Peony Pink and Cherry Blossom Tea
Chapter 10: Tea Would Be Great.

A sound fills his head. Intangible, incomprehensible. His vision shakes. His sense of time shatters.

Shouto keeps his eyes in the empty sky as the world freezes.

No-one moves for an eternity, until a thread snaps. Somewhere, someone screams "Endeavor-san!" A flurry of beige and blood red soars from one point in the sky to the crash site, followed by loud, orange lightning, a vision in bright red and white and blue which leaps from the ground to follow. The Nomu has knives sticking out of every orifice, crawling up the side of the shattered building to the center of the crash site; the two forces of nature snatch it from glass and twisted metal to go to somewhere far away to be silenced.

All at once, the stunned silence is broken by white noise.

Endeavor has fallen.

"... outo… Shouto…"

Someone next to him shakes him when his eyes refuse to move from the spot in the sky where crimson trailed from broken skin. How long has he been staring into empty space? How long has this person been shaking him from a trance?

He looks down and meets shiny brown eyes. "Shouto," Ochako calls, voice trembling.

Suddenly his ears are full of sound. Left and right people are shoving, running, falling over. Heroes with tears in their eyes struggle to keep a semblance of control over the mourning crowd, yelling directions in between sobs. Shouto would have been thrown this way and that if Ochako weren't there to keep him standing.

What is happening?

"Shouto, we have to move." Ochako's crying like everyone else is crying: tears cracking lines through the dirt and soot on her face.

He stares at her dumbly. There's soot, and ashes-his brothers. His brothers were here. They saw him-the old man-Endeavor-

"Where's…"

-they saw him-Dad -when his neck was cut and he-

His vision swirls and blurs looking for his brothers in the madding crowd, but Ochako holds his head still. He feels the softness of a fingerpad on his cheek, wiping away the dampness there.

He realizes with a start that he's crying too.

"Shouto." She'd repeat his name over and over as long as she needs to until he snaps back to his senses-and she needs to, because Shouto doesn't really understand what's happening yet. "Listen… Nacchi-kun had to go, okay? He had to take Touya-nii away before the heroes realize-"

But he was just here, he was just here, he was dead for more than a decade and now he isn't, and now the old man is… the old man-

Ochako is embracing him now, holding onto him as his legs begin to give and he finds himself going closer to the ground. "We'll see them again… don't worry, you'll see them again. For now, just breathe. One, two. Just like that. Stay with me."

And he tries, he does-he doesn't feel like he is at first because he's looking at broken concrete and his jaw is tense and his fingertips are tingling-ice crawls up on torn sleeves while steam rises on the other hand-but his chest rise and falls, quick then slower and slower as the seconds tick by, and Ochako is breathing next to him, soft arms around him and cheek pressed against him and he crashes back to the present.

It's painful when feeling comes back to his hands, when he flexes his fingers free of ashes and frost. His lungs hurt from inhaling smoke. His head throbs dully from the hit he took earlier. But at least he feels, and he thinks, and somehow he's plucked himself out of that spiral within him.

Ochako looks relieved when he blinks himself back to reality. "Can you stand?"

"I think so," he says, as he attempts to right himself with some difficulty, as people continue to rush past them in all directions.

She keeps one hand at his arm, tugging his sleeve towards the emergency room. "Come with me, okay? We have to go."

"But-" What will they even do now? What was he supposed to do in this situation?

Determination flashes in her brown eyes. "Shouto, you want to save him right?"

His past flashes before his eyes, painful and unchanging, all the scars on his body stinging in protest. But it's odd how quickly he says, "Yes, of course," like it's the most obvious answer in the world.

Despite everything, it's the only answer he is able to give.

"Okay. We're going to save Endeavor," Ochako says with a determined nod. "It doesn't look like the heroes are in a state to send a rescue team up there, and we need to be quick. Let's pick up everything we need and run to him, okay? I can float us there."

"Okay," he replies through the flustered buzz in his head, grateful that she's managing to keep a working head above her shoulders. As they move, people are screaming again and pointing at the sky. They turn in alarm as the sound of explosions ring across the avenue.

Under the gleaming sunlight, smoke, and fire, a line of orange explosions blazes upwards. For a moment Shouto is worried that it's another Nomu wreaking havoc again, but the source of them has a blonde head, angry eyes, and had a woman with raven hair clinging to his back. He's mid-air, eyes directed to the crash site where Endeavor lay.

Ochako's jaw drops. "That's Bakugou-kun and Dr. Momo?! What're they doing?"

Shouto doesn't know much about Bakugou so he wouldn't know what he's thinking, but he's seen that look on Yaoyorozu's face before. Eyes focused, calculating and analyzing and strategizing, not an ounce of the hesitation. One look at her and Shouto knows that she's there to help. The pair seemed to understand the gravity of what has happened to Endeavor, and the necessity of a quick response.

