Whumptober Day 1: Stabbed

Summary: During the Provisional License Exam, Izuku gets stabbed by Toga. Ochako is left to deal with the aftermath.

Hey guys! This is my first fanfic in the "My Hero Academia" fandom, so if any of you see any inaccuracies let me know! I'd love to get some feedback!

Izuku knew he was screwed the second Uraraka's face started melting.

Really, he should've known better. He did know better. Why in the world did he decide to save this girl if he knew it wasn't Uraraka? Maybe just was "that good of a guy," like the Shiketsu girl said?

Either way, this girl was seriously freaking him out.

"Holy woah, where's your clothes?!" Izuku screeched.

"I'll get dressed when my mission is complete!" The girl cackled. She charged forward, near-nakedness and all, and swiped at Izuku.

He jerked backwards, but the girl's fingernail still managed to scratch his cheek. Izuku sprung backwards a few yards and grabbed at his stinging cheek with one hand, the other raised in a fist. What the heck was wrong with this girl?

The crazy Shiketsu girl landed gracefully on all-fours a couple feet away from Izuku, then pounced again, her fingers clawed like a cat. Izuku stumbled backwards, charging up Full Cowling. As soon as the familiar green lightning started crackling around his body, the girl had already reached him.

She shoved Izuku backwards and jumped on top of him, smiling maniacally. He landed painfully on his back with a loud "GAH!" Izuku punched at the girl's face, but she deftly grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the ground above his head. He swung his other fist, this time at her stomach, but she did the same with his other arm. Before he knew it, he was trapped.

"H-hey! Get OFF!" He yelled, kicking his legs out.

She only grinned and revealed a knife, switching her grip to hold his hands still with only one hand. "Not until my mission is complete!"

"What… mission?" He panted, trying to wrench his arms out of the girl's grasp.

"Why, killing you, of course!" She giggled. Suddenly, her face began melting again, just like it did when she turned from Uraraka into the girl. As the brown goop fell from the Shiketsu girl's face, Izuku was filled with a sense of dread.

"Toga!" What the heck was a villain doing at the Provisional Hero Exams?

"Aww, I'm so happy you remember me, Izuku!" She beamed at him. "Did you miss me?"

"That depends on your definition of missing someone…" He said through gritted teeth. He jerked his legs again and kicked at Toga. She wobbled dangerously and loosened her grip on his arms. Izuku charged up Full Cowling and prepared to make a break for it, when she finally put the small knife to use by burying it in his right shoulder.

"AGH!" Izuku screamed, squeezing his eyes shut in pain. He tried to grab at the wound, but Toga grabbed his wrists again and pinned them down above his head. She leaned over him and grinned sadistically.

"Now, now, Izuku! If you struggle, it's just gonna hurt worse!" She yanked the dagger out of shoulder roughly, and he responded with a pained grunt. The feeling of blood trickling down his arm and pooling under his shoulder was admittedly pretty distracting, and more than a little alarming. He'd think that he'd be used to it by now.

Toga set down the knife and dug around in her pocket, pulling out a small vial. She held it to the wound on his shoulder and collected some of his blood. In no time the bottle was filled.

"G-get off me!" He yelled again, struggling weakly. His vision blurred slightly. Why was he already dizzy? The wound wasn't even that big… Was he already feeling the symptoms of blood loss?

"No can do, baby boy!" Toga said, punctuating her words with a rough "boop" on his nose. She closed the vial and stuck it back in her pocket, picking the knife up again. She leaned in way too close and pressed the knife against his cheek, dragging it against the cut she previously made. A sharp sting replaced the coldness of the blade and fresh blood trickled down his cheek. "You're so cute covered in blood."

"That's… not creepy at all…" He wheezed out, blinking wearily. He twisted his uninjured arm and shifted his legs, still feebly attempting to free himself from the insane girl's grasp.

"Oh, really? It's supposed to be creepy," she pouted. Toga removed the knife from his cheek and twirled it between her fingers. "Even though I don't really want to, I'm supposed to kill you," She said, sighing in disappointment.

