Ruby Red and Caramel
Chapter 10: Caramel

AN: TW: Mentions of blood, but described in a medical setting.

"Why the hell are we doing this to ourselves?! Aggh!"

Tetsutetsu is the one who yells this against the chilly night outside of Momo's apartment, where he and Yosetsu and Itsuka are having a break. It's a highly improper thing to do in such a quiet neighborhood and Yosetsu tells him off for it. Momo, however, is inclined to agree with his sentiment.

It's hard not to. All they've done the entire year was to study, up until finals, where they studied harder than they ever knew they could.

"'Cause we want to help people. Make a difference and all that," Itsuka supplies without any of her usual vim and vigor. The usually upbeat redhead is all but drained of her positivity studying mutation-quirk anatomy.

Tetsutetsu makes a frustrated noise again before dropping on the concrete like a block of metal. "Yeah, I know I know, but it's so hard to think of that when all we do is study our asses off! It doesn't make me feel like I can help people, it just makes me feel like I might be too dumb to be a doctor!"

"You have a point," Yosetsu deadpans, earning him a stern glare from Momo and a big-handed slap from Itsuka. "Hey, I'm agreeing with the first part of his statement!… and only just a little bit of the dumb part."

Another slap rings throughout the night. Tetsutetsu doesn't seem that offended though. He might be too much of a sport, or just too tired, or both.

Momo takes this opportunity to chime in, "But you know, it's times like this where I wonder what it would be like if we didn't go to medical school."

Her three friends eye her in curiosity, Yosetsu especially. "You're thinking about your middle school fantasy again, Momo?" he says teasingly.

She smiles at him with a shrug. "Don't you?"

Itsuka chuckles at that. "Yeah, definitely. I think everyone does from time to time." She stretches her hands up above her and stares at them in interest. "I wonder what my life would be like if I had pushed through going to UA instead of Shiketsu GS? Would I be a distinguished pro-hero right now?"

Without missing a beat, Tetsutetsu shouts with a grin, "Of course you would, Kendo! And I definitely would be Battlefist's biggest fanboy! I'd be your fanclub president!"

"You're already Battlefist's biggest fanboy," Yosetsu says flatly, as Itsuka giggles with a blush.

"But you're onto something there, Yaoyorozu!" Tetsutetsu swings his fists meaninglessly into the air in front of him, making it sound. "I thought a lot about bein' a pro too! Still think of it, even though it's too late for us since we're old and all. But it kinda freaks me out sometimes, y'know… I mean, it ain't exactly a safe job and all. We could break our necks out there, or worse!"

Yosetsu nods sagely at that. "Yeah… being a pro ain't a joke. Remember that thing that happened when we were in middle school? The one with All Might?"

"Yes, I imagine everyone does," Itsuka says, her ponytail bobbing as she nods. "That's what stopped me from applying in the first place. From the start, Mom and Dad were iffy about me going to heroics, but… I mean, if that terrible thing could happen to a kid and All Might himself, even with all the heroes around..."

They fall silent, as if to reminisce collectively on the events that happened. When All Might saved that child and all the consequences happened, everyone was exposed to the brutal truth of heroics: that heroes are humans who put more than their lives on the line, and sometimes heroes can't be saved.

And with so little heroes, who is there left to stand up for the rest of them? Times like this, Momo wishes that she stood her ground into going to UA even more. With all due humility, she thinks she would have been a good hero. People need a versatile quirk like hers, and she thinks that she is competent enough to make so many things to help them…

An alarm sounds from her phone, signalling the end of their break. The four of them collectively groan.

"Well, that's about it for our flashback scene," Itsuka says, dragging a protesting Tetsutetsu by the arm to the apartment. Momo and Yosetsu follow, with him putting an arm around her and her leaning her head against his shoulder.

Perhaps noticing her exhaustion or her sudden glumness, he rubs a hand comfortingly over her shoulder. "You'll be saving people one day too, Momo. So don't look so down."

"You think so?"

He nods, obviously tired but very confident. "Definitely. You won't be a pro, but you're gonna be someone's hero one day." And then, with a teasing grin, he adds, "And you don't need to traipse around in a hot red bathing suit to do it, either. Not that I mind that wardrobe in particular, but-"

"Yosetsu. "

He laughs and sticks out his tongue, the teasing grin on his mouth not going away.

They spend the next few hours cramming medical knowledge in their head, until one by one they drop on the floor, asleep and practically dead to the world.