And Yaoyorozu can help. She can make things out of her body, enough to do first aid. But whatever Yaoyorozu can create to help that old man, it won't be enough. There isn't enough of her to go around.

Shouto makes up his mind once more. "Ochako, let's go. We'll back them up."

Finally he regains all sensation to his limbs. He takes Ochako's hand and rushes to the hospital entrance, pushing and tearing all the vines that Shiozaki had used to barricade the people from the villain attack. It's hard because of the thorns-he would burn them off, but risked burning down the rest of the hospital. Soon his and Ochako's hands are bleeding, until someone punches a hole through the vine wall next to them.

Stunned, they see a giant-fisted Kendo and Tetsutetsu in steel form tearing through the vines. "Todoroki! Uraraka! You guys are alive!" Tetsutetsu says in awe and relief.

"You guys are outside," Shouto says dumbly as the couple work through the barricade without flinching once. Weren't they supposed to be inside keeping the civilians and patients safe?

Kendo gestures to a cooler in her other enlarged hand. "We don't have enough blood, too many injured people who need it, and no means of transport except for my motorcycle. Tetsu and I are going to make a few more runs to the other hospitals after we drop these off."

"For transfusions?" Ochako asks. "Dr. Kendo, can we have some? Please, we're in a hurry, we need to save Endeavor-san!"

Kendo and Tetsutetsu freeze stare at them with unease. "You guys are planning to go up there?!" Tetsutetsu asks incredulously. "Ain't that dangerous? The building looks like it's gonna fall in on you guys if you barge in there!"

Of course it's dangerous. Of course they might die there with Bakugou and Yaoyorozu and make things worse by upping the body count. But… "We don't have a choice," Shouto answers. "We can't waste anymore time. We need to get there with an emergency kit as soon as we can."

Kendo looks at him with conflict in her eyes. "Todoroki… it's too risky. You already almost died a while ago. I think you should leave this one to the pros."

"The pros aren't moving. Every second we waste, more of his blood is lost through that gash in his neck that those Nomus gave him." He doesn't like how his tone is grave and how his voice shakes, but it finally gets the two of them to listen. "If we don't move now, Endeavor will die ."

Kendo and Tetsutetsu fall silent, staring at him, and then each other with apprehension.

"Todoroki…" Tetsutetsu mutters, so at a loss on what to do that he begins tapping the sides of his steel head in frustration. "Argh! I get that he's your dad and all, but if you and Uraraka die, and we just let you march in there-"

"We won't," Ochako says, eyes gleaming with determination. "We'll be quick and careful. My quirk will get us there in and out safer than anybody else can manage."

"Please," Shouto says. His gaze is suddenly on the floor as he bows his head. He doesn't know what else to do.

Finally, Kendo sighs. She isn't entirely convinced, that much is obvious, but at least she won't get in their way. She puts the cooler down and unzips it. It's filled to the brim with different types of blood products. "What's his blood type?"

"AB."

"Of course it's the rarest type," the redhead mumbles humorlessly as she sifts through the bags.

Despite the situation, Shouto can't help but think that even when he's in critical condition, the old man still manages to be very troublesome.

Kendo manages to provide them with two bags, which Ochako takes in her arms in sheer gratefulness. "This'll be enough until we get him back here," she tells Shouto with some relief. "Now we just need to break in and get meds-"

The hole through the vines gets punched further from the inside, making the four of them jump. To their horror, three pairs of brawny arms smash through the thicket, unmindful of the thorns cutting through skin.

For a second, Shouto thinks that it's another Nomu. His hands freeze and flare up ready to attack. Thankfully he's able to hold back as two familiar faces, one with a mask and the other with a large headband, peek through the hole.

"Ah! Watch it!" Awase cries in horror, seeing not only Shouto ready to strike, but also Ochako, Tetsutetsu, and Kendo. Behind him, the brawny Shouji holds all six arms up in surrender.

"Awase! Shoji! What the hell!" Tetsutetsu yells as he pulls his arm back. "Why are ya guys breakin' outta there? Is there an attack inside?!"

"On the contrary. We were going to see if it's safe enough for Shiozaki-san to remove the barricade," Shoji answers. As he walks out of the hole, the vines regrow to seal the exit once more. "Besides that, Awase-kun insisted on getting out to help, too."

"You bet I am," Awase huffs in indignation. "Yo, Todoroki, Uraraka. You guys are going up there for Endeavor, aren't you? I'm going with you."

Kendo and Tetsutetsu make a frustrated sound in unison. "Dude, you too?! We were just trying to talk them out of this suicide mission!"

