "No time to explain, just charge me," he yells as he zooms past him. Looking down at his phone for directions, he sprints in the direction his GPS demands. He heard his own heartbeat echo in his ears with every step he takes like a beating drum that's going faster and faster no matter how many times you scream for it to stop. The crosswalk signs tell him to stop, but Shouto makes a conscious decision to ignore them as he runs and runs, breaking one law after another as he races through the city. Cars honk at him and he narrowly dodges poles and he bumps into people and they yell at him to watch where he's going, but he can't give less of a shit.
Shouto should be at the store closing in half an hour or so, but instead, he's sprinting across Musutafu, knocking over small children, running into people, almost getting hit by cars, all to just get to Midoriya Izuku before it was too late.
He's running so fast he could taste metal in his mouth and see every color blur together as he tries to beat the speed of light that makes him see those colors. He isn't sure if the watering of his eyes is from tears or wind resistance or even rain because all he knows for sure and all he's aware of is that Midoriya's complex is in sight and he might be running out of time.
He sprinted into the building and looked around for anyone who could help him. Seeing nobody, he ran up the stairs until he got to level three. He followed the numbers, running until he came to a door that had the name 'Midoriya' right next to it.
He puts his hand on the door handle and tries his hardest to open it. Locked. Amazing. This is going fucking fantastic.
Shouto knocks violently on the door, hoping that maybe Midoriya would open it. "Midoriya!" Shouto yells in desperation. "Midoriya, please open the door!"
He searches desperately to maybe find a spare key hidden anywhere only to find nothing. He looks at the door, seeing no other option. "I can pay them back," he mutters to himself.
He gets himself into a good stance, and in one swift motion, slams his foot into the door close to the door handle. The door budged, but nowhere near enough. Another kick to the door. Another, another, another.
Shouto takes a few steps back and runs at the door full force. Something. Something happens. He rams the door with his body again, a couple of more times. Time. He's running out of time. He gets back into his stance and kicks. He kicks with nothing but fear and adrenaline.
He takes a few steps back and launches his foot at the door, he just about falls and faceplants into Midoriya's apartment. It's dark all throughout the apartment except for one door. Grabbing his bag, he runs up to the door. Once again, he's met with resistance from the handle. He hears shifting from inside the room when he tried to open the door. "Midoriya, I know you're in there," Shouto says, panting from all the physical exercise he's done in the last 20 minutes. "Please let me in. I really don't want to break down another door."
"Who is it?" Midoriya asks softly. Right, his voice is so broken and shaken up Midoriya can't recognize it.
"It's your friend. Please," Shouto begs. He hears a chortle from behind the door.
"That's funny."
"What... what about this is funny?"
"Now that I'm dying, now I take people's advice, suddenly have a friend."
"Goddammit, Midoriya. Yes, I'm your friend. I want to be your friend. I'm sorry... I should have gotten your number and... and tried to talk to you more... fuck... I was scared. I don't know of what, but I didn't think... I thought you were just humoring me. But even if you were, I'm here and I want to help you."
"I don't want your help."
"I know. I know you don't. But... I don't know what to do or what to say. Fuck, if I had the guts to talk to you more, I'd tell you how emotionally inarticulate I am and maybe you would understand... maybe you would understand how fucking hard I'm trying right now. Because I know it doesn't sound like I'm trying hard, I know. But please... please give me the opportunity to tell you about how awkward and stupid I can be and funny stories about how I fuck up because I'm so emotionally inept at times. And... and give me the opportunity to know about you and funny stories about you and anything you want to tell me. Tell me about you and what makes you scared and what makes you happy and what makes you smile when I say something stupid. Tell me why you're so caring. Please... just give me the opportunity to spend a day with you. Please let me help you, even if it's not what you want. I'll make it up to you."
There's a painful silence as Shouto is internally begging for a response, begging that Midoriya was still awake.
"You don't want to come in here," he says with a shaky voice.
"I don't care about what's in there besides you," Shouto said. "I don't care about the pills, I don't care about the razors or the blood. I-I don't know if you have alcohol in there from what I assume but I don't care. I only care about you."
Another painful silence rings through Shouto's ears. He's losing his mind as he waits for something, anything.
He hears a bit of shifting, a sigh, and the ringing of a metal object sliding against hardwood flooring. A key slid under the door and bumped into his foot. "I want to know which one of you assholes decided that now that I'm dying that I'm important. Even more so how you found out," Midoriya sneers through the door.
