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Devastation was alive in the dust that clogged the air and the cries among the collapsed buildings and roads. The earthquake had wreaked havoc, rumbling with a few seconds of warning before the earth began to crack. 

Ejiro, Katsuki, and you were off duty, enjoying a long-awaited date when the earthquake began. 

No uniforms and no backup. You, Dynamight, and Red Riot sprang into action and began to evacuate as many citizens as you could reach. 

It was difficult, with Ejiro’s quirk being meant for defense and Katsuki’s quirk, to destroy. Yours, while it had its uses, was not ideal for rescue either. 

Thankfully, a call to the agency had the real rescue heroes bursting into the scene. Heroes like Uraravity and Froppy and the job got a bit easier. 

Leaving the heavy lifting to them, you, Red Riot, and Dynamight pick up the slack finding stranglers in the rubble. 

“Urgh, if I find Mother fucking Nature, I’m gonna punch her in the face!” Katsuki muttered into the earpiece given to them by the first responders.

“You can’t hit a woman, Katsuki.” Ejiro chided. 

“Mmm,” you hum in thought, “I’d say he can’t hit someone weaker than him. Ei, I’m pretty sure I saw you punch Mina the other day.” 

Katsuki grumbled, “Then I’d never get to hit anyone!”

 Ejiro spluttered in defense, “We were sparring! I didn’t mean to hit her in the face!”

You laugh, softly, “Yeah, yeah.” remembering how Mina had discussed how the purple bruise sorta looked like blush for her pink skin and proceeded to dab purple lipstick on her other cheek to complete the look. 

“I’m a little with Katsuki though. I was enjoying our date,” you say, ruefully. 

Ejiro sighed, “Yeah me too, but- Hello? It’s okay, now. I’m Red Riot. I’m gonna get you outta here. Just hang on.” There was shuffling before Ejiro said, “I’m heading back to the shelter. I think this is the last guy here, okay.”

“See you, Red. Be careful.”

“Will do,” he said cheerily before turning his com off. 

“Katsuki, you still there?” you call to the static. 

“This is so fucking boring.” his agitated voice comes through. 

“It’s not so boring for someone who might be trapped and genuinely needs a hero.” you scold. 

“Fuck you. I know that!” 

“Just clear your area and head back, if you’re so bored,” you say, exasperated. 

Katsuki clicked his tongue, “No.” 

You know why he’d rather be doing something than sitting back with the rescues. For as boring as playing search and rescue was for Katsuki, doing nothing when people may be hurt went against the inbred, visceral need to help every last person that they could help. 

“Please. Is someone there?” came a small voice in a destroyed alley to your left. 

“Hey, I’m here.” you call out assurance, “I’m coming to you.” 

You followed the voice, sifting through the debris to the tiny person hidden underneath. A little girl with short dark hair and scared brown eyes. 

“Hi, there. Are you hurt?” you ask, smiling automatically through the worry for the little one. 

“My leg.” she choked out. You eye the small leg trapped under a large rock. You’d thank Katsuki for forcing those extra weights into your workout routine, “I’m gonna get you out of here. Can you be a brave little girl for me?” 

“Y-yeah.”

“Great.” you quickly settle onto your feet in a wide stance and pull the large piece of concrete off her, thankful it wasn’t too big to lift. 

The girl whimpers and you coo, “You’re doing great, sweetheart.” 

You crouch down, examining her leg. You bit your lip, you’d used up most of the supplies given to you by the first responders already. You look around, trying to find something sturdy to bind the broken leg to. 

“Is that your backpack?”

She looks over, “Y-yeah. I was on my way from school.” 

“You mind if I…?” 

She shook her head and you look into the purple bag. Bingo. Books. 

“If your teacher asks why you didn’t do your homework, you can say a hero stole your math book. Got it.”

The girl paid you a wobbly smile, “Good idea.” 

 You quickly bind the two thin books around her leg with the little bit of bandage you have left and hope it will keep the bone from shifting too much. “Alright. I’m going to have to carry you back to the shelter. Put your arms around me, sweetheart.”

She balances her arms on your shoulders and you wrap a hand securing around her back, then swoop her into your chest smoothly. 

The little girl clings to your neck, whimpering softly. You run a hand down her back, assuring her softly, “It’s gonna be alright now. You’re doing great. Keep that up for me-” 

A dragging sound catches your attention. You whip your head in its direction. Across the street, a man is wobbling along the crosswalk, dragging his feet like there are weights attached. He’s swiveling his head in all directions, seeming lost. 

You call out to him, “Sir! Sir, are you injured-” 

The man’s head snapped to yours. His eyes were pupilless, filled with a muddy brown. You tried not to be unnerved by them. In this day and age, quirks affected your appearances in unpredictable ways and it was hardly ever a reflection of the person beneath. 