Awase pays them no mind and gives his full attention to Shouto and Ochako. "I saw everything from the window upstairs. You'll need all of these, right?"

It's only then that Shouto notices that Awase has welded what could be the contents of an entire e-cart and more to his bare skin. All that they need to prevent that old man from dying, in other words.

"Yes we do, Awase-kun! Are you really gonna help us out?" Ochako says.

"Yeah," the welder answers flatly, taking the bags of blood from her and sticking them at a spare spot on his arm. "I know Yaoyorozu and that bastard are already up there to help out, but there's no way that Yaoyorozu can make enough stuff. We gotta get there quick before she kills herself creating an entire surgical suite up there."

Among the others, he sees an ah, so that's why he wants to help type of look in their faces. He would ask about it, but there's really no time to stand around and argue. "Thanks, Awase. Let's go."

Without another word, they leave the hospital premises and make their way near the office building, now a heap of broken glass and melted steel. Their initial assumptions were right; apart from Bakugou and Yaoyorozu, who are already inside, no-one has attempted to even come near the building. From how unstable the structure looks, no-one could really blame the pros for not trying to do anything else but make the civilians go the other way and not look back.

Doesn't mean that he doesn't feel sick from it, though. They've really given up on him.

"Shouto." There's a soft hand on his right hand. The frost on it melts with the warmth of her palm and four fingertips.

Ochako looks up at him, tremulous and anxious, but without an ounce of hesitation in her brown eyes. "Ready?"

Her other hand is already on Awase's, one pinky up as well.

Shouto breathes in, and out. "Ready."

Ochako nods and presses her pinkies down.

The sensation of gravity leaving his body takes over him in waves. Soon the ground disappears beneath their feet, and they're rising up, up, up, faster with each passing second. He hears Awase yelp in brief panic from Ochako's other side. Their distorted reflections float along with them along the shattered glass facade of the building.

Halfway up the building, Ochako's cheeks become less pink and progressively greener than they ought to be. Her eyes are scrunched tight in a desperate effort to fight the nausea that he knows is rising to the back of her throat, along with the threat of bile.

He squeezes her hand in an effort to reassure her. She determinedly squeezes his hand back. "I'm okay. Just tell me when it's time to release," she tells him weakly.

Thankfully she manages to hold on until they're a few feet away from the edge of the crevice. She hooks her arms around the two men, manages to scream a shaky, "Release!" and holds on as best as she can as they land somewhat roughly over an intact slab of concrete. She almost stumbles forwards and headfirst into an abyss, but Shouto catches her on time.

The inside of the crash site looks like a scene from a horror movie. The hole is about fifty meters wide, ten floors deep. Smoke rises from random small fires, metal hissing and bending in all directions. Bodies are scattered everywhere, pale and burnt and surrounded by congealed blood that have stopped flowing.

"Shit," Awase mutters under his breath. "No-one had a chance to evacuate. This is terrible."

Seeing dead bodies is definitely not new to any of them, but not like this. There isn't a safe way to get to the bodies they see immediately to confirm if any of them are alive or not, and not enough time before the building crumbles over them.

All of it is too much for them. Ochako finally gives in and empties the contents of her stomach a step behind them. Shouto immediately drops next to her, rubbing comforting circles on her back as she continues heaving. The amount of it is alarming; Shouto worries that she wouldn't be able to handle the strain of continuing their mission.

After another minute of heaving empty air, Ochako finally calms down. Dazed but determined, she looks up at the concerned Shouto and Awase and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Sorry about that. Let's go, I'll float us there."

"But-"

"There's no other safe way." She stands up with tears in her eyes that definitely weren''t just from throwing up, and grabs onto Shouto and Awase. Before anyone can protest, they're in antigravity once more, floating up, then dropping down. Their gravity stutters in their descent, but Ochako manages to float them down slowly and safely through the debris.

"Do you see them?" Awase asks, his voice echoing all over.

Shouto shakes his head, keeping his eyes and ears hyperfocused. If Bakugou and Yaoyorozu were here, they should hear someone right? That man looks like the type where you hear him no matter what he does…

It seems like an eternity has passed before they hear voices. Soft, weak, a whisper hardly louder than an echo. "Endeavor-san first… Katsuki, you have to save him…"

"Momo, don't fuckin' pass out on me now-stay with me, stay here, right here-"

"Hear that?! Shit, she sounds hurt," Awase says in alarm. "Where the fuck are they-"

Shouto feels Ochako jolt next to him. "We're close," she says, maneuvering them forward without warning.

It's hard to see in the dark, past the rubble and broken concrete, but as the sounds of Bakugou panicking get louder and louder, Shouto knows that Ochako's correct to trust her senses, as messed up as they are by shock and vertigo. They float closer and closer to a clearing, and soon they see him: a man covered in blue and orange and red, drifting in and out of consciousness. It's dark, with no fire around them.