The operating room is emptier than it's ever looked, and it disorients Momo at first. Besides her and Katsuki, only Dr. Kayama the anesthesiologist and a lone nurse who goes in and out of the operating room, obtaining all the tools they need. Apart from that, the patient being tended to by Dr. Midnight, as she's called sometimes, are the only living beings in the usually crowded room.

Gloved hands up, Katsuki looks across her, ruby red eyes burning intensely between cap and mask. "Ready when you are, doc."

Momo nods. "Let's do this."

All of their patients are victims of the attacks on the three districts infiltrated by the Nomu who suffered from head trauma. Some cases are harder and more complicated than others because of quirks that make the structures of their skulls, skin, and even the anatomy of the brain different.

"Quirk suppressants running, Dr. Yaoyorozu." Dr. Kayama, despite the looming emergencies they have lined up, looks utterly confident. Years and years of experience makes her look like she would do no wrong.

Momo wishes she can smile the way she is right now. It's only the first patient and already the self doubt creeps at the back of her mind. At the first cut of the skin, at the first drip of blood seeping from the line, her hand freezes.

She doesn't know how long she stares at the cut, but Katsuki snaps her out of it with a bark of her name and a glare of ruby eyes. "Focus," he says in the fierce and gentle way that only he can do. "You know what to do next."

And Momo realizes that he's right. The freezing happens once or twice more, and each time Katsuki's voice gets her out of the fog. She doesn't know how she manages it, but they manage through the operation in an hour and thirty minutes.

One patient comes out, another comes in.

They look at the scans and the cases with Dr. Kayama and Kendo, who goes in and out of the OR and makes sure everyone is all right. As they set up for the next operation, Katsuki urges her to eat something, even though the adrenaline in her bloodstream doesn't let her feel hungry.

The next operation starts. Momo's thin hands getting more acquainted to the feel of the drill. The self-doubt is there, but it's easier to ignore the voice this time as her movements become more practiced, more confident. Katsuki is focused and silent, quick to do what he needs to do on the field without being told.

One patient comes out, another comes in.

Momo wrings her hands, making sure that they're steady. They're thin outside of the surgical gloves, and pale. Katsuki forces another rice ball into her, and scrubs in for the next case.

They operate again. The drill cuts through bone and makes a great noise that reverberates through the haze in her head.

One patient comes out, another comes in.

They're in there for a half day or more. Momo isn't sure. They try to get the operations done under two hours at a time. There's a lot of them though. Momo knows; she saw the people thrown by the monsters, crushed by debris, caught in between the pro's fights or the other civilians desperately evacuating through narrow sidestreets. Shinsou tells them that he and Dr. Aizawa are transferring as many emergency cases as they can to the other hospitals, but it's difficult because of all the damages in the roads. There isn't much to that could be done to the massive influx of patients.

One patient comes out, another comes in.

"Momo," Katsuki calls out.

She's midway into cauterizing through skin. Momo tries to tell her hands not to shake so much. No, not now, not while they've just started.

She will do more harm than good with this knife in her hand. Closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. "I need a moment."

The digital clock on the other side of the room reads 02:05. She doesn't know if it's AM or PM. The numbers don't mean much anymore.

She feels a gloved hand over hers. Katsuki stares at her meaningfully. There's fatigue there, but not the slightest bit of doubt.

"I got this," is all he says.

Quietly he takes the tools from her hands and gives her the handfuls of gauze in his hands. There are many reasons why she should stop him from doing this-he isn't affiliated with this hospital. Best Jeanist will take the brunt of the responsibility if he makes a mistake, at the risk of both their licenses. He hasn't done surgeries for a year or so, except when he stitched up Endeavor's neck earlier and saved his life.

She doesn't even know if he's done this before. If he knows this type of procedure apart from reading books or watching what Momo has done all day.

But all Momo has to do is to look at Katsuki, his fiery gaze, his steady hands, the way his body pulses in pure determination. And she realizes that she can trust him on this, with all her heart.

So she does.

The laser-focus look in his eyes, the same one he had earlier, comes back. His hands move precisely, every minute motion with a purpose, without an ounce of hesitation. When he speaks because he needs something done it's in his usual bark, but more concise, leaving no room for confusion.

They eventually close the patient up without further problems. Katsuki doesn't look like he did his first neurosurgery after so long. When Kendo comes in he tells her exactly what needs to be done for the patient without any unnecessary fanfare.

One patient goes out…

Time passes; Dr. Kayama keeps telling them to rest, but Katsuki and Momo keep refusing. "No matter what happens, this is the last patient we're operating on, for heaven's sake. I'm not as young or as fired-up as you two," she says, brandishing her fuzzy pen like a whip.