Shouto fumbles with the key as he sticks it in the lock. Finally, he unlocks the door and barges in.
There is blood everywhere. There are droplets here and there, but it's mostly focused on a space near the foot of a bed on the floor. There are pills scattered around the floor here and there along with their bottles. The thing that catches Shouto's attention, however, is the look on Midoriya's face.
He's not well. His face is flushed and he looks sick. But the way he looks at Shouto with such shock and surprise on his face is something that astonishes Shouto.
"Todoroki?" Midoriya breathes.
Shouto rushed forward and drops to his knees. "I'm sorry," Shouto mutters. "I would have been here sooner, but I was stupid and I don't know why it took so long for me to realize."
"I... that's okay," he whispers, still seemingly in utter surprise. "Why... why did you come here? How did you find my address?"
"I looked it up in the rewards system," Shouto says as he rips open the gauze packaging. "And I'm here because you're my friend and I care about you."
Midoriya barely even fights back or is upset because he seems so taken aback that Shouto is even at his apartment. Shouto presses the gauze against Midoriya's arms. He pulls out his phone and quickly calls 119 as he presses more gauze onto Midoriya's arms. The dispatcher answers and Shouto is immediately throwing information at her.
"My name is Todoroki Shouto. I have an emergency at 3-10 Shimoshinjo Avenue, apartment number 315. My friend Midoriya Izuku has attempted suicide by overdosing on ibuprofen and naproxen. He currently has concerning self-harm wounds and is still conscious," he says in as calm of a voice as he can manage.
"Alright, I'm going to send emergency services to your location. You said he's still conscious?" The dispatcher asks.
"Yes, uh, say 'hi' Midoriya," Shouto says awkwardly.
"Hello," Midoriya mutters. Shouto presses on more gauze until he only has half remaining. He secures it in place with bandages as he moves onto the next arm.
"Hi Midoriya," she says. "Do you know how many pills of each drug you took?"
"Uh," Midoriya picks up the two bottles, listing the number and milligrams of each pill.
"Alright, do you think you can throw up some of those pills?" the dispatcher asks.
"Yeah, yeah I can do that in a minute," Midoriya says softly. Shouto turns his head when he heard Midoriya's voice crack. A few tears spill over from Midoriya's eyes and roll down his cheeks. Pushing on the last of the gauze, Shouto brushes some hair behind Midoriya's ear to better see him.
"Hey, why are you crying?" Shouto asks softly.
"I just want all this to end," Midoriya sniffles, each sentence seeming to be more difficult to form. "I'm so tired of being alone and nobody caring about me and... everything that goes on at school. I'm tired of being alive. I have nobody... but then you just show up and break down my door. You're... the only person who cares enough to... why are you here? I'm just a loner who goes through your grocery line."
"No," Shouto says softly. "You're not just someone who comes through my checkout. I meant what I said, you just showed up one day and suddenly I wanted you to come every day. I don't know anything about you outside that store, and that's my fault. I don't know what goes on here or at school, but you're someone to me. I... I want to get to know you better and be your friend."
Midoriya sniffles as he nods his head. "It means so much that... you care," he whispers. "Nobody else cares."
"Come on, let's go to the bathroom. Do you need help standing?"
"I don't feel good... yeah... I need help," Midoriya says softly. Shouto swings his arm over his shoulders, careful to avoid the gauze.
"Use the bed to support you on the other side," Shouto instructs. "One, two, three."
Shouto uses all his strength to get Midoriya up. "Watch your step," Shouto says, trying to avoid the puddles of blood. He walks Midoriya out in the hall as Midoriya tells him which door to go through. Flicking on the lights, Shouto lowers Midoriya down in front of the toilet. "Alright, throw up as much as you can."
Shouto runs and grabs his phone from Midoriya's room. Sitting down in the bathroom next to him, he tries his best to be supportive. In all honesty, Shouto has no idea how to be supportive when someone is vomiting up pills. He awkwardly puts his hand on Midoriya's back and rubs it gently as he gags and begins to throw up. It sounds painful as Midoriya is trying to rid his body of the chemicals he downed. Midoriya begins to dry heave and make noises of pain.
"I can't," he groans. "I can't anymore."
"Alright, are you well enough to drink water?" The dispatcher asks. Midoriya nods his head as he groans and wipes his mouth with toilet paper.