He doesn't look alive.

He barely hears Ochako scream RELEASE!, barely registers the moment that gravity returns to them and they land on the ground. In his periphery, he sees people moving behind him. Bakugou yelling something, Awase yelling something back, Ochako yelling at them both. Yaoyorozu's there too, he knows he sees her with all her torn clothes and skin and bones, but he can't focus on anything else.

He doesn't know how, but he stumbles at Endeavor's side. Numbly he touches his wrist to feel his thready pulse, sees the too-subtle, too-slow rise and fall of his chest. It doesn't feel like it's really him seeing the gauze steadily staining blood over the left side of his neck.

There are things in his hands-when did Awase give him these things?-and in precise movements he manages to place a line and start a blood transfusion, even though all he can think of is how cold Endeavor's skin is and has it ever known cold? Before this, all that old man ever did was burn and burst into flame and now he's almost dead and ice cold and it feels too much like his right side, and now his hand is frosting up again, and it isn't right, none of this is right-

"Shouto. Here."

He snaps out of another trance and sees a pair of brown eyes looking at him. She's hooked another line through his other arm while he was out of it, apparently, and is in the process of taking his other vital signs.

She looks at him with concern, but thankfully does not say anything about it. "His pulse rate's in the 120's, but very faint," she tells him in her nurse voice-detached, but all that they need right now.

He nods. "He's in shock. Awase, we need-"

"Got it," Awase says, unfusing the needed medicine from his body. Ochako takes it from him, hooks it up, keeps all senses in high alert for Endeavor. They exchange muted words, numbers, clinical terms that sound detached from the imminent danger of losing the old man.

He perseveres.

Somehow all the meds they pump through his spent body push his heart just enough. A few minutes later his blood pressure's not deathly low, and his pulse isn't as weak. He looks up at Ochako and nods. "Stable," he says.

"Okay. We should move him again," she says quietly, with a deep inhale. "I'll float all of us out of here, and drop us outside of the hospital."

"Can you manage it?" It's one thing telling her labyrinths to behave with just the three of them rising to that height. Another thing to take a half-dead Endeavor along with them, as well as Bakugou and Yaoyorozu, who admittedly probably weighed only half of her previous weight at that point.

She nods, biting her lower lip nervously. "We have no choice. Making Bakugou use his quirk again in this kind of place is too risky. It's also too dangerous to make two trips."

Shouto stares at her carefully. "You're at your limit already."

She shakes her head, reaches over to hold his cold hand. "Trust me. I can do it."

And so he does.

Ochako activates her quirk on Endeavor and his set-up first. He floats without much difficulty, just like the day they first met, Shouto realizes. The group moves him past the mess of debris carefully. When they get to a place where it's safer to rise up the crevice, Ochako reaches out to touch the rest of them-him first, then Awase, then Bakugou with Yaoyorozu in his arms, and then herself.

She pales with each new weight removed by her quirk, but her eyes remain strong and focused and although Shouto is worried, he knows he can trust her with his life.

"Can you float all of us with your quirk without killing us with the drop, Roundface?" Bakugou snarks, not without reason.

She glares at him. "Not like I have a choice, Explodey-face."

She keeps one hand on Endeavor's sleeve. The other she hooks around his arm, fingers squeezing over his torn sleeves and bare skin. She keeps the touch there, snapping him consistently back to reality.

Without further preamble, the group collectively holds their breath and floats up the crevice. It's a short while before they're out of the darkness and into the harsh sunlight of the sky, hovering up over the city.

Below them, people are pointing and yelling at the sight. Ochako hovers them closer to Hosu General Hospital before she slowly puts all ten fingers together and whispers a nervous "Release!"

Their drop down the building is rapid at first. Bakugou and Awase scream in abject terror as they descend. Shouto holds on to Ochako's hand tight, eyes on her green-tinged cheeks. She looks at him, holds another puff of breath, and manages to slow their descent until they're floating gently down to the concrete, where Shinsou and Kirishima are running out with a stretcher to greet them.

Shouto watches as Ochako gently deactivates her quirk from Endeavor, making him land neatly over the stretcher. Behind him, Bakugou and Kirishima are yelling at each other, but he pays them no mind. He focuses on the numbers on the cardiac monitor that the ER team connects to the old man, as his foggy brain tries to make sense of the numbers and lines appearing on the screen…

Shinsou's voice snaps him back to reality. "Todoroki, Uraraka, we got this. Iida's preparing the ICU."

He's alive.

His knees feel wobbly once again as his mind comes to terms with everything that has happened. Endeavor-that shitty old man. His father. Their father. He's still alive. He'll live.