Katsuki replies to this with a precise, totally impolite tch. "We gotta keep goin' as long as there are patients coming in, old hag."

Her brow twitches in offense at this. She looks like she has half a mind to sedate him, but luckily Kendo comes in and tells them good news. "We transferred the remaining emergency cases out, and we have no urgent need to operate on anyone right now. Nice job, you two."

Dr. Kayama sings a brief hallelujah and tells them that she's going to sleep in one of the rooms outside. Meanwhile, Kendo tells the two of them to sit on the floor while she gives them updates on the world outside.

Momo obliges, and only feels then how sore her feet and lower back are. The floor isn't or comfortable by any means, but it feels heavenly after hours and hours of standing up. Katsuki falls in next to her.

"I can't believe you two took on so many cases after fighting out there," she tells them. "Actually, everyone really pushed themselves today… Honenuki and Todoroki and Amajiki-senpai. Tetsu and the other guys from ortho. Even Shishida and Tsuyu-chan found a way from the blocked streets to get to the hospital and went straight to OR and just operated until the patients stopped coming."

"What the fuck else are we supposed to do, Dr. Ponytail #2? This fuckin' hospital is lucky that a lot of us are still standing after all those fuckin' Nomu tried killing us all," Katsuki snarls without volume or vitriol. Kendo laughs softly, apparently too tired to do anything else but to accept her new nickname.

"I dunno. All of you are on the verge of collapse, but are too stubborn to stop and rest. I mean, it's heroic and all, but it's pretty reckless, yeah?"

Kendo is one to talk. Momo heard talks of her and Tetsutetsu volunteering to transport much needed blood products via motorcycle while the Nomus were still ravaging the streets. She looks like she hasn't had a moment to close her eyes since then, nor does it look like she intended to rest at all before this. Maybe this is the first moment she's had to sit down too.

The orange-haired doctor sighs with a tired smile. "It's been twenty-seven hours since the code, did you know that?"

Twenty-seven hours. Maybe that's why the room looks sideways and a little unfocused.

"... Yaoyorozu?"

She decides then that Katsuki's shoulder is a really nice place to rest her head, although she feels the stiffness of it when he shifts to put his arms around her as if to support her.

"'M fine, Kendo-san," she says. Or she tries to. She probably didn't speak clearly enough, because her orange-haired friend doesn't look like she understands what she says very well. "You were saying?"

The sturdy thing she's leaning against-it's Katsuki, of course, she knows it's him, even though for some reason she can't raise her head to look at him or confirm his presence just now-breathes deeply and shudders with the movement. "Doesn't matter, Momo. Just stay there, all right?"

"That's right." She sees Kendo go sideways too, teal eyes fluttering closed. She should tell her friend that the floor's not a cushion and she should find a better place to rest, but she can't tell her otherwise because they're eye-to-eye and it means that they're in the same place after all. "Y'know… it's a good idea if we stay here for a bit, right?... rest and all. Bakugou-kun, it's fine if Momo and I are like this, right?"

"Mm." The surgery suite's floor isn't that dirty, but definitely isn't designed for anyone to take a nap on. Still, never has an idea sounded better to Momo. She knows she needs to shift her body this way or that way so her neck doesn't strain or her back doesn't get any more sore, but her arms don't want to move. Her eyes don't want to open. Her mouth doesn't want to protest, not even when she feels something shift beside her and do the moving for her, leaving her curled up on the floor in what is probably an undignified heap.

She's already dreaming by the time she's wrapped in warmth and lifted to somewhere that makes her feel like she's floating.

She wakes up from a dreamless sleep to softness and warmth and sunlight streaming through the windows.

She tries to rub her eyes, but feels something taped to the back of her hand. Flexes and stretches her fingers, feels the soreness of sleepiness as she does. She sees the line pierced through her skin, the bottle hooked to it. She wonders how she got there and who carried her there until she sees a head full of sandy blonde hair snoozing peacefully over the side of her bed.

She wants to smile for his presence, and frown as well-the IV line with the sugar solution flowing through it must be his doing. Really, she knows that she needs to rest after everything that's happened, but he may be going a bit overboard.

He of all people needs sleep more than anyone, yet he's doing it in such an uncomfortable and inefficient position. Still, he does so soundly, face relaxed as if secure, in the way that Momo loved to see.

Still, he should really take care of himself first and foremost. He of all people deserved to sleep on a bed after all that's happened There's room on the hospital bed for one more person. Even though it's technically against protocol, she's sure that Hosu Gen will let them sleep side by side, just this one time.