Suddenly, Toga perked up. "Shigaraki didn't say how I had to kill you, though!" She grinned sadistically and bounced slightly, earning a pained wince from Izuku.

His breathing quickened. "Is that right?" He stared up at Toga wearily. He blinked rapidly and shook his head in an attempt to fend off the fog in his mind.

Where the heck was everyone else, anyway? Weren't there other students trying to get licenses? Surely one of his classmates would have noticed he was missing by now, or have heard his yelling. Maybe he could… call out for help?

"Where should I stab you first? Ooh, I'm so excited!" Toga giggled. Suddenly, shouts echoed throughout the air. It sounded like they were nearby.

Toga sighed. "Oh well, guess I should end this quickly! That's too bad, I wanted to see you bleed some more."

It took Izuku's pain-muddled mind a few seconds to catch up with her words. When it did, his eyes widened, and he jerked against the girl again. She was going to kill him.

"HELP! SOMEBODY-" His words were cut off by a searing pain in his chest. He screamed in pain and squeezed his eyes shut. He writhed on the ground and arched his back against the intense burning spreading through his body.

Toga's hand released the dagger now embedded in his lower chest and clamped it over his mouth, cutting off his pained scream abruptly. "As much as I love your screams, you gotta be quiet, Izuku! We don't want anyone else coming and ruining our fun!"

"DEKU!" Someone shouted. It sounded nearby. It sounded like a girl's voice.

Was stabbing supposed to hurt this much? Izuku had collected a wide array of injuries over his past term at UA, but this by far hurt the worst.

He blearily opened his eyes and blinked back tears. Izuku's vision blurred even further and the edges of his vision darkened. He was probably about to pass out… But if he passed out, he'd definitely be killed! He had to stay awake! Was that person nearby? Maybe he could get their attention.

But… he was so tired…

"GET OFF HIM!"

Suddenly, Toga's weight was thrown off of Izuku and his hands and mouth were released. He gasped painfully and squeezed his eyes shut. Why did breathing hurt?

A fluid bubbled its way up his throat, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. Izuku coughed violently and something warm slid down the side of his mouth. He gasped slightly, his hands scrambling at the ground. Why did his chest feel like it was on fire? Why couldn't he breathe? He rolled over onto his left side, gasping and wheezing for the air that didn't seem to want to come.

Someone was shouting nearby. They yelled something like "hold her down," and "use your tape!"

Izuku coughed again, and the warm, wet something ran across his cheek. The pain flared in his chest again, and he gasped, letting out a sharp cry of pain through his gritted teeth. His voice must've caught the attention of the people nearby, since they suddenly stopped making noise.

"DEKU!" The same female voice shouted again. Izuku was too busy trying to breathe to respond to the calling of his nickname.

Hands grabbed at his injured shoulder and turned him onto his back. Izuku cried out in pain and squeezed his eyes shut tighter, and the hands disappeared.

"Oh my gosh! He's been stabbed!" Another distinctly male voice said worriedly.

"Way to state the obvious, Sero!"

Sero. Sero was his classmate, right?

Suddenly, a large amount of pressure was put against the wound on his shoulder. Someone was screaming. Was it him?

"It's gonna be okay, Deku! You're gonna be fine!" The girl said. Something wet landed on his cheek.

There were more voices, but Izuku's mind was far too jumbled for him to make sense of anything they were saying. More pressure was put on his shoulder. The screaming came again. Why couldn't he breathe? Why did his chest and shoulder hurt so much?

Izuku cracked open his eyes, and almost immediately snapped them shut again against the blurry, bright lights.

"Deku, can you hear me? Deku?" Izuku pried open his eyelids again to be met with a blurry brown figure right above him. He was in someone's lap. Was it the girl that was talking earlier?

"Wh-what...?" He forced out, then dissolved into a coughing fit. Something was in his lungs that didn't feel right. Something wet slid down his cheek. Izuku felt himself being pulled up further, and more voices reached his fogged mind.

"Breathe, Deku! Just breathe! You're gonna be fine!" The girl said. A hand wiped gently across his cheek. He opened his eyes again to peer at the brown blur above him.