“Sir, please follow me back to the shelter. There are-”

The man tilted his head to an almost 90-degree angle, you were surprised his neck didn’t snap. “You escaped.” he croaked. 

“I’m sorry?” you ask, resisting the urge to take a step back. 

“We cannot have escapees,” he said. His face was blank. 

Then the ground surged. 

A great tidal wave of tar and concrete upended the street, lifting high, as high as you’ve heard the ocean’s waves could reach. And then slapped down. 

The impact thundered, the jarring vibration rattling your bones. Then a lightning bolt began on the surface of the ground, expanding, swallowing the surface, and heading straight for you. 

You bolt with the girl in your arms, realizing too late that you’d paused too long. 

The earthquake that had devastated a good portion of the city, was not an accident. 

You tap the earpiece with your free hand, clutching the girl tightly with the other, “Katsuki!” 

You dared to glance back at the crumbling ground, the surrounding buildings falling victim to its force. Your heart pounded from how close it was. You felt like prey running from the impending destruction like it was a mindless predator. 

“What’s happened?!” Katsuki answered immediately. 

“I need you. Ping my location.” you pant, hoping it was clear enough to hear. 

The girl in your arms cried, “It’s getting closer.” 

“It’s gonna be okay.” you try to say, “I promise. It won’t get to you. Katsuki!”

“I’m on my way, goddammit!” 

You run, thankful there was still solid ground for you to run on. 

By the time you saw Katsuki exploding his way to you, the destruction was creeping up to your heels. 

You glance down, the ground quite literally falling apart at your feet, then back at Katsuki. 

Shit. 

You shout, hoping he heard you, “She has a broken leg!” 

You toss the girl into the air, screaming, “Go!” and then you fell. 

***

Katsuki almost froze as he watched you disappear from his sight. His breath caught in his lungs, but then instinct took over. 

Katsuki’s trajectory placed him just in line to snatch the girl from her descent. Landing on the ground seconds before the ground ate away and sprinted off. 

He had no time to think about what just happened, only that if he wasn’t fast enough, this girl and he would die. 

The destruction was catching up, rapidly destroying everything in its wake. Katsuki hefted the girl onto one arm, trying to center the extra weight. He threw an arm behind him and detonated his hand. Katsuki jumped, letting the explosion propel them forward. 

The girl in his arms cried, but he couldn’t stop. Didn’t stop, until the shelter came into view. 

Only then did he chance a glance behind him to find that there was no destruction. No sounds of rumbling earth. He couldn’t even tell how far he’d run or when the destruction had stopped coming after them. 

He struggled to breathe, his explosions still ringing in his ears. He could barely acknowledge the EMT that took the sobbing girl from his hands. 

“-Atsuki! Katsuki!” 

Katsuki’s head snapped up. Ejiro stood before him, his hand shaking his shoulder and worry swimming in his eyes, “What’s wrong?” Ejiro asked, “What happened? Where’s Pebble?” 

The mention of you pierced his stupor like a bath of icy water. He turned on his heel, following his first instinct, to lie, because as tough as Eijiro was on the outside, his heart was too soft, too gentle. Fear raced through him and he didn’t want to condemn Eijiro to that fate when there was the possibility that you were fine. He prayed for that possibility, “I dunno. I’m gonna go look.” 

Katsuki blasted off the ground, feeling the imbalance of his one arm’s overuse and painfully ignoring it and Eijiro shouting his name. 

***

Katsuki followed the path of destruction. Running away, he hadn’t had the luxury of looking behind him. He could see everything now, flying high above it. How the buildings were crumbling, concrete and metal spilling down their sides. Someone’s business or home is reduced to rocks and dust. The streets were torn apart, any signage buried, making everything look like one whole monotonous hell. Katsuki struggled for any bit of familiarity to try to remember the street he left you on.   

And those words resounded in his head, pounding on the inside of his skull. 

The street he’d left you on.  

Katsuki faltered, his explosions stopped in mid-air and he fell from the sky. He collided with a metal awning, the metallic ringing sounding harshly in his ear before the unstable structure collapsed under his weight. 

Katsuki hastily righted himself, swatting away the dust drying his tongue, “There’s no time for this!” he berated himself, taking off into the air once again. 

He attempted to ping your location for what felt like the thousandth time. The device buffered and Katsuki had to resist every urge to throw it. 

Then multiple beeps sang to Katsuki. He didn’t even pause long enough to feel relief. 

He was off, exploding toward the beacon and landing amongst the dirt. 

His red eyes flicked desperately over the ravaged landscape of debris, chunks of road, and rock and found no human life. 

“This makes no fucking sense.” Katsuki seethed, kicking a stray stone. 

Then honed in on a flashing blue light just a meter or two ahead of him. Your earpiece with the locator.

“Shit!” Katsuki growled, picking up the equipment and crushing it in his hand. He screamed in frustration, “Hey, dumbass! You better not be dead! I will find a way to come and drag you back to life so I can kill you!” 