She runs a hand through deceptively soft blonde strands.

He sighs at the touch. It doesn't take long before he's already sitting up and blinking himself awake.

Bleary red eyes search hers. The natural scowl is on his face, but without the usual lion-like fierceness behind it. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he rasps out.

"Good morning, Katsuki." She watches him for a while, allowing a small smile to form on her mouth as she watches him stretch and rub his eyes more awake. He looks exhausted, but different from the previous mornings they spent together. Calm, for some reason. "Is this your doing?"

He smirks as she holds up her hand with the IV line. "You don't have any fat left on the rest of yer skinny ass. Gotta make sure you don't die from the crash. Geez, you fuckin' doctors really can't take care of yourselves, huh?"

She raises one eyebrow at him. "You have some nerve, Bakugou Katsuki. Have you rested at all since..."

Wait, how long has it been already since she slept on the floor? Her sense of time gets challenged every now and then thanks to sleepless hospital shifts, but not to this extent. She fumbles for her phone on top of the side table and frowns. "... is this correct?"

Because if her eyes do not deceive her, it's been three days since the Nomu attack; twenty seven hours spent in the operating room, and the rest of the time she spent knocked out cold, apparently.

Katsuki stretches and grunts in agreement. "Yeah… actually, most of you just slipped in a fuckin' coma at the same time. Ponytail 2 did say that all of us fought with our quirks to get to the hospital, so it figures that we'd all crash since our bodies ain't used to that kinda strain."

Katsuki looks at her then, making her follow suit. She hasn't had a chance to look at herself closely during the height of their operations, but it's clear now how she's literally skin and bones and on the verge of breaking apart.

How hideous. Suddenly self-conscious of her appearance, she covers her front with two thin arms. "I suppose you're right. It was really reckless of us to act like heroes when we weren't. We really put ourselves in danger, and-"

She stops speaking when Katsuki holds both her hand. She thought he's been looking at her this entire time, but the way he does it now, with such intensity and emotion, makes her wonder how she hadn't noticed his eyes the entire time.

"You're a hero, Momo. One of the strongest ones there is," he says in such a quiet voice that burns low in the center of her heart, making it catch flame.

You're a hero, the words echo in her soul. She realizes then how long she longed for someone to tell her these words on a podium, in a ridiculous costume, in front of the most important people in the country.

She never imagined how much more meaningful it is to hear it in this disheveled state, while wearing a hospital gown, in front of one of the most important people in her life. Before she knows it, there are tears flowing out of the corners of her eyes and a smile working its way on her face.

Katsuki huffs, but smiles fondly as the tears flow. One hand rises to cup her face, thumb rubbing against the damp trail on one too-hollow cheek. "And definitely the most beautiful one on the face of this fuckin' planet. So if you keep lookin' at yourself like you're a fuckin' bog witch, then I'm forced to remind you otherwise."

Her voice is wet when she giggle-sobs at his ridiculous words. "Remind me again, Katsuki."

He obliges, and then puts his lips on hers and holds her close, like he means it.

And she knows he does, because his kiss and his touch and his breaths are gentle and soft, subtle and uncharacteristic of him that it's almost unreal. Oddly enough she's aware of him, his realness and his presence, the thoughts running through his mind, the throb of his pulse, the blood running through his veins. She feels all of him, and she feels right at home.

Safe and sound.

It only lasts a few moments. When they pull apart, she suddenly doesn't feel as fragile as she ought to feel.

"That good enough for ya?"

She hums in assent. "I suppose, but you might have to remind me every now and then."

She swears she isn't being needy when she links her thin hands with his strong, searing ones. It's just that she's sure, more than ever, that she'd like it very much if he stayed right there next to her.

She might truly be falling in-love with him, after all.

(And this might be the first time the words are spoken in her mind so clearly.)

He looks like he has words to say by the way his eyes look soft, but they sharpen in the next second when someone clears their throat behind him.

"Oh. Awase-san. And Midoriya-san?"

How long have they been standing along the doorway like that? She hopes that it isn't too long, but she thinks it might have been, by how Yosetsu is scowling at Katsuki and how pink-faced Midoriya is.

"What the fuck are you nerds hanging out there like a couple of perverts, huh?" Katsuki growls, but with less bite than Momo expects.

Yosetsu returns his glare, but fortunately looks disinterested in another fight. He points his thumb at the stammering Midoriya and tells them flatly, "I just got here to visit Yaoyorozu. Not sure 'bout this guy though-looks like he's been standing outside the door for a long while before I got here."