"He's losing too much blood, Uraraka!" The girl was Uraraka. She was here. Thank goodness she was safe. The blackness on the edges of his vision grew closer, and Izuku's eyelids drooped.

"NO! DEKU!" Izuku was suddenly shaken roughly, and he hissed in pain. He didn't think he had enough energy left to scream, though he desperately wanted to. He cracked his eyes open again and looked at Uraraka blearily. "You can't go to sleep! Stay with me!"

His eyelids felt so heavy. He needed to listen to Uraraka…

"DEKU!"

...since when had he ever listened, though?

Ochako was worried.

She wasn't only worried about Deku! Oh no, she was worried about other things too… like passing the exam and finding her other classmates…

Oh, who was she kidding? She was worried about Deku. Ever since they were separated at the beginning of the exam, she had a horrible feeling in her gut. What if he was hurt by the fall? What if he was being attacked right now? What if he was injured?

No, she couldn't think of things like that. She had to pass the exam, just like Deku!

"Do you hear that…?" Sero asked from beside her. His voice snapped her away from her thoughts of… nevermind!

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like someone is fighting. I hear yelling!" Ochako blinked, then suddenly heard exactly what Sero was talking about. Someone was yelling, and someone else was laughing.

"Who in the world could be laughing at a time like this…?" Sero wondered aloud, but Ochako was already running. The other voice, the one that was yelling, had sounded familiar.

Suddenly, a scream tore through the air. It felt as though all the blood in Ochako's body had turned to ice. She recognized that scream.

"DEKU!" She screeched and darted forwards in the direction she heard the scream.

"Uraraka, wait up!" Ochako barely listened to Sero, too focused on finding Deku.

Ochako ran, her footsteps pounding on the hard, rocky ground. She rounded a particularly large boulder and froze at the sight before her.

"GET OFF HIM!" She screamed, suddenly filled with a protective rage. The girl from the attack on the summer camp was here… on top of Deku, holding him down. One hand was clamped over his mouth, and the other held down his arms above his head.

As for Deku himself… he didn't look so good. It didn't look like he was moving. Where did all that blood come from?

Ochako charged at Toga, who looked up when she yelled. The female villain barely had any time to prepare herself before she was tackled and thrown to the ground, Ochako on top of her. She heard Deku gasp behind her, letting her fears be calmed slightly. He was still alive. She wasn't too late.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Ochako screeched and punched Toga in the face.

The deranged girl only giggled. "I made him even cuter!" At Ochako's enraged face, Toga began laughing even more. "Oh, I get it! Is he who you have a crush on? What a coincidence! I have a crush on Izuku too!"

"Shut up!" Ochako punched her across the face again, causing the girl's nose to bleed.

"Hold her down, Uraraka!" Sero said, running towards the two girls.

Suddenly, Toga shoved at Ochako. "No! I gotta kill him!"

Ochako pushed Toga back to the ground roughly. "You're not touching Deku again! You hear me?! You're never hurting him again!" Ochako didn't think she had ever been this angry in her life. This girl had hurt Deku.

Toga pushed Ochako off her roughly and jumped to her feet. "I have to complete my mission and kill Izuku!" She giggled, taking out another knife.

"SERO! Use your tape!" Ochako yelled, getting up from the ground.

"On it!" Sero said, jerking his arms forward. His tape flew forwards and wrapped itself around Toga like a burrito. She fell to the side with an "oof!"

"Sero, you take care of her! I've gotta-" Ochako was cut off by a sharp cry of pain behind her. From Deku.

She whipped around, searching frantically for Deku. Oh God, was that a puddle of blood?

"DEKU!" She shrieked and sprinted towards the green-haired boy. Toga was completely forgotten. Deku wasn't all that far away, so it didn't take her very long to reach his side. Ochako landed painfully on her knees, the ground tearing holes in her costume, but she didn't have time to think about that right now.

Not while Deku was lying on his side, his back towards her, in a steadily growing pool of blood.

Ochako grabbed Deku's shoulder and rolled him onto his back. He suddenly let out a pained cry, and she jumped backwards.

"I'm so sorr-" She gasped sharply.