Katsuki stomped off in a random direction, searching on foot. If the earpiece was here, you couldn’t be far, “Oi! You better not be keeping quiet to make it harder for me to find you! This isn’t hide and seek, idiot! Even if it was, I’d win! I’m going to find you!” 

With every second that passed, Katsuki grew more and more aggravated, “Oi! You just gonna give up! Where the fuck are you?!” 

Katsuki spun on heels, choosing a direction at random. With no crumb of evidence that you were here or that you were alive, the uncertainty began to seep in where he’d built a dam against it. 

Then he heard it. A whisper, so soft it could have been mistaken for the wind. 

“K-kats-uki.” 

Katsuki whipped around trying to find the source, straining his ears against the silence. 

“Ei-” 

Katsuki was running toward the soft call, finding that you were not far. The echo of his feet hadn’t even relayed the sound yet. 

Hours after this event, he’d be ashamed that he’d even paused. That he’d taken that 2 seconds, staring at your body while it lay punctured by two metal braces with a huge rock balancing precariously atop. And your voice, raspy and strained, calling out for them, “K-kats-”

You weren’t even looking at him, calling almost mindlessly at the sky. Unmoving and face smooth, like you’d accepted your fate. 

Fuck that!

“Oi, I’m here.” Katsuki moved, darting to your side, “I’m here. I’m here.” 

You shifted your eyes to him. They were glassy, unfocused, and smiling faintly like this was all a pleasant dream, “Y-you’re he-re.” you stated, “Is Ei-”

“Back at the shelter. I didn’t tell him.” Katsuki said, clipped, as he leaned forward to assess the wounds. The piece of debris looked like one of those well-kept lollipop trees, but made of building material and hosting a second trunk and it was planted right in your torso. One at your lower stomach and one nestled at your ribs, uncomfortably close to your heart. 

Katsuki knew better than to try to remove it or destroy the rock. The wound could be torn from the force and made worse. You’d bleed out before he could get you back. There was already so much blood, staining your casual clothes amongst the dust and a few pebbles that were on you. The red mixed with the dust like texture paint. 

Katsuki tapped his earpiece to send straight to the rescue heroes, “Oi, get your dumb asses over here! Firework is- is- shit! Hey! Wake the fuck up!” 

You squeeze your eyes shut before gradually blinking them open, “Mmm?” The action would have been endearing on any other day that you've done that in the comfort and safety of their bedroom, but this was far from it. 

“Stay the fuck awake until they get here,” Katsuki ordered.

“ Dynamight, can you give us a rundown of their injuries. ” 

Katsuki scanned your body for any injuries other than the two pieces of metal stuck in you, “Two metal bars penetrating their lower and upper body. Nothing else that I can be seen. There’s this big rock on the bars, the size of a fucking mailbox.” 

“ Okay, try to keep them awake. We’re sending Uraravity and a few paramedics. Please do not attempt to move them or extract the bars. ” 

“No shit. Be fast!” he said before signing out. 

“K-kat. S-sky’s p-pretty, huh?” 

Katsuki slumps into a sitting position right at your head. His fingers itched to reach out and place you on his lap but refrained. Any movement was bad movement. “It's the fucking same as always.” 

“Nah, it’s p-prettier..” you slurred, your eyes drooped. 

“Oi!” Katsuki shouted, working through the little heart attack that happened each time you closed your eyes. 

You snap your eyes open, gasping. You wince, “F-fuck, this hurts.” 

“That means you’re still alive.” 

You shoot him a side-eye, a small glare, “S-shut. Up.” then glance at the concrete tree, “N-never though the spiral thing-ies would do me in.”

Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed, “Spiral thingies? The fuck is that?”

“T-the thing.” You say, “In me.” 

Katsuki facepalmed, “The rebar!” 

“T-that’s what- it’s c-alled?” 

“ Yes . Everyone knows that.” Katsuki huffed.

You pout, “B-et Ei. Do-esn’t k-know.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, “That’s because both my partners are dumb as fuck.”

“M-ean. I c-ould die and that’s, that’s the last thing yo-” 

“You’re not dying!”Katsuki shrieked suddenly, louder than he needed to.  

You smile lightly, sadly.

“Stop that right now!” Katsuki yelled. 

“Kat,” you say, trying for evenness, “It h-hurts. I can b-barely breathe.” A tear slips from your eye, “I don’t want this but I need you to-”

“To what?” Katsuki demanded, furiously, “To accept that you’re being a complete weakling right now. You’re not fucking dying, dumbass! End of story!”

Blinking away tears, you say, still smiling, “You know I love you right?”

Katsuki leaped onto his feet because it was too painful. The very idea of you dying and worse, the way you sounded too ready to welcome death. “Stop it!” 

“Will you- tell Ei- for me? That I love him.”