"You shitty-"

"Ahh! K-kacchan! It's not like that!" Midoriya flails helplessly as Katsuki advances, and it looks so comical that Momo barely suppresses a giggle. "I was going to-I mean, Best Jeanist called us both to, um, assist him again just now, but you and Yaoyorozu-san were… Um, I didn't see anything, but-"

"Holy shit, shut up fuckin' nerd!" Katsuki looks like he's a half-step away from straight-out physically assaulting Midoriya, but thankfully he just looks meaningfully at Momo as if to say I'll handle this and shoves his hands in his scrubsuit pockets. "Is it a fuckin' emergency? Just go right in and spit it next time already, you damn nerd!"

"S-sorry, Kacchan! Ah, it's fine, the patient's on the way up from ER, so anyway let me tell you about the case first…"

The unlikely duo begins to make their way out of the room, inexplicably amicable despite the profanities, as if the past hanging off their shoulders weighed absolutely nothing. Momo watches Katsuki's back and all his easy confidence and feels more than enough comfort from it.

"So," Yosetsu says with a lopsided smile, after a moment of silence spent staring after Katsuki's shadow, "you love him yet?"

Momo's face instantly warms, her mouth falling open stupidly at his flat, questioning gaze. "I-Awase-san, what are you-"

He sighs in mock exasperation. "So you don't? What's that smitten look on your face for, if not 'cause of that bastard?"

She shakes her head free of her blush. "I-please, don't call him a bastard, Awase-san. It's unseemly and unfair, because he's strong and kind and earnest and-"

"-and you're in-love with him."

She puffs her cheeks when he laughs at her undignified sputtering. After she recovers from it, she gives him her best haughty look and clears her throat. "And if I am? It's… it's not improper of me to feel this way about him, is it?"

"Of course not." Yosetsu sits at her bedside and looks at her warmly. "For what it's worth, Momo… I'm glad you found a guy like him. As weird as it is for me to say."

He's as straightforward and sincere as he's ever been. It's amusing that he is, and that he isn't threatening violence for once, considering the subject of their odd conversation. "What do you mean by a guy like him?"

He hums. "Well… It's not like I liked that guy from the start. He's the biggest fuckin' jerk on the get-go, he called you Dr. Ponytail in front of the whole hospital, he looks like he thinks of himself too highly-he's just as obnoxious as Monoma, for cryin' out loud, and that's saying something-and worst of all he pulled that shit with you before…"

It's funny that he looks like he's thinking over his words carefully to be considerate as he says one insult after another. Momo would feel offended for Katsuki, but she knows that Yosetsu's got a point to make at the end of all this.

"… and on top of that, the two of you together is just fuckin' chaotic. I don't know what the heck is up with you guys, pulling the shit you did with Endeavor and against those Nomus. You could have died, you know? And if it weren't for the police being preoccupied during the time, you could both be facing charges for public usage of quirk-"

She flinches and apologizes weakly. Why is he scolding her out of nowhere, weren't they talking about how Katsuki is good for her? Maybe she should interrupt him now because it is taking him a while to get to the point.

"But… you know, despite all that, somehow he brought out the best in you, and vice versa." He finally gives a thoughtful huff and looks at her in the eye. "When I saw you working by his side, I was sure that the you I knew back then is different from the you now. I dunno how, but you're definitely stronger than before."

She laughs weakly. "You all say that, but look at me." She waves her hands briefly, showing off the IV line hooked to her vein.

He looks at her, small and frail in her hospital gown, and doesn't bat an eyelash. "So?"

She sighs. "I almost died doing those reckless things… I probably caused a lot of trouble as well."

"But you didn't," he says bluntly. "I'd say that's pretty strong. And the fact that the bastard being with you somehow got those two blockheads to kiss and make-up… I'd say that's monster-tier levels of amazing."

She scrunches her eyebrows. "Those two-you mean, Midoriya-san and Katsuki are…"

Yosetsu's face flashes in annoyance briefly. "Yeah. Dunno what the hell happened since I was also out cold when those two talked, but when I woke up they were already working together and taking on some of the emergency cases with Jeanist." He leans forward with a look on his face designed to annoy. "So… looks like he's aspiring to be less of an intolerable asshole? Sounds like love to me, Yaoyorozu."

The blood returns to her face with a vengeance. Much to her chagrin, he notices this and laughs at her obnoxiously. And he accuses Katsuki of arrogance!