"Thank you," he hears himself say in a voice that sounds too distant to be his own. He watches dumbly as another group of nurses wheel the old man's unmoving body past the swinging doors of the emergency room. Another gap in his mind, as he answers without thinking: "We'll help in the code."

Shinsou pauses. "You sure?"

Ochako looks at him in surprise. Again, when he nods without hesitation.

The purple-haired guy huffs. "I heard you and Uraraka almost died fighting a Nomu on your own, before that guy-"

Wait, people saw-

"We can do it, Shinsou-kun," Ochako interrupts before he says anything more. She looks at Shouto meaningfully as she says, "We need to help everyone who's hurt."

"Very good. We need all the help we can get."

Best Jeanist walks from behind them, trademark denim suit frayed at the edges and slightly disheveled. He and Amajiki-senpai, who hobbles behind him, looks like they've had their share of fighting as well. The way he moves though, with head held high and an impeccable posture, one wouldn't believe it.

"We already have a number of cases lined up in Neurosurgery-head traumas and the like. I'll need all available neurosurgeons up in the suite now. All four residents should go up as soon as you're able."

Around them, people are rushing back and forth into the hospital. Many with obvious broken bones, gashes and cut staining their office clothes red. Some are half-conscious, throwing up, or in obvious pain. An alarming number of them are unconscious and critical, the type that has the staff talk in loud voices, telling everyone else to get out of the way.

His hands shake from using his quirk, from all that he's seen and heard and touched that morning. Is he ready to take care of all of them?

In front of him, people are arguing for Yaoyorozu's behalf. Bakugou the loudest one among them, and the only one insisting that she will be able to help people despite looking like she fought the hardest. Yaoyorozu is skin-and-bones, yes, but Shouto knows that no matter what anyone says, no-one can stop her.

He shouldn't let anyone stop him either.

Four soft fingers hold on to the crook of his arm. Ochako looks up at him, eyes and pink cheeks warm and shining and there.

"I'll assist you, Dr. Todoroki," she says with a determined nod. "I'll be here for you the entire time."

He remembers once more that he isn't alone.

In no time, Shouto and Ochako clean up, dress themselves up in clean scrubs, and go into the surgery suites.

Kendo goes in and out of the suite, bringing patients and charts with her as she does. Most of them direct victims of Nomus, others caught in the crossfire of the fights that happened, others victims of falling debris and trapped buildings and stampedes from the panic.

One by one Shouto operates on them as quickly and as precisely as possible. Ochako tries in turn to assist him reliably, responding to his needs as best as she can, sometimes without having to say anything. They are able to do most of the surgeries without much problems, although they almost coded twice in a particularly critical case. Kendo informs them later that unfortunately the patient passed away.

(Shouto tries not to think about Endeavor too much, but Kendo's tone of voice still gets to him. Ochako looks at him and touches him lightly each time she notices.)

They take some breaks, but probably not as many as they should. Some of the staff bring them rice balls and sandwiches and awful coffee that Shouto does not have the luxury of complaining about anymore. They eat in silence as they study the cases they're taking next, take a deep breath, stretch their muscles, and go on to the next procedure. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Hours later, they close up their last patient and wait for news patiently in the OR. It takes some waiting with baited breath and swollen eyes and fatigued wrists, but Kendo sends them a message soon: the code's over guys. We'll call you when another emergency comes up, but for now it's time to take a break!

By this time, Shouto is slumped on the floor and against the wall of one of the corners of the operating room. His hands almost hurt too much to even hold on to his phone, but he manages to read the message before dropping it completely. "Sounds like it's over for now."

Ochako is slumped right next to him. She barely has the energy to lift her head up to meet his eyes as she slurs, "Really? It's over?"

He leans against her, hears the crinkle of her chestnut hair crumpling against him as he does so. "They'll call us when they need us. But we can sleep, for now."

She makes a sound that doesn't quite sound like a word, and sighs in relief. "Okay. We should… move somewhere else or something. Somewhere nice, and warm, and… and soft..."

"Mhm."

Neither of them move a muscle. Their bodies are too heavy; by this time they both feel the effects of overworking their quirks, their bodies, their minds, their everything. Besides, there's nothing like the comfort of a surgical suite floor after a long and tiring duty…

(Nothing like the softness of her cheek against him, as she leans in closer to his warmth.)

He feels her breathing slow, but also feels some effort to keep her eyes open, to move her mouth again. "Hey..." she says, sounding drunk.

"What is it?"

She shifts her head slightly towards him, so he feels the little pleasant warm puff of breath over his neck. "The two of us… we should start, from the very start. Before things get weird and confusing again. Is that okay?"

He smiles quietly. "That sounds great."

