Grateful

Smoke darkened the evening sky, blocking out the remnants of twilight and the incoming moon and stars. An entire city block was on fire, and an army of heroes and firefighters were evacuating families and putting out the blaze. Ash fell like snowflakes onto everyone’s arms and legs, leaving small, persistent burns in their wake. To make things worse, the wind was blowing the smoke into their faces, making it almost impossible to breathe. Deku’s mask allowed for some ventilation, but even he was beginning to suffocate on the fumes.

“Is that everyone?” he gasped, turning to some of the heroes in his rescue unit. He was placed in charge of the largest building- the origin of the fire. The investigation into what set the fire off in what used to be a small bakery would have to wait until later, as the fire quickly spread to the surrounding buildings. Currently, the apartment building situated above it was burning, fast and wild and soon to be out of control.

One of the heroes grimaced. “There’s no way to know for sure, other than by checking every room. We’ve had everyone going in where they can and evacuating as many people as possible.”

That’s not enough! Deku wanted to shout. Casualties were an unavoidable part of heroism, but he still hated to think that there wasn’t more that he could do to prevent them.

“Deku!”

He turned to see Uravity quickly approaching, soot covering her face mask.

“I’ve managed to float people from the tops of the buildings, and we haven’t found anyone else in the other buildings.” She said, coughing into her mask. “Anyone with severe burn injuries or worse are being taken away by ambulances as we speak. Everyone else is being treated in a safe zone up the street.”

“Great work. Is there any sign of the flames coming down?”

Uravity nodded. “The end buildings are extinguished, but this building shows little to no sign of stopping. If we don’t put it out, the other buildings are just going to keep re-igniting.”

“Okay. All heroes direct all efforts toward the middle building!” he commanded into his headpiece. “Where’s Shouto?”

“Last I checked, he was still evacuating citizens, and making slides for everyone to get down. He should be on his way now.”

Deku sighed. It was selfish of the number one, but he couldn’t wait until he could just go home, shower and cuddle with his boyfriend. Anything to get the taste of soot out of his mouth, grime off his skin, and good food in his stomach. He’d scheduled a fancy dinner date for them, so of course something had to literally blow up. It was what he signed up for, especially when trying to date another hero, but it didn’t make it any less disappointing. Shaking his head, he turned to the small group of heroes discussing strategy.

“The flames of this building are consuming it from the outside in,” one hero spoke, gesticulating. “The longer we take, the less able we are to truly help anyone. These flames are so hot, we can’t really send anyone else in. We need to cut our losses and just put the flames out.”

Deku’s jaw dropped in horror at the other hero.  

“Cut our- What did you just say?”

------

Shouto’s right arm was almost frozen solid, but it felt like it was on fire. There were at least ten ice slides coming from the different burning buildings, plus additional structure supports and scaffolding up and down the block. All of them had to be reinforced consistently due to the powerful heat of the flames. He hadn’t stopped moving, stopped creating, for three hours. Smoke inhalation left his head spinning, but he powered through to keep the reinforcement, using his flames to faster propel his body. It was his duty to do his best, and he’d be damned if he let anyone get hurt or die due to his own laziness.

Nevertheless, it was a blessing when he heard Deku’s commanding voice, telling them to reconvene on the final building. Jumping on the back of one of the firetrucks for a short break, he rode all the way to the epicenter of the blast. The inferno was burning so hot that the flames were turning blue- not a good sign. Striding to Deku and Uravity, he saw that they were in heated debate with the other heroes. Or more particularly, his boyfriend with a finger in someone’s face while Uravity held him back.

“Listen to some goddamn reason!” one hero argued, scowling at Deku. “There’s no way we can send anyone else in there to check! These flames are entirely too hot! We already can’t breathe, and everyone is exhausted. We need to focus on putting the blaze out!”

“Exhaustion, right-” Deku replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. “I’m sure they never told you about that when you signed up to be a hero!” Affronted, the other hero took a step forward. Deku stood at his full height, crackling with energy and ready to confront when Shouto held his hand out to stop him.

“No one cares if you don’t care about yourself, but don’t be so foolish with the rest of our lives!” the other hero hissed. Before Deku could retort, or worse start a fight, Shouto yanked him away.

“We don’t need to do this right now! Deku-D- Izuku!” he had to force Deku to look him in his eyes, shaking him. “I know it means a lot to you to save everyone. I get it! But we can’t send our own people in there knowing that it’s dangerous! He’s right. We need to put the fire out. Go talk to the civilians, keep people calm. Channel your energy, Zu, come on.”

Scowl melting into frustrated tears that flowed through soot, Deku jerked away, tossing off Shouto’s hand.