"Yes," Shouto says.
"Alright. Todoroki please grab him some water," the dispatcher requests. He grabs the water he stole from the store and opens it for Midoriya. Flushing the toilet, he leans Midoriya against the wall and makes sure he doesn't choke on the water.
"Alright, the EMTs are at the apartment complex and are on their way up. You can hang up once one of them gives you the thumbs up," the dispatcher says.
Shouto encourages Midoriya to drink more water as he rests against the wall. "Thank you," Shouto whispers. "I know this isn't what you wanted. But... I hope to make it what you want. Thank you for giving me the chance to be your friend."
Midoriya finishes off the bottle and drops it on the ground. "Thank you... for caring," Midoriya says softly. "I'm tired... my stomach hurts."
"Yeah, that's the pills," Shouto says. "You can't fall asleep, okay?" Midoriya nods his head as the sound of footsteps makes their way into the apartment. Shouto turns his voice towards the door. "We're in here!"
The footsteps grow closer until two EMTs make their way to the doorframe. "Alright, you can hang up now," one of them says.
Shouto gives his thanks to the dispatcher as he hangs up. Trying to move out of their way, Shouto watched anxiously as the EMTs get a quick assessment of Midoriya before deeming him well enough to stand. They help him over to a stretcher they set up near the entrance of the apartment. "My phone password... 3358," Midoriya says to Shouto as he's being strapped into the stretcher. "Call my Mom in... an hour... or something," he says. Shouto nods his head as they lift up the stretcher.
"I'll be there when I can," Shouto calls out.
"Please," he hears Midoriya say before they take him away. Shouto is left alone in Midoriya's apartment. Before he leaves, he decides that he should spare Inko some pain. He searches the cabinets for cleaning supplies and finds what he needs.
Going into Midoriya's room, he wipes up the blood and pills and bottles and tosses them in a trash bag. He wipes everything up until the room looks clean and untouched by death. He cleans up any blood in the hall and in the bathroom and flushed the toilet one more time for safety measures. He quickly puts away all the cleaning supplies and scribbles a note and leaves it on the kitchen counter.
I'm sorry for breaking your door, I'll pay for it
- Todoroki Shouto
Lastly, he grabs Midoriya's phone and heads back to the store. Aizawa will usually leave 45 minutes after closing, meaning Shouto has half an hour before he was out of there. People glance at him with concern from time to time as he walks down the street, but he is in such a state of shock and has such tunnel vision that he doesn't notice.
He goes through an employee entrance and walks towards the registers. To his convenience, Aizawa is at his usual register looking around and messing with the machine.
"Hi Aizawa," Shouto mutters in exhaustion.
"There you are," he growls. "Would you like to explain what the hell you—"
Aizawa stops dead in his tracks when he sees Shouto. His eyes widen in shock as concern riddles his face. Shouto looks down at himself for the first time, realizing that his hands are covered in blood up to his mid-forearm. There are splashes and drops of blood on his shirt and quite a bit of blood on his pants from kneeling in puddles and wiping his hands when he needed to wrap the gauze. Shouto wouldn't be surprised if he has blood on his face as well.
"Sorry for the scene I caused," Shouto grimaces. "Also... I'm gonna need a new uniform."
Calling Midoriya's Mom was extremely daunting, but Shouto got it done. After taking a shower and changing into new clothes, he gives Fuyumi a really quick synopsis of the situation and heads over to the hospital.
Walking down the hall and into room 712 seems surreal. He passes nurses and wonders just how out of place he looks. Silently opening the door, he looks into Midoriya's room. His body is turned towards the window. The stars are out, though they're a little hard to see. The city lights drown out a lot of stars along with the one light on in the room that reflects off the large window, but he seems content gazing at what he's given. Midoriya lays completely still as he stares out the window, seemingly waiting for something to happen.
"Midoriya," Shouto says softly. Midoriya shifts and turns toward him, previously unaware of his presence.
"Hey," he says softly, voice ever so slightly hoarse.
With the footsteps of a mouse, Shouto makes his way into the room and sits in a chair right next to the hospital bed. Neither of them look at the other, both unaware of what to say.
"I uh, I called your mother," Shouto mumbles. "She's on her way, but she's at your grandmother's right now. She'll be a little, with trains and all."