He feels her smile against his skin. "Okay." Suddenly he's staring at her outstretched hand and into her tired, shining, pretty brown eyes. "I'm Nurse Uraraka Ochako, by the way."

He takes her hand and shakes it. "Todoroki Shouto. Nice to meet you."

She smiles once and giggles, slurring something that Shouto can't quite understand anymore because the world's getting hazy and it's been awhile since he last heard that laugh and the vibrations of it sink into his blood like morphine. She promptly collapses into his side, body and consciousness finally giving in. He doesn't stop her-couldn't stop her, actually, as he himself suddenly feels an irresistible urge to slip into unconsciousness.

It's been a really long day. They both have great things and not-so-great things to face once they regain their bearings. But at least, right now, in this cold and isolated corner of an empty operating room, he doesn't have to let go of her hand.

They wake up almost five hours later, body stiff and not completely recharged, but better than when they were running on zero sleep with all the side-effects of using their quirks after so long. Ochako stirs first and only manages to wipe her face free of drool before Shouto quietly blinks into consciousness.

"Hey," he says, rubbing his eyes in a way that makes him look like a little kid. "Had a good sleep?"

"Yeah." With a start, Ochako realizes that she'd drooled on his shoulder and scrambles to wipe the mess with her hand. "Oh shit, Doctoroki, sorry… I was so tired, I didn't mean to mess you up like this-"

Why were they sleeping on the floor anyway? Everything's all a blur in those first few minutes of consciousness. Maybe it didn't matter when they were both delirious from exhaustion, but passing out with their necks overstretched and their backs and bottoms cushioned mercilessly against the cold tile can't be good for them. Although she had to admit, sleeping on Shouto's left side is always a pleasant experience, whether it's on the ceiling or on the floor.

And they haven't even resolved all the dramatic shit between them yet. Is it really okay to snuggle up and drool on someone when things aren't a hundred percent okay?

Shouto doesn't seem to mind very much, though. He catches her hand and squeezes it gently. She'd blush, but he seems to be doing it in a half-conscious haze. "Don't worry. I don't mind it."

She grimaces. "It's gross though. You shouldn't just parade around with other people's drool on you."

He blinks at her. "... I guess you should wash your hair then."

"! Did you-" In alarm she grasps the top of her head, patting it down for any uncomfortable dampness or stickiness. When she finds none, and sees Shouto chuckling at her, she whines and threatens to wipe him with more of that, until someone clears their throat from above them.

Aoyama Yuuga has less sparkle than he usually has, likely owing to the craze of the past twenty-four hours, but seeing him in all his sparkly glory is a visual assault on just-awakened eyes all the same. " Bonjour, mes amies! Dr. Todoroki, you are finally awake, I see."

All humor suddenly flies out of the room as they regard the ICU nurse's too-polite demeanor. Shouto nods and stands up, taking Ochako by the arm to help her up as well. "Yeah, I am. Is there anything wrong, Aoyama?"

Aoyama shakes his head. "Monsieur Endeavor is stable, but just so. The other doctors have things to discuss about the treatment, but we cannot grab a hold of the rest of your family, unfortunately. I understand how tired you must be, Dr. Todoroki, but-"

"It's all right. I'll go there." As he begins to step forward to follow the blonde out, he looks at Ochako with an uneasy gleam in his eye.

She smiles at him. "It'll be okay, Shouto," she says with the most reassuring smile she can give, despite all likelihood of his condition being otherwise. With another careful beat, she asks, "Do you want me to be there too?"

He inhales shakily. "No, it's… I think I should. By myself."

She nods. She doesn't fully understand the hows and whys of the two of them and the rest of the family, but she hopes she will, eventually. At least she understands enough to know that Shouto has to face his father by himself.

She reaches out and squeezes his hand. "Call me when you need me."

He nods, and squeezes her hand back. With another nod, he lets Aoyama lead the way to the outside.

Ochako breathes out, swallows all her worries down, and leaves the suite by herself.

Under the careful watch of everyone in the country, Endeavor survives. It takes him three days before he regains consciousness, another three days before they're able to remove all the machines hooked to him, and an extra day before he is out of the ICU and into the fanciest room in the hospital filled to the brim with flowers and fruit baskets.

Ochako watches from a distance as Shouto comes to terms with many difficult things. Like Endeavor coming back to full consciousness, but not being able to talk. His right side not being able to move as much as the left. The big scar on the left side of his face that he got from the fall.

Everyone throws a fuss over the looming possibility of the number one hero not being able to completely recover from these injuries and return to his work. The government, the media, the hero associations, everyone on the internet and out on the streets. Ochako herself feels some foreboding over not being there for Endeavor early enough, even though they did all that the could.