"Oh my gosh! He's been stabbed!" Sero's voice was panicked, for good reason.

Izuku's eyes were clenched shut tightly and his freckled face was twisted into a pained grimace. There was a deep cut across his cheek, which was still leaking blood. That wasn't what worried Ochako, though. The side of his mouth and parts of his chin were stained with blood.

She turned her gaze downwards and almost screamed. There was a knife in Deku's chest, embedded between his ribs near his stomach. She looked down towards her sticky hand, which was covered in blood. His shoulder, the one she grabbed, was also covered in blood. Deku had been stabbed twice.

Ochako snapped herself out of her shock, quite literally, by snapping at her classmate. "Way to state the obvious, Sero!"

Right, what were you supposed to do to wounds like Deku's? Put pressure on them?

Ochako leaned forward and grabbed Deku's shoulders, pulling him halfway onto her lap. She then shoved both of her hands onto the wound on Deku's shoulder. Immediately, he screamed in pain, his face twisting in agony. If she thought the scream from before sounded pained, this one seemed ten times worse.

"It's gonna be okay, Deku! You're gonna be fine!" She said, her voice coming out very wobbly. Tears blurred her vision and dripped from her eyes onto Deku's face, but she couldn't move her hands to wipe them away. Not while his life was in her hands, literally.

"Sero! Give me a hand here!" She pressed harder on Deku's shoulder, and he winced.

"R-right! What should I do with the knife in his chest?"

"Uh- leave it in. It's the only thing keeping him from bleeding out!" Ochako pressed slightly harder on his shoulder, and still more blood seeped from between her hands. There was so much of it. Deku cried out again. Ochako immediately decided that was probably one of her least favorite sounds. She never wanted to hear Deku scream in pain ever again, not when just the sound broke her heart to pieces.

While trying to save Deku's life, neither of them realized Toga had escaped.

Ochako looked up at his rapidly paling face. She was taken aback when she saw his green eyes blinking dazedly up at her. After a second, they snapped shut again as he let out a small, pained whine.

"Deku, can you hear me? Deku?" She said frantically. At her concerned voice, his eyes cracked open again to peer at her blearily. His normally beautiful, bright green eyes were so dulled with pain that she could barely see the color in them.

"Wh-what...?" Deku croaked. His voice cracked in about a million different places, and Ochako's heart broke along with it. He sounded like he was in so much pain.

Suddenly, he started coughing. These weren't normal coughs; they sounded wet and painful. Blood stained his teeth and bubbled out of his mouth, running down the side of his face. Ochako removed one of her hands from Deku's wound and pulled him further up on her lap, trying to make it easier for him.

"Breathe, Deku! Just breathe! You're gonna be fine!" More tears dripped down Ochako's face. She gently cupped his cheek and wiped the blood from his face with her own equally-bloodstained hand. All she really accomplished was smearing the blood across his skin.

"He's losing too much blood, Uraraka!" Sero said, his voice quivering. Ochako looked up to where Sero had wrapped his tape around Deku's torso in a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding from his chest. The blood already seeped around the tape, even with the knife still embedded in his chest.

Fear gripped at Ochako's heart as she turned her gaze back to Deku's. The blood on his cheek and chin stood out in stark contrast to the whiteness of his face. His eyes were closing.

"NO! DEKU!" She shouted, shaking him roughly. Deku hissed sharply in pain, but Ochako hardly paid it any mind. His clouded eyes cracked open slightly. He couldn't pass out. If he lost consciousness now… Ochako was afraid he'd never wake up again.

"You can't go to sleep! Stay with me!" Tears were now freely dripping down her face. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't lose him.

Deku's gaze met hers, and it seemed almost apologetic. The green of his eyes disappeared behind closed eyelids and his face slackened. His head lolled backwards even further than it had been before, and his previously tense body went completely limp.

"DEKU!" She screamed. "NO! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" He didn't respond. He didn't move. "IZUKU!" Ochako shook him again slightly, but all she got in response was the lolling of his head.

"Uraraka!" Sero said next to her. "Pull yourself together! We've got to get him back to the stadium, or he's not gonna make it," He seemed to be taking charge in her panic. "I can tape his shoulder, and you should carry him."