"You're as annoying as ever, Awase-san," Momo says, not without affection.

If it's true though, she'd feel so very ridiculously proud of Katsuki for letting go of his pride and resentment, and she'd have to give in to the impulse to kiss him on his silly face all over. Seems she has a lot of questions to ask of him after all this is over, it seems.

"Well, you got the rest of your lives, I guess?" Yosetsu stands up and stretches. "As for me, it's enough for me to see that you're alive and that Kendo and Tetsutetsu have nothing to worry about. Sorry for you, expect some noisy visitors later."

Speaking of which, hasn't it been a while since the four of them were in the same room together? Things are so different from medical school, so much more painful than any of them expected, but all of the unexpected changes are worth it.

She smiles warmly at him. "Thanks for visiting, Yosetsu."

He gives her a lopsided grin and holds her shoulder-a gesture so familiar and affectionate in a different way from Katsuki's, but not any less valuable.

"Take care, Momo," he tells her in all sincerity before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

The operation is simple enough, and after two hours Hakamata leaves the field to write his post-op notes in the chart. It's not his usual habit to leave closing the operative site to trainees, since stitching shit up is kind of his thing and he's famously anal when it comes to doing it with such precision as to leave minimal scars, but after responding to the code even the denim bitch must be feeling a tad too tired to do things in his usual annoying way.

It's about fuckin' time that the bastard trusted his juniors with these simple tasks, but unfortunately it leaves Katsuki alone with the fuckin' nerd to close up the drugged little kid's head together.

He wordlessly takes the lead suturing up the patient, grunting every so often when he needs Deku to do something. The green-haired nerd complies each time, sniffing and shaking like a snotty kid who watched the entirety of The Land Before Time.

What the hell. Who cries when doing surgeries? Katsuki thought that the year without him yelling insults in the background might have been better for the nerd emotionally, but it looks like you can't outgrow being a fucking crybaby if you've been that way all your shitty life.

"I'm sorry, Kacchan," he says, as a helpful nurse wipes his tears before they fall in the sterile site. "It's just.. I can't believe we're working together again, it's been so long, I didn't think you'd come back, and now you are, and-"

And ain't it just peachy that Deku's extra emotional after everything that's happened. "Shut the fuck up, Deku. We're still working, if you haven't noticed."

"I know, sorry," he says, still sniffling. "I mean… I really didn't know what to do earlier, you know. I didn't mean to do it-I thought you would hate me for it, but I really had to -"

Katsuki's mouth twitches under his mask. "You mean punching the lights out of the administrator who talked shit to me and told me to get the fuck out or kiss my license goodbye? While wearing a robot suit made by fuckin' Ingenium's engineer? While crying like the fucking useless nerd you are?"

He looks like he's on the verge of another loud nervous breakdown complete with tears that will rival the Niagara falls, but the nerd manages to keep it together. "Y-yeah! I mean-the robot suit thing was just, um… I needed to use it to fight when the Nomus were out there, you know, 'cause I'm quirkless and they were really strong and the rehab center had a lot of patients in it but-"

If he mutters any more, Katsuki would bark at the circulating nurse to punch the living daylights out of the fucking nerd.

"... anyway, I know you hate it when other people speak for you," Deku says, not bothering to say that he's learned it the hard way after all these years, "but at the time, I really had to do it, Kacchan! He was telling you that you were worthless and you had no right to be here and who knows if you can handle the pressure?"

Katsuki snorts. The administrator's fuckin' wrong, of course, but he had a point. He only had Jeanist to back him up, but to the rest of them he's just a general practitioner whose license is expiring next year.

Besides, hearing those things isn't new-he's had to listen to iterations of those words from his superiors back in Musutafu, and most of all from himself.

And in a way, he's had to hear it from shitty fuckin' Deku, who treated him like he's a fragile little butterfly who would keel over any given second. Always saying shit like you looked like you needed help, not trusting that Katsuki knew how to take care of himself. It's very hard to let go of all the built up shame and resentment over the years, but…

"... but I know you! You're super capable and smart and nobody knew what they were talking about," the nerd says with a fierce determination. "I mean… you aren't weak or worthless, Kacchan. You're totally the opposite of it, and it sucked that no-one listened…"

He never knew how to handle praise from this shitty nerd who says one embarrassing thing after another. If this were a manga he'd have torn his shitty speech balloon to shreds with his fangs, if he had to. Still, this isn't that type of story, and so he had to settle with a snarl and an insult. "Fucking hell, don't go around punching people just because they talk shit! Only I get to do that! What kind of idiot are you?!"