Katsuki yelled, ignoring the burn in his own throat, “I won’t! Did you fucking hear me?! I won’t tell him!” Katsuki fell back onto his knees, the impact jarring at his knees, “So stay the fuck alive and tell him yourself!” 

You sniffled, a tear falling from your eyes, “Okay, okay- I h-hear you- J-just- I gotta- tell you some-thing important.” 

“No, save it for when you get out of this mess,” Katsuki grumbles. 

“Kat-suki, I can’t. This is really- really important.”

“Oh, for fucks sake. Just spit it out.” 

“Ei ate your spicy noodles and then threw it away cause they were literally killing him. I covered for him.” 

Katsuki stared for a long moment before he smacked his palm to his face. He huffed out a laugh, “You are fucking ridiculous.” that was followed by hysterical laughter, “Fucking ridiculous. I’m going to kill him. And you” 

You were smiling with no energy to join your boyfriend’s laughter, “B-better you th-an this.” 

The somberness returned to the mood instantly, “That’s not funny.” 

“S-sorry,” you say, genuinely contrite for ruining his jovialness. 

“Now, you got another reason to live, dumbass. Live long enough for me to kill you.” 

“O-ver a spicy ra-men packet?”

“That you and Ei wasted. Couldn’t even appreciate the flavor.” 

“Kat-suki, the fla-vor was vol-cano.”

“You’re exaggerating-” 

“Hello! Dynamight! Bakugou! Can anyone hear me?!” 

The stress melted off Katsuki and he shouted his reply, “Hey, Roundcheeks! Over here. Told ya you were gonna make it, idiot!”

You managed a small, ‘Ha’ of amusement, but Katsuki could see hope relight in your eyes. 

Barely a few seconds passed before Uraravity in her pink and black hero suit barrelled to them followed by a small group of paramedics. 

Ochaco huffed, “Finally, we found you both.” 

The paramedics rushed to your side, assessing the damage done, “We can’t move this. We’ll have to wait until we get to the hospital and we’re able to do a transfusion for blood loss. Uraravity, do you think you can lift both this hero and the rock at the same time so they don’t get separated?” 

“That I can.” Ochaco sends a reassuring smile to Katsuki and a wink to you, before touching both you and the chunk of concrete with her glowing hand.

The paramedic ordered Katsuki hold under you to ensure you don’t slip from the rebar and he held onto the rock to ensure it didn’t shift, “Alright, we’re going to slowly make our way to the ambulance.” 

They did, with Katsuki's reassuring hand under you. Every breath was like razors cutting you from the inside, but hold on to the little bit of feeling. As Katsuki said, if you could feel pain, you were still alive.  

Slowly, but surely, you all make it to the ambulance where a man with brighter hair than said vehicle was anxiously waiting. When Ejiro caught sight of you, he ran over. 

Katsuki yelled a warning, “Oi! Watch it!” 

Ejiro rounded him coming to your face, “Oh my word, what happened? Are you okay? How long have you been like this? Katsuki! Why didn’t you let me come with you?!” The words came out rushed with nary a breath and paved with anxiety. 

You smile at the antics, “I’m -kay, Ei. Katsu-ki prob-bably did-n’t want you to wor-ry.” 

Ei turned an angry but anxious eye to you, “I’m both your partners, Katsuki you should have told me if you knew something happened to them!” 

“You would have slowed me down.” Katsuki grumbled, “I wasn’t sure what happened so I wanted to get there fast.” 

“Vil-lain,” you say, struggling a bit with a slight shift of the metal. 

Katsuki and Ejiro’s heads both fall to you. Katsuki says, first, annoyed, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” 

You avoid the intense gaze, “Did-n’t want you to l-eave me. I did-n’t want to d-ie a-lone.” 

Ejiro’s eyes turned fiery, an intensity that they rarely were. He said, firmly, “No one is dying.”

Katsuki glared, “Agreed, and we’ll talk about that later.” 

“Y-eah,” you say sheepishly. 

The small team maneuvered you into the ambulance safely. Then the paramedic, seeming to be in charge, said, “Alright, set them down on the stretcher. As slow as you can.” 

The paramedic pushed the piece of rock down while Ejiro and Katsuki held you low to the stretcher. “Okay, Uraravity,” the paramedic said, “Release your quirk.” 

Ochaco was outside the ambulance, preparing to leave. She muttered a quick, “Release.” 

And you cried out in pain as your back hit the stretcher.  

Once its gravity returned, the chunk of concrete tilted. Ejiro reached for it, a look of horror dawning on him when it moved past his hand. The rock thumped onto the metallic floor of the van. 

There was one monstrous pause as Katsuki and Ejiro stared at the piece of debris, the metal uprooted from your torso and coated in blood. Then the paramedics spurred into motion, shoving a stunned Katsuki and Ejiro away from you. 

You were crying, the gaping wounds burning like a branding iron had been thrust into you rather than something being wrenched out. The world around you was a blur of movement through your tears and agony. 