She knows that Shouto realizes this as well. It takes a lot out of him to tend to Endeavor's needs, talk to officials and the like about the situation, talk to his co-workers and the people in the hospital-just, a lot of talking, more than he's used to. But he does, and at the end of the day he talks to Ochako too, just tells her everything about how all Endeavor can do is stare at him quizzically when he asks him how he feels, and how hard it is, how overwhelming it is to face all of these out of nowhere. How frustrating it is to feel angry and sad and confused and not know if it's the right thing to feel about his father.

He doesn't always feel better after he spills everything. Ochako doesn't always know what to say. But he's been prepping himself to seek therapy very soon, and she's one hundred percent behind him. And she embraces him as much as she can, and he accepts that.

Most days, her touch really helps.

She isn't sure about that particular day though.

It's a big source of stress for the family. A lot of arguments between Fuyumi and Natsuo and all the nosy uncles and aunties from both sides of the family have erupted regarding whether Todoroki Rei should be allowed a visit. In the end, when it's Rei herself who decides that she wants to see him, and when her psychiatrist agrees, no-one can do much about it anymore.

Eight days after his confinement, without much ado, she comes in Endeavor's hospital room. No flowers, fruit baskets or anything other pretense. Just two of their children on each arm and another behind her, to make sure that she'll be okay. Ochako meets her outside just before she makes her entrance, and the embrace she gives him is chilling.

It's not a scene she's supposed to see, even though Rei seems to think otherwise. She tells Shouto she'll wait at the rooftop. The siblings give her a grateful nod.

When the door closes behind them, Ochako stays there for a beat of silence. She feels the air tense, solid. "Hello Enji," she hears from beyond the door.

There's a crack in her voice, sharp enough to make tears sting in Ochako's eyes for no real reason.

She leaves the family behind and takes a breather up the roof. The air up there is cold and wakes up her senses, dries up her tears. It must be embarrassing crying so hard for a family she's not really part of, but she can't help it. At least she's up here without anyone to see.

She promises herself to call Ma and Pa once she calms down-she has to tell them that she loves them, she loves them, dammit she loves them and she's happy that they're back in Mie-ken. So she takes one breath after another, keeps it slow. When the tears stop flowing and she isn't sniffling like a little baby anymore, she fumbles for her phone in her pocket and begins to unlock it with shaking fingers.

"Yikes. You're seriously still using that relic? Shoulda let the Nomus destroy that one too."

She almost drops the phone when she turns to the source of the voice.

It definitely isn't the first time she's seen him, but the scars, piercings, and tattoos give a shock to her system all the same. He seems to have more of them covered in bandages, and there's a heaviness to his step that's definitely an injury he's trying to hide with a nonchalant facade, but the black hair, blue eyes, and self-assured smirk is the same as she last remembers it.

Despite the urge to step back, she stays right where she is. "It's you again," she mutters, dazed.

He smirks. "Long time no see, Space Cadet."

"I have a name, you know. Like you, Todoroki Touya."

He shakes his head. Quietly, he says, "Don't. It's Dabi now."

She nods. Accepts this, because she doesn't know enough not to. "Um… I don't know if you know this, but… your family, they're all there, with…"

He smiles. "My family, huh? It's cute how you think I still belong with them."

"Of course you do." She doesn't know why her voice suddenly sounds like it's pleading with him. "Just because you look different and you're a vigilante now doesn't ever stop that. You know Shouto and Nacchi-kun always thought of you a brother… and even Fuyumi-nee, if she knows-"

"Bad idea, Space Cadet. You know that vigilantes are literally criminals, right? You're literally talking to a criminal right now," he says with a careless shrug. "You don't wanna implicate those two dolts with me, they might arrest them on the spot. Natsuo, especially. That kid never did grow out of the habit of tailing me wherever I went."

There's something to be said about the various emotions that Dabi says all of these things. Forcefully neutral, but with fondness and sadness trembling under the surface.

It's enough to make Ochako's own voice tremble. "But… that's not… you just can't leave them, not now…"

Dabi stares at her thoughtfully. "You sure? It's a mess down there. Endeavor's retiring, they've yet to capture the key individuals in the league, the next number one hero's a chicken with an attitude problem… I dunno, in the long run, maybe it's better if the guy's vigilante son, who's actually doing something to solve this case, just remains missing for good, yeah?"

He watches her face and lets out an exasperated sigh. "You're seriously crying over this?"

She wipes her betraying eyes and sniffles. "What's it to you if I do?"

"Nothing. You really suit Shou. Both crybabies. It's pretty great how compatible the two of you are," he says with a grin. "Which is good, because if you were just after his money I woulda burnt you to a crisp on the day we first met."