"R-right…" Ochako said, removing her hand from Deku's wound. Blood immediately seeped out when the pressure was removed from the wound. Sero moved forward and ripped a length of tape from his elbows. Ochako moved to the side and grabbed Deku's uninjured shoulder, then moved him to sit forwards. She used her other hand to move Deku's head to rest against her shoulder instead of drooping downwards.

When Sero started wrapping the wound, Deku barely twitched, meaning he was truly unconscious. Ochako didn't know if that was better or worse for him. Sure, he wasn't in pain anymore, but what if he never woke up…?

No. She couldn't think that way. She had to be strong, for Deku.

Before she knew it, Sero had wrapped the wound, his tape winded around Deku's midsection and shoulder. Her classmate exhaled shakily and wiped his blood-stained hands on the sides of his pants.

"Okay, you carry him since you can make him weightless, and I'll run ahead and get the doctors." Sero said, his voice quivering. Without waiting for her answer, Sero leapt up and attached his tape to the top of the boulder, and he pulled himself away.

Ochako looked back to Deku, whose eyebrows were pinched together in pain. His face was even paler than before, which she didn't think was possible. She needed to get him to a doctor, fast.

Ochako touched Deku's cheek with all five of her fingers, and he immediately floated upwards, his limbs dangling limply. She grabbed his arm before he could float too high, and tugged him back downwards. Ochako wrapped one arm under his arms across his back, and the other under his bent knees. She hated the way he felt in her arms, limp and unmoving. Ochako could barely feel his shaky breaths as they rattled through his chest, with a wet cough occasionally bubbling up through his throat. She had to get him help.

With that thought, Ochako started forwards. Deku's eyebrows pinched together with the movement, and he let out a slight whine.

"I'm so sorry, Deku!"

She continued forwards, picking up the pace into a run. Even with her quirk making him weightless, Deku was still jostled as she ran. He would occasionally give a groan or whine, each responded to with frantic apologies from Ochako.

Ochako could hear several battles raging around her, but she hardly cared about what was going on. All she cared about was getting her precious friend to safety. No one paid her any mind.

She had no idea how long she'd been running. Had it been minutes? Hours? It felt like forever that she was running with Deku limp in her arms.

Finally, she saw the beginnings of the stadium in the distance. She could see Sero running in her general direction, followed by several other people carrying a stretcher. Ochako was so relieved that she almost burst into a new round of tears.

"Deku! Look, we're almost there!" She said, knowing Deku couldn't hear her and wouldn't respond.

Ochako picked up the pace and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She tightened her hold on Deku so he wouldn't float away.

"HELP! He's hurt!" She screamed, quite unnecessarily. The people with Sero were carrying a stretcher between them, so they were obviously medical professionals.

In a few seconds, Ochako reached them. Almost reluctantly, she laid Deku's unmoving body down on the stretcher and released her quirk. The medics quickly checked Deku's pulse and breathing, then started running back towards the stadium with the stretcher carried between them.

Ochako ran alongside the stretcher, never once removing her eyes from Deku. How did he look even paler than before? His face had lost the pained look it held before, and was now relaxed in unconsciousness. His dirty bangs were strewn across his forehead haphazardly, and his blood-stained mouth was opened slightly.

The other students were still fighting around them, paying the small group no mind. How could they still be in combat while Deku was bleeding out? Didn't they notice anything that was going on around them?

Suddenly, the doors to the stadium were in front of her. The group entered the building, and the medics set the stretcher on the floor.

Ochako watched, almost in a daze, as the doctors worked on Deku. She couldn't take her eyes off his slack, bloodied face.

"He's not breathing!" Someone yelled. "And he's got no pulse!"

It took Ochako a few seconds to process what the doctor said.

Deku wasn't breathing.

"I'm going to do CPR! Everybody stand back!"

Deku's heart stopped.

"...twenty-nine, thirty!"

He still wasn't breathing.

"D-Deku!" She squeaked out, her voice barely a whisper.

One of the doctors moved across her field of vision and blocked her view of Deku, and finally Ochako could think again. She scrambled up to the stretcher, gazing anxiously at Deku, who was as still as the dead.