And you knew, you were not going to make it. 

You could hear things through your pain, feel hints of touches, negligible amongst the torment of your wound. 

The misery had formed a fog around your other senses and you struggled to make sense of your surroundings or what was happening. 

Through the fog, you could hear yelling, “Tell her to get here now! They’re bleeding out!”

“Sirs! Move out of the way!” 

When the fog began to swim over your pain, dulling the feeling and replacing it with this sense of floating, you felt it. The end. How the curtains started their close on your vision and you panicked. 

You called desperately, almost blindly, “Ei- Katsuk- Eiji!”

“They need to calm down!” someone shouted.

“Hey. Hey, Pebble. We’re here.” Your head dropped on its side, making out the smudges of Ejiro’s red hair. His face blurred into and out of focus. It pained you to hear the tears in his voice, “Just hang on a little longer okay? They’re getting someone to help. Just hang on. Ochaco’s almost back.” 

The words passed through the fog like everything else with little real comprehension. By now you were miles away, only an inch remained. An inkling of a thought. A demand that prodded you into fighting for a few more seconds of consciousness. To fulfill it.

Katsuki had told you, Tell him yourself.

“Ei- Ei-ji-ro, I love you.” you struggle out, you could only hope he heard, that he felt .

You lift your head with difficulty, searching for blonde and landing on it just behind Eijiro. Katsuki came into focus for a moment. You’d never seen him so still, so ashen. Only his chest moved rapidly, a harsh rise and fall. 

The little energy you’d scraped together was rushing away from you. The curtains sped along their rails but you try to smile weakly, wanting to ease his anxiety in your final moments, “T-old him… my-sel…”

And the curtains shut.

***

The world stills, the color drains, and the sounds are muffled at the moment your eyes lose their light. There was a distant, continuous beeping sound somewhere that dragged on with the moment before someone was grabbing Ejiro. The world snapped back into play.

Then he’s screaming, “No! NO! No, LET ME GO! No!” He fought and clawed against the arms holding him. 

A paramedic calls for the defibrillator, “Sir, I need you to step back!” They’re swarming your body, ripping your shirt, placing an oxygen mask over your face. And yet you weren’t breathing. You remain unbothered, motionless. Lifeless.

Ejiro sobbed, relentlessly pushing at the iron grip that held him, “No, I need to get to them. They can’t- They can’t-”

There was a wetness at his fingertips that he’d ignored, maybe not even processed. 

“Ejiro!” came a hoarse voice. Katsuki’s voice. And then nothing else was said. His forehead fell against the back of Ejiro’s neck and his arms held fast to Ejiro, a vice grip. As though he was clutching onto his last lifeline, a single rope as he dangled over a cliff. 

A woman barged into the ambulance as the other paramedics prepared the defibrillator shouting, “I’m here! I’m here!”

Another yells, “Now.”

“Charging 200 volts. Clear!” 

Your body spasms, rising high and then dropping, rattling the stretcher with dead weight. 

Ejiro grabbed onto Katsuki’s arm and whispered, “This can’t be happening. Katsuki. Tell me this isn’t happening.” But Katsuki didn’t respond.

“Again. Charging 400 volts. Clear!” The paddles go down again but no response. 

Ejiro couldn’t breathe like there was more carbon dioxide than oxygen. He choked, “Katsuki.” but Katsuki was frozen, a statue at his back. Ejiro couldn’t even be sure he saw what he saw. Couldn’t bring himself to look away from you. 

“Again. Charging... Clear!” 

Electricity plunged through your body again. This time when your body clattered down, the paramedic hesitated, watching the heart monitor with a furrowed brow. 

When the pause had gotten too long, Katsuki broke. He yelled, his voice throaty and cracking, “Why are you stopping?! Can’t you see they’re dying?!” 

The paramedic turned to them, his eyes holding regret, “Sir, I’m sorry but-” 

He was interrupted by a beep. A singular beep stops the continuous. And he yelled, “Static now!”

The woman from earlier held her arms up, curled slightly down before her. Her skin began to radiate nuclear green energy. Then, all at once, the light shot forward to her palms and down to your body. 

It hovered, glittering like a fitting layer an inch above your skin. 

The paramedics relaxed, a few letting out a sigh and others slumping against the ambulance's sides. 

Ejiro blinked at the shimmering shield, confused, exhausted, “What- what just happened?” 

The woman who had released her quirk stood still. Her eyes, whatever color they had been before, had taken on an encompassing green glow, clouding her iris. She glared at your body, unflinchingly. 

“Static’s quirk is Suspended Animation.” A paramedic explained, “She’s able to freeze someone in their current state of being. We froze them as their heart started beating so they’ll be alive until we get them to the hospital.” 

Abruptly, Katsuki released Ejiro. Tension rushed out of all his limbs and he crashed to the ambulance floor on his knees. 