“I understand, I just- just- fine. Okay!”

Shouto sighed- let him sort out his feelings, I’ll talk to him later. His significant other was always distraught about loss of life, and he’d been feeling extremely frustrated lately after a few botched rescue efforts. Despite them not being his own fault, Izuku felt the blow of each loss, so Shouto understood that disagreeing with him probably wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Not that it mattered what any of them wanted- they were heroes, and what mattered most was saving civilians and keeping the peace. He nodded at the other hero, whose shoulders relaxed as he nodded back appreciatively.

They were ready to unleash a volley of water on the building when a woman broke through the body barrier, darting towards the flames. Shouto immediately dashed forward, grabbing her arm.

“Ma’am?! What do you think you’re doing?” he chastised, his tone conveying annoyance and worry.

“My baby is up there; you can’t do this! I can’t let her die up there! I was only gone for a few minutes! What have I done?” she sobbed. Her arms and legs were covered in scorches and burn marks, and she must have been in pain, but it seemed irrelevant when her wild eyes suggested she’d push past Shouto to make it back inside.

A conflict raged inside Shouto- to tell this woman that her baby was likely dead in that maelstrom, or to convince people that he’d just told it wasn’t safe to do one more search for her child.

As soon as he opened his mouth, she squeezed his hands.

“Please… You don’t know what it’s like to be a mother who must deal with the loss of a child… I can’t deal with it again! She’s the only one I have left; I have no home without her! Just let me go in and die with her if there’s really nothing you can do! Please!” By the end she was on her knees, sobbing as he begged him.

Biting his tongue to swallow a sigh, he turns away. Of course, she’d managed to choose the guy with mommy issues. “What floor?”

Gasping, she lifted her head. “What?”

“What floor?”

“F-fifth! Third door, to the right!  

Shouto dons his gas mask and, before he can think to regret it, launches himself up to the fifth floor with a wall of ice. Onlookers watch in awe and horror as he courageously leaps into the burning building.

He maneuvered through the flames and falling debris, fire-resistant suit and natural abilities the only thing stopping him from being consumed on the spot. Finding the woman’s apartment, he exhaled in relief. The fire hadn’t completely made it back here yet, though it followed soon behind Shouto, licking at the front door. A small rosy-cheeked baby slept in a bassinet, peacefully at odds with the world around her. For a small moment, guilt consumed him; this baby would have died a miserable death soon after if he’d never come up to save her. The ground shook from an explosion underfoot, and it was enough to snap him out of his ill-timed thoughts. Darting into a linen closet, he tore a strip of sheet off, and moistened it with some melting ice. Wrapping the baby in the wet sheets and making sure to cover her face, he ran back to the front door. Cooling his hands and wrapping her in one more sheet of ice, he begins charging through the flames. His heart clenches when he begins to hear the poor child cry, eyes wide and confused as she’s being taken through the bright blue hell that is the collapsing apartment building. Shouto forces down the panic rising in him as his original path is gone, choking out relief when he sees another open window. Uravity floated in front of the window, frantically peering inside. A gasp escapes her when she sees Shouto emerge from the flames.

“Here, take her. She needs to be checked for smoke inhalation immediately!” he commands. Nodding, Uravity took the baby and touched it gently before floating it down to the waiting heroes below.

“Hurry up- your boyfriend is worried sick about you!” Uravity teased, holding her hands out. Shouto chuckled, reaching for her.

The ground collapsed under his weight, plunging him into its fiery depths.

-------

Bright light poured into the hospital room, giving the large amount of ‘get well’ bouquets extra color. In fact, the entire room becomes alive except for the patient that lies back on the bed. The only signs that he’s alive are the consistent beeps of the heart monitor, and the rise and fall of his chest.

Izuku lays his head against the side of the bed, exhausted. He only got a fitful sleep in the past few hours, his pounding heart and severe anxiety preventing true rest.  

Deku watched with horror as Shouto jumps into the burning building, doing the exact thing he’d just told them all not to do! He’d wanted to follow in right behind, but Uravity held him back, flying up to the window and peering in.

“What the hell is he doing?” she hissed. “God, both of these guys are stupid- Shouto!”

A few minutes later, Uravity holds her arms out and a bundle is pushed into them. She activates her powers, allowing it to float down. Deku catches it- a wailing baby girl, soaked with cold water but completely unscathed. He turns, and a shrieking woman runs into him.

“Thank you, thank you so much! I owe Hero Shouto my life!” she sobs, clutching the baby close.

He’s ready to tell her to thank Shouto herself when a loud crash sounds, along with a horrified scream.