He wasn't breathing.

"N-no, Deku! DEKU, YOU HAVE TO BREATHE!" She sobbed, dropping to her knees and grabbing his cold, limp hand.

The doctor paid her no mind and continued pumping Deku's chest, occasionally stopping to breathe into his slightly-open mouth. His lips were blue and stained with red.

"C'mon kid, breathe!"

"Midoriya?" Todoroki stepped forwards, his heterochromic eyes landing on Deku. He blinked and looked overall unfazed, but Ochako knew him well enough to know he was far from calm.

Ochako turned her gaze back to Deku and squeezed his hand. "Come on, Deku! You've gotta breathe! I-if you don't breathe, I… I don't know what I'll do! Please, Deku!"

Suddenly, Deku's body convulsed, and he choked in a huge breath. Almost immediately afterwards he dissolved into a violent coughing fit, and a bit of blood spurted from his lips. His eyes clenched shut as he gasped through clenched teeth, then he relaxed against the stretcher.

Deku was breathing again.

Ochako was pretty sure she was squeezing his hand hard enough to bruise it, but that was hardly her biggest concern. Tears rolled down her face, but she couldn't bring herself to wipe them away.

A medic stepped forward and covered Deku's mouth and nose with an oxygen mask. They picked up the stretcher on both sides and began moving him. The motion forced Ochako to release Deku's hand.

"W-wait! Let me come with you!" She pleaded, staring wide-eyed at Deku.

"No can do, girl. You can't get in the way." The doctor brushed her off, then turned to the many students gathered in the room. Ochako hadn't noticed them before. "Do any of you know what the kid's blood type is?"

"I do," Todoroki's normally monotone voice stated. Only Ochako noticed how it cracked slightly. "He has O. I have O type blood as well, if you need me to do a transfusion-"

"Follow me, then," the doctor dismissively, then walked away to join the other medics who carried Deku's stretcher.

Wait. They were taking Deku away from her.

She stood to follow the doctors and Todoroki almost mindlessly, all of her thoughts consumed by Deku. However, she was halted by a pair of arms wrapping around her middle.

"L-Let go!" Ochako shrieked. "I have to go- Deku!"

"Uraraka, calm down! You'd just get in the way!" Sero. How dare he hold her back.

"LET GO! DEKU!" She yelled, struggling against Sero. His arms only tightened around her.

Deku disappeared behind the closed doors. The only thing he left behind was the puddles of blood that stained the floor.

A week.

That was how long Deku had been unconscious. He still hadn't woken up.

The doctors assured Ochako that was normal after his body lost so much blood. How did they think saying something like that was supposed to be reassuring?

After he was stabilized, Deku had been moved to a hospital close to the UA. Recovery Girl came by every day and healed Deku bit by bit, but he still wasn't stable enough to be moved to the infirmary. He was hooked up to several different I.V's, one of which used to be a supply of blood. Todoroki's blood. Now, he was only being kept on painkillers, water, and other various bags of fluids.

So why wasn't he waking up?

Todoroki told her that the doctors had to perform surgery on Deku to remove the knife in his chest. He also told her that the knife nicked his lung, which explained why he'd been coughing up blood. Apparently, leaving in the knife had been the best thing she could have done. The doctors later complemented Ochako on her's and Sero's quick thinking.

He wasn't supposed to have survived.

The doctors said most people would have died after losing as much blood as he did. Apparently, Deku had lost over 30% of the blood he had, which wasn't much considering how small he was. On top of that, with the nicked lung, he should've suffocated.

If she had gotten to Deku a few seconds later, who knows what else Toga would have done to him.

Ochako only realized a few days after the… incident that the girl had escaped. She was far too worried about Deku to give it a second thought. The instructors of the exam assured her that they were searching for Toga, and that she wouldn't be able to hurt Deku ever again.

Currently, Ochako was sitting in a chair next to Deku's bed, holding his hand. It wasn't as cold as it had been when he was stabbed, but it still lacked its normal warmth. She ran her thumb over his many scars, keeping her pinkie raised to avoid accidentally floating him.