“Katsuki!” Ejiro exclaimed, kneeling beside him.

Katsuki made no noise, but he was shaking. When Ejiro reached for him, he found that he too was shaking. He placed a hand on Katsuki, trying to steady himself along with Katsuki, “H-hey, they’re okay. They’re going to be okay, r-right?”

The lead paramedic replied confidently, “We’re going to do the best we can.”

Those words didn’t reassure either boy until you’d returned from surgery, stable. 

***

Both boys were silent as the doctor explained your status. That they’d done all they could and it was now on you to wake up. 

The quiet was stifling. Ejiro and Katsuki sat next to your bed in those uncomfortable hospital chairs. Hours passed with just the silence of the room accompanied by the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor. Katsuki and Ejiro didn’t touch, the armrest preventing them. 

Ejiro sat closer to your head, slumped in his chair. His tired eyes fixated on your face, though every now and then they close for long stretches and subtly widen. 

Katsuki broke the silence, “You can go home and sleep if you want. I’m watching over them.” 

Ejiro startled at the first sound in hours, then croaked, “No, no. I don’t think I could handle being home alone, not knowing…” 

Katsuki nodded, he understood that. Then there was quiet again. 

“I know you ate my spicy ramen,” Katsuki said, lamely without much thought. 

“What?”

“The spicy ramen. You ate it and then panicked and threw it away. Firework covered. I know.” 

Ejiro’s eyebrow wrinkled,“Katsuki, I don’t think-”

“It’s one of the things we spoke about,” Katsuki interrupted swiftly, “while we were down there.” 

His face relaxed, “Oh…” 

Katsuki grunted, “Yeah.” 

Katsuki couldn’t explain how uncomfortable reaching out to take your hand made him though he craved it. It felt unnatural with the way you were hooked onto so many machines. You looked too fragile, too unlike yourself. 

“Sorry…” Ejiro said, sheepishly, after a moment. 

“I don’t care about the spicy noodles now, Shitty Hair,” Katsuki replied. 

“Yeah, I know.” then said, “Funny thing is, we agreed to take that secret to the…grave…” he finished, realizing it really wasn’t that funny. 

Katsuki’s eyes clouded with tears. He shoved his hands into his hair, yanking at the strands. He wanted to scream, but stifled the urge by gritting his teeth, the anguish in his heart was exploding, “Why did they give up so easily?!”

“Katsuki-”

“No! They were so ready to die! They were so ready to leave us, Ejiro! Why?!”

“Katsuki,” Ejiro said, softly such a contrast to Katsuki’s outburst. He set a hand on Katsuki's back and one on his thigh, “I don’t think that’s it. I think they were just… preparing for the worst to happen.” 

“Well, I think it’s shitty. Fucking shitty.”

“Yeah,” Ejiro agreed, “Yeah, and I think we should have a talk. When they wake up.”

Ejiro reached over to Katsuki’s further shoulder, urging him as close as the chairs would allow, “Come here.” 

Though stubborn, Katsuki leaned in, his head thumping onto Ejiro’s shoulder. 

“They’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay.” Ejiro said, as though he was trying to convince everyone in the room, including you. 

***

You were floating in a vast murky numbness. A heaviness to your limbs like the beginner moments of waking from a deep sleep only to find your will to leave the blankets was zero. That feeling, but only a hundred times stronger. 

Still, you try to pull up, dig through the numbness to find some feeling, and heave yourself off the cloud. 

When you crack your eyes open, the world is a blur of bright colors that make your eyes smart. You try to move but a sharp pain in your abdomen has you halting and emitting a small whimper. 

You hear a scrap of a chair, gasps, and voices. Too loud, and everything was too much. 

A tug at your front had you whimpering raspily through your dry throat, “Don’t you ever scare us like that again! I will-” 

You just make out the pale blond blur, mostly by the voice, and utter a weak, confused, “Katsuki?” before you’re dragged back into the black. 

***

The next time you open your eyes, you’re a lot more conscious and thankfully, the world outside is a lot dimmer and easier to stomach. 

You blink open your eyes and recognize the familiar hospital setting. Sighing a little at the irksome surroundings. Hospitals held too much anxiety, especially in the early days of being a pro where you were here, more often than not. Worse when Katsuki or Ejiro was stuck in the bed. 

However, now, you were stuck in the bed. You turn to your side, already knowing what you’d find. At your side, leaning against each other were your boyfriends, fast asleep. You smile at the warm sight of their interlocked hands and Katsuki’s head propped on Ejiro’s shoulder. 

Your hands itched to take a photo and you made to reach for the side table, hoping your phone was there. It was the slightest twist of your waist, that had you gasping in a shock of pain. You cringe back, trembling hands crowding your stomach to try to ease the pain. 

“Pebble?”

Your eyes flick up, seeing two dark eyes blinking open. 