“Aim the water! Put the fire out! Put it out!” Uravity wails, landing on the ground.

Deku immediately rushes to her. “Where- where is he?”

Uravity gives him a piteous look. “He fell. He’s somewhere inside. I- I can’t go in- it’s too hot-”

Deku didn’t even stay to listen to her speak. In the next second he was turned toward the flames with every intent of diving in. Hands were gripping at him, dragging him back. Pulling him away from his love that was likely burning alive right now. He didn’t care who it was, people were being flung left and right as he stalked forward.

“I’m sorry, Izuku-” he heard Uravity murmur. He felt a sharp prick to the side of his neck, and his muscles went numb as he collapsed to the ground.

“What- No. No!” he screams, watching in horror as the building crumbles further. “Don’t! Don’t leave him in there! Please! No! I can’t lose anybody else, please, not him!” Squeezing his eyes shut, tears hit the ground as he presses his chin to the concrete.

“No! Shouto! Shouto!”

Despite his wailing pleas, there was nothing he could do. It took an hour to put out the blaze, everyone putting in extra effort to save the hero. The tranquilizer wore off just in time, and as soon as he could move Izuku dragged himself into the wreckage. Though the brick foundation and walls remained, the front half of the building floors were now on the ground, and layers of burned wood lay a few feet high.

He dug frantically through the debris, praying that he could find Shouto- that somehow, he’d be alive. The odds were extremely low- he’d been buried under a building, in a gas fire no less. Whispers doubted him, suggested that Shouto was dead, that he’d sacrificed himself and would be remembered and honored for what he’d done. Deku didn’t want to hear it. There would be no memorial because he’d find Shouto alive and bring him home. He would bring him home, clean him up, then beg him for forgiveness for brushing him off earlier.

God, what if that was his last memory of Shouto?

What If that had been Shouto’s last memory of him- rejected when he was only trying to help?

“We’ve got a body over here, pretty cremated, unidentifiable.”

Heart stopping, he turned to the voices. Some investigative heroes were looking toward the middle, where the bakery was originally located. The body was dug up near the back of the building, next to shards of metal. No. No it couldn’t be-

“It’s not him. We got the flames out within the hour since he fell, there’s no way it could be him. He fell near the front too. I’m sure he’s in there somewhere.”

The disembodied voice came from beside him, and he looked into the eyes of the hero he’d argued with earlier. On his side- nothing personal. Nodding gratefully, he continued to dig.

He couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t bear the idea that he would dig, and all he would find was a disintegrating corpse, or worse, bones-

Tears began to blur his vision, but he dug around the front area like a madman until-

Torn blue cloth.

Gasping with hope, he began to dig even faster.

“Shouto…. come on Shou, please be here. Please! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for earlier, I should have listened, we both should have stayed safe! Please don’t leave me like this Shouto, not now!”

Finally, with one large toss of wood he saw a pale hand sticking out. Reaching in, he pulled out Shouto’s body- and wailed.

“Deku!”

Uravity bounced toward him, blanching at the sight of the limp, bloody body. Tears poured down Deku’s face, and he shook his head.

“I can’t feel anything, Ochaco! Why isn’t he breathing?!”

She quickly touched Shouto’s body, lifting it up before placing a thumb on his carotid and placing her ear on his heart. A few tense moments later, her worried expression brightened.

“He’s alive.” She breathed. “He’s alive, Izuku! His pulse is weak, but I feel it! We need to get him help, quickly, but he’s still in there!”

Izuku grasped his pale hand, squeezing it. Shouto’s survival was considered a miracle by everyone involved. He wasn’t unscathed- his left arm was broken, he was concussed, and he was covered in cuts and bruises from the five-story fall and debris. The doctors hypothesized that maybe he was able to use his ice quirk to protect himself but took a few blows to the head from the fall into the debris beforehand. He required an oxygen mask to help him breathe and would probably struggle to breathe normally for a while.

But he was alive, and Izuku thanked every deity he could think of for it.

A quiet groan broke the silence.

“Shouto?” he whispered. Shouto began to squint at all the light, before widening when he realized he was still alive.

“Zu?” he murmured, muffled by the mask. Izuku’s eyes filled with tears, and he lunges forward, gently embracing him.

“Don’t you ever worry me like that again,” he whispered emphatically. He pulls back to smile tearfully, still holding tight to Shouto’s face. “What were you thinking? After you’d just told me to let it go- you rush back in? They had to tranquilize me to stop me from running in after you!”