How many times was Deku going to narrowly escape death? What if he really did die sometime? What if he never woke up?

"Do not fret, young Uraraka," All Might had said to her earlier. "Young Midoriya is far stronger than you give him credit for. He'll be fine, he always is."

All Might and Mrs. Midoriya had visited every day, nearly as much as Ochako herself. Todoroki and Iida had also visited at least once every other day. The rest of her classmates had stopped by at least once, never saying a word to her.

They all knew what happened.

Ochako turned her gaze to Deku's slack face. The blood had been washed off his face and his cheek was patched. The cut wasn't deep enough to require stitches. However, his shoulder and chest were a different story.

"Deku…" She sighed. Almost his whole torso was swathed with bandages, excluding his left shoulder. The doctors left a shirt off, saying that it would be easier to change his bandages that way. The bandages were no longer stained with blood. Ochako remembered all too well the many times they had been when his stitches broke as he coughed.

"Why won't you wake up…?" Ochako said, her voice quivering. She tightened her grip and looked down at his hand again. "I miss you a lot… we all do." He didn't respond.

"You like him, don't you?" Aoyama's words from all those months ago suddenly sounded in her mind. She already knew that he was right.

Ochako just couldn't believe that it would take something like this to happen for her to realize her feelings for Deku.

"U-Uraraka?" Asked a rough, weak voice.

Ochako's head snapped up. "Deku?"

She wasn't dreaming. His eyes were finally open, and he was looking at her blearily. Sure, his eyes weren't nearly as bright a green as they normally were, but they were still his eyes, and they were finally open.

"DEKU!" She shrieked, before throwing herself on top of him in a tight hug. She only realized a few seconds later that he was severely injured when he gasped in pain.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She loosened her hold on him and leaned back, gazing at his face in concern. His eyes were squeezed shut and his face was contorted in a grimace. Slowly, his face relaxed and he let out a shaky exhale, before opening his eyes again.

"I-I'm okay." He blinked up at her. "Are you okay?"

Ochako only just realized she was crying. However she was unwilling to let go of Deku to wipe away the tears. "I'm fine! These are happy tears!" She leaned in again and hugged him, this time far gentler. After a few seconds, Deku brought up his left arm to embrace her shoulders.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ochako leaned back to look at Deku. His eyes were clouded with pain, but he still had the gall to look concerned for her when he was the one who almost died.

"Y-you really scared me, Deku." She finally released her hold on him and sank back into her chair, unwilling to release his hand. He didn't seem to notice, anyway.

"Sorry for worrying you," he said, eyes apologetic. His eyelids began fluttering slightly. Right, he'd just woken up. He probably was going to go back to sleep soon. Ochako leaned over and pressed the "call nurse button," though she really should have done so much sooner.

"Don't apologize, Deku. It was my fault for not getting there sooner," she sniffed, wiping the tears off her face with her free hand.

"N-no!" Deku said, his voice suddenly much clearer. He squeezed her hand slightly, and she looked up at his determined face. "It wasn't your fault! Don't you dare think that!"

"But-"

"No buts. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine and Toga's. Mine for not being able to fend her off, and hers for- you know, stabbing me."

"It wasn't your fault either, Deku!"

He blinked sleepily at her, all the emotion in his face suddenly drained away. "-Kay. If you say so"

"Right. You should go back to sleep now. You just woke up after being unconscious for a week."

"A week?" His voice was slightly slurred now.

"Yeah. You had all of us really worried." Especially me, she wanted to add, but she decided not to.

"Sorry... " he said again.

"You really need to quit apologizing, Deku," she said. There was a beat of silence where the only sound was his uneven breathing, and her own steady breaths. "Hey, Deku?"

"Hmm?" He said, his eyes already closed. His weak grip was slackening on her hand.

"...Nevermind," she said. Deku hummed again, and his face relaxed a few seconds later. Ochako watched him sleep with a small smile on her face, her thumb rubbing across the back of his hand.

She would tell him one day, when she was ready. Until then, she'd continue to support him as only a friend. As long as he was still in her life, it didn't matter to her what they were.