It certainly was a shocking sight to see. Katsuki's aggravated that the nerd just had to decide to grow balls and act out against authority after years of better opportunities and reasons to do so.

(And more aggravating is the tiny part of Katsuki that thinks that it looked fuckin' badass, tears and all. What the fuck. He'll never say so out loud.)

"Sorry, Kacchan," he says for the hundredth time, and it just gets more annoying each time, but he manages to continue the sutures. "I'll never do that again, promise! I'm just happy that you aren't as mad at me anymore and you gave me a chance to work with you again."

They cut the last of the sutures. Katsuki cleans the area briefly before covering it up with gauze. "Don't get me wrong, shithead. I still can't stand your guts."

His voice is quiet when he says this, without the usual piping hot vitriol underlining the words.

"And I'm workin' with you 'cos half the workforce is still recovering and we got no choice," he continues, avoiding how Deku brightens up noticing how not-angry his voice is. Fucking hell. "After this I ain't operating again. Not like I have any right to."

Deku looks like he's about to protest, but a haughty voice beats him to it. "Is that so, Dr. Bakugou? And here I thought you were regaining your conviction once more."

He jerks violently as Best Jeanist ambles up to them in that usual self-assured way of his, the way that makes him wish that a tornado would come and muss up his stupid 3/4 partitioned hair. "What the fuck did you expect me to do, Denim Fucker? Did ya think I can go back to operating just 'cause you want me to?"

"Yes," the bastard replies shamelessly. "More importantly, you seemed like you were on your way back in this world. Am I wrong to assume that this," he gestures plainly to the patient sleeping underneath the drapes, witless of the life-threatening blood clot they removed over her brain, "is something that you truly wanted to do, and that you did not just merely comply to my selfish wishes?"

Katsuki growls. "Fuck you! I ain't here just 'cause your pansy ass ordered me to be here, okay?! I'm here because I belong here!"

And it's true-he stepped back into this world after a year of avoiding it simply because lives were at stake. He didn't tell Momo back then, but he was scared shitless when he stood in the almost-empty suite for the first time in a long time. But he got into the groove of things easier and more naturally than he thought, and before he knew it he was taking the scalpel from her shaking hands and doing things he didn't think he'd ever be doing again.

And, fuck if it didn't feel like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

It doesn't matter though. He's only allowed here because the hospital is desperate, and also because the shitty nerd punched the lights out of anyone who tried to stop him. Still, after things have settled down properly, any self-respecting hospital shouldn't allow him into an operating room. He doesn't have enough training, nothing to show for the knowledge and technique he honed for the past years.

It isn't that fucking simple as this fucker says, and he knows it.

"That's all I need to know." Dr. Hakamata's mouth is obscured behind that ridiculous denim collar, but dare he say it, the crease in his eyes makes it look he's smiling and not sneering like the world's prissiest bastard, for once.

Before Katsuki can cuss him out again, the tall doctor flaps a thin folder briefly in front of him and the stunned Deku and drops it at a nearby table. "Application forms," he explains, when neither of them can think of any coherent words to say. "Get this ready by next week, after which I expect you seven AM sharp in the doctor's call room the following Monday."

Katsuki makes a confused sound similar to a cat whose tail is being stepped on and blurts out, "What the f-are you shitting me?! It was pretty clear that Musutafu wasn't gonna take me back-"

"It can't be," stammers Deku, eyes wide. "D-do you mean that they changed their minds?"

"No," answers Best Jeanist plainly. "But you are being considered for a position as a pediatric surgery fellow here, in Hosu General Hospital with my highest recommendation."

Bakugou's jaw is hanging stupidly at this point, but thankfully his face is still covered by a mask.

"You have a lot of questions. We have a lot of details to iron out. I get it." Jeanist walks closer to him, voice unnervingly gentle and mentoring and it's enough to disorient Katsuki. "All you have to know at this point is this: as unruly as you and your hair are, Dr. Bakugou, I have a lot of faith in you. You've proven that you can help a lot of people, and I would like to give you another chance to get you to the place where you can do that without people telling you that you can't."

A hand is placed on his shoulder without hesitation. It's weird, but that point of contact carries with it a surge of gratitude that his unruly self does not know how to handle.

"Hands off," he grumbles with a flinch. After rearranging his thoughts and trying not to explode from the sheer confusion of it all, he manages to mumble, "You aren't just shitting me, right? This chance is real, right?"

Dr. Hakamata, the Fucker Who Believes, shrugs. "All that's left is for you to take it."