Shouto’s eyes watered, and he looked down sheepishly. “The lady- the mom,” he rasped. “She told me that she’d already lost a kid, and she was going to lose this one too. She told me she’d rather die than to lose another kid, and I just- I couldn’t leave her there. I know what it’s like to go to a home with a lost sibling. I know how much pain my mom was in. I couldn’t let her lose her home and her baby.”

Izuku’s heart swelled with love. His stupid, beautiful, empathetic, and courageous Shouto.

“What about me? What would I have done if I’d lost my baby, huh?” he teased, caressing Shouto’s cheek. Shouto rolled his eyes, pushing Izuku’s hand away.

“Don’t be tasteless.”  

Izuku laughed before bringing their foreheads back together.

“All things serious, I’m so grateful you’re okay,” He whimpered. “What would I do if I had to come home and you weren't there? To have to wake up day after day in a world where I never saw you again?”

In the time that Shouto lay unconscious, Izuku had time to ruminate over all his reckless decisions and how Shouto was on the forefront of stopping him from making even more. He thought about how angry Shouto would get when he would get needlessly injured, and how patiently he would take care of him. So much love and care, taken for granted because he just assumed that he was Deku, it’s what he’d always done. The reckless hero, the one who always went too far for a rescue. He didn’t know how sickening it felt to think that the love of your life might go too far one day, and then they’d just… be gone.  

“I am so sorry I pushed you away. It was killing me- the idea that your last memory was me pushing you away because I was being stubborn. You deserve so much Shou, and I will never take you for granted again.”

Smiling his Izuku’s favorite bashful smile, Shouto nods, accepting the apology. Izuku sighs in relief, then smirks.

“Let me stick to making dangerous decisions, huh? Only one of us can be foolish, and I make it look sexy."

Throwing his head back to give a raspy laugh, Shouto returns the grin. “You make a whole lot of things look sexy, Zu. Making bad decisions isn’t one of them. Please try to keep a rational head- for both of us.”

They sat in a content silence, until Shouto spoke up again.

“So? How did the fire start?”

“Turns out, there was a robbery in the bakery. Building next door had a camera that somehow managed to survive the flames. Whatever happened, they saw the guy walk into the back door of the bakery, and next there was a huge explosion. The investigators think that maybe he set off a gas leak or something, which caused the industrial oven to explode. He died immediately, his body next to the exploded oven.”

Izuku doesn’t mention how horrified he’d been at the idea that the crumbling body could have been Shouto. Shouto scowls, rolling his eyes.

“What the fuck was his purpose? Who blows up a bakery?”

“I don’t know. We’re concerned it may be the start of something bigger.”

“Oh, god. I’m already tired of the cleanup.”

Hearing the exhaustion in Shouto’s voice, Izuku gently pushes him back onto the bed and gives him a confident smile.

“You don’t worry about that. Heal first. Your friendly, number one hero has it in hand.”

“Mm. I’ll trust you- for now. So, what are we going to do first when we go home?” Gazing adoringly, Shouto plays with Izuku’s hand as he talks. “I know you had a date planned; I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Your birthday is coming up, we can-”

“Forget about it. It’s not important.” Izuku quickly placates him. “Wouldn’t be a date without you, anyway. Hm, let’s see. Shower, for sure. A long soak in the bath, a massage to help you feel better. Some good, warm food. Cuddles.”

He nuzzles into Shouto’s neck, causing him to let a rare giggle slip.

“A soak sounds amazing,” Shouto moans, trying to stretch. “My body is so sore.”

“Keep making noises like that and a massage might go too far,” Izuku teases, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He dodges when Shouto smacks his arm.

“You horny bastard! I’m injured! Only thing I want to do in bed is eat and sleep.”

“It’s a new date then. I’ll make you some soba and we can watch all of your favorite movies.”

“Mm.” Shouto mulls on the idea. “Maybe ask your mom if she can make the soba? Sorry, but after this, her comfort cooking is all I need.”

Teasingly affronted, Izuku holds his hand to his heart. “I’m offended! And here I thought I was everything you needed!” Standing up to go, he leans over to lightly kiss his forehead. “I’ll have everything ready for you. Clean sheets, soft pillows, warm bath, Mom’s cooking. Nice and safe, you’ll never want to leave home again. In fact, I won’t let you. Your new job is being comfortable.”

Soft for, but also exhausted by, his boyfriend’s excitement, Shouto yawns. His eyes are already slipping closed.  “If only. I trust you, Zu. Go home, get some rest too.”

Izuku couldn’t force himself to leave immediately, waiting instead until Shouto’s breathing slowed. Even though Shouto was the one injured, he was the one who wouldn’t feel safe or content until Shouto was at home and wrapped in his arms. Warmed at the thought, he softly closed the door behind him as he went to prepare everything they would need.