You smile softly, “Hey, Ei.”

When Eijiro was fully awake he tensed as though he would surge forward, but then eyed Katsuki and halted. 

The unspoken rule. You and Ejiro had somehow decided that Katsuki was the cat of the relationship. When he fell asleep on you, you could not move. 

“It’s okay,” you assure him, “I’m right here. I'm not going anywhere.” 

He reached for you and you, him. You squeezed each other’s hands. The little warmth was pleasant to you as though you’d been cold for a long time. You were about to ask Ejiro how long you’d been here but when you met his eyes you paused. In the dimness of the single light, you saw tears streaks shining down Ejiro’s face. 

“But you did.” he sobbed, the grip on your hand bordered too tight, “You were gone for- I don’t even know how long but you were gone.” 

Seeing Ejiro like this was heart-wrenching. Ejiro should always hold a smile encompassing happiness. Seeing him cry and struggling to hold back his trembles hurt. 

Tears prick your eyes and flow down your cheeks. Trying to keep the shakiness from your voice, you say, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to have put you through that, Ei.” 

Ejiro sniffled, his eyes finding Katsuki and his interlocked hands, “Katsuki’s mad just so you know.” he croaked. 

You huff a small, wet laugh, “Of course, he is.” A vague memory plays in your mind, of Katsuki grabbing your hospital gown, “Did he-?”

“Completely freak out when you woke up? Yeah. They almost threw him out of the hospital.” 

You cringe, “Man, I’m in trouble.”

“He’s mad because you gave up.” Eijiro said, carefully, in a way that had you hearing the unsaid ‘I may be mad as well’. 

“I wasn’t giving up.” you try to console, “I was just ya know, it was-”

“You said, I love you like a goodbye…” Ejiro said suddenly, looking away like he was lost in his own mind, “I never thought I would ever not want to hear those words from you but,” he looked up with glassy eyes, “I don’t e-ever want to hear you say it like that again.” 

You let go of his hand then, biting your lip, “I can’t promise that.” 

“Why not?”

“I was scared , Ejiro.” you say, unable to hold the tremble, “I could feel myself dying. I didn’t want to leave but I could feel it. I knew. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to tell you I loved you before I go. In fact!” you say a little stronger, “I’m always afraid of that. I’m afraid I won’t be able to tell you I love you before you- if you’re ever fighting a villain- I mean.”

The words would not leave your dry throat, the thought, the possibility hurt too much. 

“Pebble-” Eijiro started. 

“This is the life I chose, Ei. I don’t regret it and I wouldn’t want to do anything else but I was scared. Katsuki said he wouldn’t tell you and I needed you to know.” 

“We know, dumbass.” Both you and Ejiro watch the rising form of Katuki. His hair was mused but his eyes were clear as though he’d been awake for a while.  

You nod, not quite knowing how to reply nor being able to speak through the burn in your throat. Ejiro nudged Katsuki, looking at him expectantly. Katsuki exhaled dramatically in a very Katsuki way, then said, “I’m sorry about grabbing you like that when you first woke up and potentially compromising your health because I couldn’t control my anger.”

The words sounded practiced, lacking emotion if you didn’t know better. But you knew better, saw in the way that Katsuki struggled to meet your eye that he felt guilty and ashamed of what he did. 

“It’s okay,” you say, “I’m sorry, for giving up so easily. I promise next time I’ll fight harder. Though I gotta say, I really hope there isn’t a next time.”

“Ditto.” Ejiro said as Katsuki said, “Better not be.” 

“Ejiro, give them some water, idiot. They’ve been awake for so long!” 

“Oh!” Ejiro immediately reached for the pitcher of water and the cup.

Ejiro was careful when he tipped the water into your mouth, supporting your weight in one hand at your back, while Katsuki called the night-shift nurses. 

As soon as your throat was soothed and Katsuki reentered the room, you looked to Ejiro, “Hey, Ei, do you know what the metal thingies are in the concrete?”

Eijiro sent you a quizzical look before asking, “The spiral thingies?” His brows furrowed in the most adorable way, “Aren’t they just called Spiral thingies?”

“Hah! Katsuki told you not everyone knows what it’s called!” 

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, “And I said that obviously, Ejiro wouldn’t know 'cause my partners are dumb as fuck.” 

“Hey!” You and Ejiro said in unison. 

In the end, you ended up asking all the nurses and doctors that came to check on you as well as a few of your friends who visited whether they knew that the spiral thingies were called Rebar. 

The medical staff was apparently more acquainted with such injuries than you’d believed and most immediately knew what they were. Though only one or two of your friends knew. 

During the duration of your stay at the hospital, you lost to Katsuki. 

But that didn’t stop you from opening Notes on your phone and beginning a tally of how many people knew and didn’t because, in the end, you decided not to surrender yet. You’d promised to fight, right?

