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By the time I regained consciousness, I was still a little groggy, and I felt sore in places I had no idea could hurt. Even with all these years in my profession, I had never felt so broken after a fight. I didn't really mind opening my eyes right away because even they hurt, and I already had a brief idea of where I was. I remember that help was already arriving when I passed out in my boyfriend's arms, hearing him scream in despair.
The fight had been intense, we were tired, and the villain didn't seem to feel any fatigue. I wanted to blow his face off, but I knew I shouldn't be hasty since the guy, to my bad luck, wasn't a complete idiot. His movements were firm, and he dodged very easily. Then it all happened really fast... in less than a minute, another villain appeared. They exchanged a brief glance and decided to attack together – one each – or at least, that's what they wanted us to think. As soon as I realized what was going on, I noticed that they were both focused on my Izuku. My body reacted before I could think, and I found myself in front of him, taking the blow for him. After that, it was all pain, so much pain that I couldn't pay attention to the fight going on in front of me.
I decided to open my eyes and took note that I was actually in a hospital. Just at that moment, I realized that he was holding my hand. Deku slept sitting in the chair with his head leaning against the bed, right next to my legs. With an effort, I brought my free hand to his green strands in a painful attempt at a caress, taking advantage of those brief seconds before he woke up to analyze him.
Deku was also injured, with both arms bandaged from the shoulder to the fingers, as well as his head. There were bandages all over his body, one on the right side of his face, one on his neck, and below his jaw as well. On the other hand, I could see the disconnected venous access, as the clueless nerd had left his bed to lie down here and chose not to bring the serum with him. When I thought about waking him up and making him go back to his bed, he opened his beautiful emerald eyes with surprise and apprehension, bursting into speech.
"Kacchan! You're finally awake!" he said, exasperated.
"Shh, lower your voice, Deku. My head is throbbing, and my whole body aches. Is there water there?"
He then took the cup beside him and handed it to me. And he continued to talk while I drank, this time in a lower voice.
"You were unconscious for five days. Five days. Your situation when we arrived was horrible, and your health condition seemed irreversible. One bar almost punctured your lung, and the other one came very close to your kidney. What went through your mind to throw yourself in front of that!?"
"Deku, I..." I started to speak but was soon interrupted.
"You almost died! You could have died!" He snapped a little louder.
"I... I had no choice. Those bars would have gone straight to your heart, I saw their trajectory. This whole damn mission was a trap designed to get you out of the field. And I didn't even have time to scream to warn you or get you out of there. You were going to die. How could I not have jumped in to save you?" I asked, touching his face. "My body reacted before I even thought about what I was doing. I just knew I could never lose you, Izuku." I rested my hand on his cheek and wiped away the tears that were already falling from his eyes.
"Kacchan, I was so worried," he said in a shaky voice. "When you fell unconscious, I became desperate and unstable. I don't even know how I managed to beat them. In fact, it was only possible because I knew that if I didn't win, you would actually die there. I wouldn't know how to handle it, I could never handle it," he confessed, looking into my eyes.
"I love you, and I don't ever want to go through this again. There was a whole scene planned, complete with a romantic and amazing dinner on a deserted island, made by the best chef in the world – myself – wine, a ring with an emerald the size of your broccoli head, with you or me for dessert... but going through more of this situation makes me realize again that, as heroes, we don't have the luxury of thinking that much about the future. I want to marry you, Deku," I said at once, holding his hand.
"I wake up whenever possible seeing you by my side. We've been together for many years, and even so, I want more. I want a damn marriage with everything we're entitled to, because I love you so damn much. I want your last name, and I want you to have mine too. I want to take ridiculously silly and cheesy vows in front of a bunch of people just to see you turn all red as you try to burrow underground. I want to make our love official before the sacred and the law. I want to marry you, my childhood best friend, the biggest and most wonderfully-hearted guy I know. I want children with you. I want dogs, cats, and any other animals we want. I want to ask you to marry me and then buy the house on this island where I would propose. It has a giant kitchen where I can cook while looking at the green sea and remember you whenever you're not there, or torture myself by looking at the counter every time I cook and remember what it would be like to make love to you on top of it. I want to marry you, for loving you so much and for such a long time, for our entire journey that was not always easy, but was and is surrounded by love and respect. I want to marry you, Deku, knowing that I will never be able to love someone the way I love you, for how much you've improved, for how much you've grown for me and for us together. I want to experience it all with you, nerd." And looking into the depths of those beautiful emeralds, I asked, "Will you marry me and have the honor of calling me your husband?"
When you make a marriage proposal with so much emotion, you usually imagine that the person being asked will respond right away, with a strong and resounding "YES!" But Deku was paralyzed in silence for so long that it felt like hours to me. I started to doubt if I had been too hasty... and then a deep and almost gut-wrenching sob escaped from him. He threw himself on top of me, and I felt every part of my body ache as he hugged me tightly, crying uncontrollably. He started mumbling things I couldn't understand, as usual, and I nestled my head against his back, waiting for him to calm down. Slowly, I felt him pull back a little, look at me, and then start speaking in a more composed manner.
"I didn't expect this, Kacchan. Of all the thousand things that went through my mind, this wasn't one of them. You see, I was hoping it would be ME asking you to marry me. I had been planning the proposal with Uraraka, I had even bought our rings... but I wanted rubies as red as your eyes, you know? They were incredibly hard to find, Shoto was about to give up on helping me, and now you've ruined my whole plan. I wanted us to go to a beautiful beach, I planned to kneel down and say sweet things to the point of making you nauseous with so much love. Throughout these days that you were unconscious, I've been thinking about it, about planning a life with you, about how I couldn't say goodbye or live in a world where you weren't. First, I would starve to death because I don't know my way around the kitchen, and then I would die of longing for not having your presence. I love you, Kacchan. I've loved you since kindergarten. I loved you even during our troubled pre-teen years, even when you walked away and broke our friendship. I've loved you for so long that I can't remember a time when I didn't love you. I want all the animals we can have, yes. I want children. I want your last name. I want to make grand vows that will make our guests sleepy and make you want to bury yourself underground because you don't know how to handle so much sentimentality in front of a lot of people. I've always wanted everything with you, Kacchan. And I swear, if we weren't completely destroyed and in a hospital right now, I would love you with everything I have. I agree to marry you and have the honor of calling you my husband ." And then he kissed me in that sweet way that only he knew how.
I spent a few more days in the hospital, as my recovery took a little longer, and I couldn't bear the horrible food in that place any longer. Deku was released first, as his injuries were less severe. When I finally came home fully recovered, he kept his promise and we made love until dawn, savoring each moment together.