Midoriya nods his head. With a pathetic chuckle, he looks up at the ceiling. "I don't understand you," he says softly. "I'm going to take a guess and say you don't know what school I go to, what my birthday is, what my favorite color is, or what my living situation is. And yet, you ditched work, stole from a store, probably broke a law to get my address, and busted my apartment door open. You wasted your time and inconvenienced yourself to try to help someone so unimportant to your life. Why?"
Shouto looks down at the ground. What he did was absolutely not the correct course of action. He knows he should have gotten the address and then immediately contact the emergency services. He knows that it was illogical to go AWOL on Aizawa to try to perform first aid that he wasn't fully trained on. He knows that absolutely nobody else would have gone about trying to help Midoriya the way he did.
But he did. Shouto isn't exactly sure why. Maybe it was because of panic and adrenaline. Maybe it was because he felt as though staying at work was not doing everything in his power. Maybe it was the fact that Midoriya may have been dying, and if he were to die, Shouto wanted to see him one last time.
"I told you before that I'm really bad with emotions," Shouto sighs. "But... when you walk through my checkout lane, it makes me happy. I look forward to it a lot. You come to the store every three to four days. I know because I count and would wait to hopefully see you on day three or four. I don't know what it is about you, but you have made a big impact on my life. You give me something to look forward to. I never said anything, I should've. I want to be your friend."
Midoriya is still looking up at the ceiling. Though now his face has shifted to something more of solemn joy (how he made such an oxymoron of an expression, Shouto had no idea). He's holding back tears as he tries to steady his breathing. In a panic, Shouto scrambles to find the right words.
"Uh, please don't cry," Shouto says awkwardly. Midoriya lets out a chuckle that finally allows the tears to fall. "Are you sad?"
"No," Midoriya whispers. "It's just... I don't think... anyone has ever cared that much about me."
"I don't understand how people don't care for you," Shouto admits. "You're just... uh... good. You're a good person."
Midoriya lets out another soft laugh, wiping at his tears. "Thanks," he says in a whisper. "You're a good person too."
"When you get discharged, we should do something... together," Shouto suggests, hoping that's the normal way to make plans with someone. Midoriya finally looks at him after what seems like years.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Work gets extremely boring for Shouto.
Not all the time, but the monotonous task of scan, bag, card can really wear him down.
He looks down at the groceries in front of him.
Birthday card, cake mix, frosting, gift bag, tissue paper for said gift bag, candles, and a couple of bags of different types of candy.
Looks like someone forgot about a birthday.
He scans the items at a faster pace than usual, hoping to get them out of the store and back home they could bake that cake.
"Your total is 2,284 yen," Shouto says, bagging the last item and putting it in the person's reach. "Will you be paying with cash or card?"
They quickly set ¥3,000 on the little countertop as they grab the bags rather hastily. "You can keep the change. Thank you so much!" They say as they speed walk on their way to jogging out of the store. Shouto puts the money in the register, pocketing the change for later.
Two Paydays are set on the belt. Shouto looks up to see emerald doe eyes staring back at him. Midoriya is wearing the sweetest smile as he's practically bouncing off the ground. Shouto lets a smirk creep upon his face as he scans the two candy bars.
"Did you find everything alright?" Shouto asks as he hands one Payday back to Midoriya and puts some of his tip in the register to pay for his.
"No, I actually got lost in the freezer aisles," Midoriya replies, opening up his candy. Shouto shakes his head disappointingly.
"Natural selection," Shouto shrugs. Midoriya laughs and covers his mouth so he doesn't spit out any of his treat.
"We still on for arcade at seven?" Midoriya asks.
"Yes, and I'm going to beat you this time," Shouto says while leaning over the counter to emphasize his point.
"Please, you suck at air hockey," Midoriya taunts.
"You'll regret that," Shouto warns. Midoriya laughs as the people behind him begin to look impatient. "I'll be at your apartment at seven."
"Sounds good, see you later Shou," Midoriya says as he hops out of line.
"Later Izuku," Shouto says with a smile as Midoriya heads out of the store. He grabs the next customer's box of soba noodles off the belt as he throws away his wrapper in the trash bin under the counter. He looks up to see someone who has an oddly striking resemblance to him. She has a split dye of blonde and brown and a scar that looks like it was from a bad cut on her right cheek. One blue eye, one green eye. The resemblance is uncanny in multiple ways, some of which Shouto couldn't explain.
With a smile still on his face from Midoriya, he looks her in the eyes, blue to blue, green to gray.
"Did you find everything?"