***

Katsuki woke, gasping into the crisp night air and jolting defensively at the hand holding onto his arm. His hand thrust out instinctively, readying an explosion. He swung at the unknown figure, then abruptly stopped, facing Ejiro. His gaze flicked around him and he realized with relief that he was in his bedroom. 

Katsuki lowered his hand, extinguishing the heat build-up. He gulped air, trying to steady his racing heart and the pure terror it fueled in his vein. 

“-okay. It’s okay. They’re safe. We’re okay.” It was Eijiro’s voice, soothing and comforting and easing the unbearable tightness in his chest threatening to cut off his oxygen. 

“I’m fine,” Katsuki mumbled after he’d finally resumed some form of stability. 

Eijro relaxed against the bed, but did not let go of Katsuki’s hand, “Was it about…?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said in a clipped tone. 

There was silence before Katsuki asked, “Did I wake you up?”

Eijiro hesitated, gazing down at you, “No…” he shifted a little, “Every time I close my eyes, I see the ambulance and them and I swear that they’re not breathing anymore. I feel like I can’t be okay unless I’m watching them breathe… That sounds crazy…” 

And yet it made perfect sense to Katsuki because at that moment, he’d been staring down at your sleeping form, gaining a little more stability, each time you inhaled.

“It’s not crazy at all,” Katsuki said, quietly. 

There was a time-lapse, where they were at peace in the bubble of their room, watching you inhale and exhale. The small moment when they were calm despite the exhaustion surrounding them. 

Then it was broken by your sharp inhale that made them both startle. 

You gasped, eyes still closed. 

Katsuki was already pulling back the blanket, checking your wound to see if it had somehow reopened. Ejiro was at your side, rubbing a hand over your arm, glancing at Katsuki with worried, questioning eyes. 

You whined, almost like you were in pain, and then sobbed out, “Kat- I can’t breath-can’t- Kat-suki.” 

You were jerking back, gasping for breath, “Kats-uki, it hurts. Katsuki.” 

Ejiro glanced at Katsuki who had latched onto your hand, squeezing tightly, “Hey, I’m here, dumbass. Breathe.” 

Ejiro clutched your other hand, “It’s okay, Pebble, we’re right here. It’s okay now. Just breathe for us.” 

“Ei-” your eyebrow crinkles as though confused, “Eijiro…” 

The mention of Ejiro calmed your sleeping self until your breathing slowed and you were back to Slumberland. Peaceful once again. 

Ejiro’s free hand, not holding your hand, was petting your hair. He looked at Katsuki who was unnervingly quiet, his eyes shining like rubies. 

“Kat-?” Ejiro began. 

Katsuki’s tongue flicked over his canine, which would be a sign of annoyance if he didn’t look as though he was fighting hard not to cry. “Do you think-” Katsuki glared at your face, “You think they were in that much pain before?”

Ejiro never stopped petting your hair, “Katsuki, it’s okay now. There’s no use dwelling on it. We just have to heal.” 

Katsuki just nodded, not looking up. 

Eijiro exhaled slowly, quietly before urging, “Katsuki, come on. Let’s get some sleep. Come here.” Eijiro tugged lightly on Katsuki’s arm, pulling him halfway over you before easing him onto your chest. His limbs held little resistance. 

Katsuki settled onto your chest with only his head resting at your heartbeat. 

Eijiro lay close, his large arms circling around you two, each claiming a head to pet. 

They were so close they could each hear the air rushing in and out of their lungs. Normal, steady, and strong. 

***

When you woke groggily from your heavy sleep, you were a little surprised to see Katsuki on you. While it was not unusual for you all to cuddle, Katsuki preferred being a big spoon. Nevertheless, feeling his spikey, yet fluffy hair nuzzle gently onto your skin was a pleasant experience. 

Eijiro was close as well, a large arm draped over the two of you protectively. You could almost see a shield attached to his beefy arm. 

A warmth blooms at your chest. This little moment was just the confirmation that you needed to feel your near-death experience was over. At least, until the next villain attack.

The nightmare that had flounced into your head had been brief but no less terrifying. That you had landed back at the bottom of the trench with metal bars stuck in your torso. Only in your dream, the chunk of concrete had descended onto your chest. You couldn’t breathe. 

You cried for Katsuki, who lay next to you. Saying things you couldn’t understand. You couldn’t reach for him, your hands would be blocked by a barrier every time you tried. 

But you heard Ejiro and in the deepness of your subconscious, you knew Eijiro did not belong at that moment. 

Then the terrible dream had faded, bringing about a comforting nothingness until morning arrived. 

With the warmth of your companions, you couldn’t imagine a better way to chase away the uncertainty of the future. 

At the very least, you were together now. Enjoying the comfort of each other’s warmth and presence. 

Their breaths and snores lulled you back into a blissful half-sleep. 

Screw it. They worked hard, they were allowed to sleep in once in a while.