She scowls at him. "You're seriously casually throwing in a death threat while I earnestly shed tears for you?"

"Now's a good time as any, I guess."

Maybe it's wrong, given the mess of all the painful emotions in her chest, but she really wants to punch the lights out of him right there and then. Relations to Shouto be damned.

Something in the way her face changes makes him cackle-a wheezy sound, rough and grating, as if he's smoked two packs a day for the past five decades. "That's a great face you're makin' there, kid! You look like ya wanna kill me or something!"

She resists the urge anyway, even though it seems like he's asking for it at this point. "So, Dabi, what brings you here? Have you just come here to aggravate me while your family's having a life-changing meeting downstairs?"

He taps his thumb against his pierced lower lip. "Was that it? I forgot."

"You forgot?!" What is this guy on, anyway?!

He shrugs. "I dunno. It seemed important at the time, but if I forgot, then maybe it's not that important? At least, not enough to risk me being captured by the feds."

Ochako can hardly believe it as she watches the man leap up the fence surrounding the rooftop easily. He has as much agility and precision as a jaguar, although his injuries are more obvious when she watches him favor one side as he prepares to climb down.

He's seriously just going to disappear like that on her?!

He seems to read her mind. The shit-eating grin on his face says as much anyway. "Don't worry. If I remember what it is, I'll tell ya. You'll be with Shouto the entire time anyways, right?"

She nods, as flustered as she is by this entire exchange.

He smiles at her then-not sardonic, not sarcastic, not mischievous in any way. "Good. You better be. See ya, Space Cadet."

Another wave of the hand, and he drops off the side of the building. Ochako runs, scared that the guy slipped and is actually falling to the concrete below them, but when she makes it to the fence, there's nothing there but thin air.

She stares at the empty air and the rushing city below her for a few moments, stunned beyond reason to truly understand what happened. Dabi-no, Todoroki Touya, whatever he says, he'll always be Touya-looking strangely relieved after their exchange is over. What was that about? All she confirmed was that she'll be staying with Shouto for good-

"Ochako?"

Shouto emerges from the entrance. Seeing her face, his face turns to that of alarm. "What are you doing there? Have you been crying?"

She's about to say no, even though she knows her voice is going to crack if she does. Doesn't matter though, because Shouto's got her secured in an embrace in the next moment.

"Hey. It's okay. I'm here," he whispers in her ear, stroking her back. His closeness warm, welcoming, so familiar. It's just enough to quell the shock of seeing Touya and hearing his cryptic words and seeing that look on his face that looked like he heard all he needed to hear.

You'll be with Shouto the entire time anyways, right?

Yes, she will be. "I'm here too, Shouto," she says, returning the embrace. "Tell me all about what happened."

That evening, Shouto drives her home to her apartment.

As before, he parks his car at the street across the complex, watches her keenly as she unbuckles her seatbelt, gathers her things, and looks back to him with a quiet, reluctant smile on her face. "So… thanks for the ride, Shouto. I really appreciate it."

He nods. "Anytime."

Her hand hesitates over the doorknob for a beat, and another. It's amusing to see her hesitate. Cute, really, how she looks at him with those big eyes when she turns around, mouth open with no words coming out.

"So do you want-"

"If you want-"

They interrupt each other again. It's weird how they still tend to do it makes him feel closer to her, as silly as it sounds.

After she laughs, she straightens up and says, "I was about to say… I know we're starting from the very start and all, so…"

She trails off, suddenly entirely pink and embarrassed beyond words. Considering this is the same girl whom he had fed and carried and undressed in a number of unfortunate occasions in the past, and also the same one who had saved him for more than that, it's definitely a strange thing to see.

"So," she manages while twiddling her thumbs together, "Have tea with me? In my small house, small… furniture. Everything small. And, maybe it's not good tea, but. With me. Yes? No?"

She flinches at all the unexpected directions her sentences went. She tries again, but fumbles all the same, only ending with her puffing her cheeks when Shouto can't help but laugh at her efforts.

He doesn't remember the moment when he first knew it, really, but he was sure that exact moment: he's going to stay with her for as long as she'll have him.

For a long time, hopefully. The rest of their lives, if he had this way.

He reaches out to hold her hand; soft, warm, fits his just right. "Tea would be great," he says eventually.

He is rewarded with a beaming smile on that face. "Okay. Come in, then."

After they park the car, Ochako takes him by the hand and brings him home.

AN: and... almost done! just an epilogue to go!

so there are still a lotta loose ends. we'll see if we can tie those up in the remaining installments. (ahhh sorry this is such a long time coming!)

thank you so much for reading until the end! this is one of the longest stories i've ever written and it took a lot outta me but i really love this one and i appreciate all of y'all so much like ya won't believe! see you in the epilogue!