He leaves the operating room after that. That piece of shit Deku starts to cry again and would have thrown his arms around Katsuki bawling if the blonde didn't shove him off with another threat. He babbles excitedly about Katsuki being back in action before he volunteers to take care of the patient, you know, so he could work on the forms.

Katsuki leaves without another word, head spinning from lack of sleep and confusion and outright exhilaration and he does not know what to do about all of this. Folder in hand, he wanders the bright hallways of the hospital and somehow makes it to the room he left earlier.

He enters the room and finds Momo sleeping quietly on crisp, white sheets. She's still thin, the hospital gown loose around her shoulders. IV's still dripping quietly next to her bed. There's clutter next to her table: black coffee and flowers and packages of sweets probably brought by her friends, making her look like a proper patient who needs care.

Other than those trifling details, she looks absolutely ethereal as she sleeps. Moonlight falls through glass and onto raven hair and lashes and onto pink lips that his eyes can't stop focusing on.

He drops on the chair next to the bed, quietly searches for her hand under the sheets. Holds it softly, firmly. Memorizes the shape of it against his.

Is this how it feels like to have things fall into place?

The surge of bothersome things don't stop. He tries to sleep and finds himself resting his head next to her lovely hand, and inhales her jasmine scent.

After another twenty-four hours spent entertaining noisy visitors (the noisiest of them being Tetsutetsu, who tells Momo of how he punched Nomus in steel form while riding at the back of Kendo's Harley-Davidson), eating hearty meals, and holding Katsuki's hand throughout the night, Momo is officially discharged from Hosu Gen with no other prescriptions than proper rest, a healthy diet, and exercise.

The code has been terminated for more than twenty-four hours now, with enough manpower to run the parts of the hospital not damaged by the attacks. Amajiki-senpai orders Momo to rest at home for another twenty-four hours despite her protests. This time, Katsuki doesn't fight back and drags her out of the hospital with his best efforts.

The sun hangs low over the city when Katsuki walks Momo back to her home across the street. Along the way, they see Kaminari and Jirou waving from inside the cafe. Besides the missing panes of glass and the repairs going around the street, they work as if nothing happened.

"'S a miracle they haven't burned the place down yet," grumbles Katsuki as he glares at them in acknowledgment.

Momo giggles. "Trust in them. They'll be running the cafe for you in two weeks, right?"

It's no exaggeration that her heart feels more than full hearing that Katsuki was offered a position in Hosu Gen, and he accepted it without an ounce of hesitation. She heard of the odd story involving Midoriya-san after it, and even though it involves some violence in their green-haired colleague's part, she promised herself to treat him to more meat pies from Monoma's out of sheer gratitude.

"Tch. Might as well say goodbye to it. If that pikashit runs it, it's goin' down in no time." It's odd, but there's a certain fondness to the way he says it. Momo knows that he's leaving his beloved cafe to them with a clear conscience.

In a short while they've made it to her building, and into her unit after that. She missed this place; she realizes this the moment she steps in. She missed her couch, her kitchen with her fridge full of take-out, her shower, her bed-

She feels Katsuki's forehead against the nape of her neck, feels his arms wrap around her torso. Feels the surge of warmth over her skin and all over her, inside out, when he kisses her and breathes words against her skin.

"What was that, Katsuki?" She turns around to look at him.

Once again she's reminded that he's here with her-warm, in one piece, breathing. Sense of purpose burning within. Moving forward with her.

Those eyes of his search hers in the sunlight-stained space between them, glinting like precious rubies.

He smiles in that intoxicatingly devilish way of his and puts his mouth over hers, repeating the three words in a murmur that resonates within her very soul. The words come out of nowhere and they surprise her, but she melts into them, melts into him so naturally, continuously learning that she feels the same way, and this is where she belongs.

She understands him and she tells him so, and kisses him back.

Now it feels like home.

-end-

AN: And... it's almost a wrap. I'm planning a tiny lil epilogue to this, but yeah the story is mostly finished!

But juni, you may protest, what the actual fuck? aren't there lots of missing details? where are the nomus? is endeavor alive? what really happened to bakugou and deku? and what's this about robot suits? So let me just say: the missing details will be filled in the next parts of the series. Bakugou's story is closely linked to Midoriya's, and I really want to at least start that story next month, but as you may have noticed I'm fluctuating between weeks of insurmountable writer's block and sudden days of hyperfocus so! I cannot promise anything!

Thank you for reading this far into the story! I'll do my best to write more Bakumomo in the future because,,, i really like them huhu