飯田天哉

Monoma only shrugs at that. He’s had the worst feeling about Mystery from the start, even back when the most they’d ever managed was merely harassing them all. But this was hardly something he could feel good about being so right in his predictions. He really hated the topic. Even as Iida talks, he was thinking about them, all the things they’d done and said. 

He’d been spared the worst of it, even with all the threats of death Mystery had held over his head. How could he have been spared when Iida, someone they had claimed to love so much, had gotten utterly maimed? Mutilated…

He frowns, thoughts drifting, though his focus snaps right back as Iida directs a question to him. He scowls a little. “I’m fine,” he says, trying not to make his offense obvious. He knows Iida means well by asking, of course- It’s not like he’s ever had the best track record when it comes to his, well, sanity. Still… he’s been doing so much better lately. He’s actually been feeling like himself lately…

“Of course it’s hard,” he continues tightly. “But having to witness it isn’t nearly as hard as having to suffer through it. Facing it head-on is the least I could do.” He fidgets again, toying with his hair. “I am supposed to be a hero, aren’t I… This is all part of the job description, too.”

“Just because these things are a part of being a hero doesn’t make it any less severe.” Iida remembers how his older brother had to deal with the emotional repercussions of not being able to be a pro hero the way he used to anymore. Or how some of his classmates still had nightmares about their past encounters with villains. “But I’m glad you’re fine.”

“Oh.” Monoma blinks and smiles, nodding politely. “I missed you too. Heheh…”

Fidgetting once more, he makes his way to the closest chair, setting the bag besides it as he sits down. Another little struggle starts in himself as his eye is drawn to Iida’s IV, watching his fingers coil with the little tube. It seems a little perverse to him, for some reason. A little morbid. He wonders what it was that they’ve been pumping into him, what’s been sustaining him all this time and keeping him alive. 

“I suppose it’s because it’s a complicated matter,” he muses out loud as he watches. “From what I’ve been hearing, the school is doing everything they can to keep the details from reaching the media. Even if it means keeping everyone important in the dark.” He pouts at that. “I can explain, if you’d like. It’s the least I could do. I would hate to you to fear for anyone’s safety for another second longer.” 

He sighs at that, brushing his bangs out of his face. “No one’s died, but there was a number of casualties and quite a few have been hospitalied.” He touches a few fingers to the sheets on Iida’s bed, twisting them a little as he talks. “It really is a mess…”

Iida cannot help the sigh of relief that comes out at the news that no one had died. “it is unfortunate that there were injuries, but I am glad that everyone is still alive.” He quietly wonders if any of the teachers had been injured, too. 

Being out of the loop was terrible already, but if he had access to his cellphone, he could have at least asked his teachers if they were alright. 

“I did not expect Mystery to be this hellbent on hurting all of us. I’d have thought they were just some obsessive fans, like the ones that pros have... But this is on a whole other level.” 

Monoma smiles as gently as he could possibly manage. “Hi,” he replies. 

He doesn’t know where to look. Not at Iida’s legs, which were, of course, his first instinct, to assess the damage and process the horror of what happened to him. He didn’t want to even glance at the room around them. Hospital settings weren’t one he was ever used to; he and his family had been blessed with good health and luck for as long as he could remember, and he’d never really had to sit in a room like this before and really, really watch someone suffer. He wasn’t sure he really knew how to do it.

Eventually, he finds a spot just above Iida’s head to focus on as he moves closer into the room, wringing the bag he had in hand between his fingers. He doesn’t think he could handle seeing his expression just yet.

“Ah, I hope you don’t mind me barging in. I could always come back later. I just thought… well, I wanted to bring you some things while you were here, if you’ll accept them, of course…”

“I don’t mind at all, Monoma-kun. Unexpected visits are quite nice, since there is nothing much to do here.” Iida couldn’t quite parse what the atmosphere was. He was relieved to see Monoma alright and  healthy physically, but what of his mental health? Had he been targeted? God, he could barely remember what Mystery had said in the first place. Something about repressed memories, his doctor told him. 

He gestures to one of the chairs. “Please sit. I’d like for you to stay for a little bit, if you’re alright with that.” 

A pause. 

Just to acknowledge a couple of things:

His mouth is dry and his lungs feel as if they're about to collapse. The sun filters into the window next to him, rays of light spilling onto the hospital room's bed sheets. The stark lack of color on the walls manage to confuse him further.

Iida hears distant voices. Like his head is dipped underwater. A voice that sounds lile his father. "He's awake!" Is what he manages to decipher, along with garbled sobbing. Soft hands grip his own, the gentleness and smoothness of the palms reminding him of his mother.

"W-wh..." He croaks out, heaving out a cough.

A blurry figure stands and looms over him. "Tenya? What is it, what do you need?" It's definitely his mother. He isn't given any time to respond before the rim of a glass is pressed to his lips. Cold, refreshing water flows into his mouth, and he drinks. Slowly at first. It gives him a bit of energy. He soon pushes her hand away weakly.

Memories come in fragments.

His hands, bound. Multiple voices. His legs being cut open. Yaoyorozu saving him.

If he had more tears to shed, he would have done so.

Instead, he lets out a soft exhale and leans back into his pillows.

Momo follows his movements with her eyes, unable to look away once she takes in the gashed skin and the bright, bright red of it all. It’s grotesque. That’s really the only way to describe it, and Momo wonders if it’s the reason why she’s so transfixed. 

“The others are all accounted for,” she hears herself say. It might be the truth, it might not be. Kirishima would be okay. Kaminari had assured her that Monoma would be okay. She had seen some of the others herself, had spoken to them and—

She’s lying to him. Plain and simple. There was no use trying to deny that fact. But she knows Iida, and she knows that tone in his voice, and she knows that there’s only so much of her heart left beating, only so much space left to embrace and shelter and actually do something for others. 

It’s Iida that’s in front of her now, Iida that has somehow managed to retain his sense of responsibility and clarity of mind while Momo’s done nothing. Absolutely nothing.

(She’s so tired. So drained. Near empty, if not already there.)

“I”m staying, Iida-san,” she states matter-of-factly, empty eyes finally moving to settle on his face. “I’m not going to leave you for dead… We both know that you’re defenseless in this state.” She pauses for a moment, trying to recall what she had said earlier—she had sounded smart there. Logical and confident. That’s what she’s supposed to be right now… And even if that’s not really true... The least she could do for Iida was pretend.

(Pretending’s different from lying, right?)

With that resolve, she reaches for her cell phone with a hand that still trembles even when her voice doesn’t. “I’ll… Send a message to the others now so that they’re aware of the situation. And I’ll try to contact Aizawa Sensei or one of the other teachers as well. But I’m not leaving.”

Iida croaks out a laugh. “Responsible as always, Yaoyorozu-san...”

He doesn’t try to fight it, doesn’t try to insist. He is far too tired for that, exhaustion seeping into the marrow of his bones. If Yaoyorozu stays, that is her decision. Blearily, he thinks that he’d die from blood loss before another villain can come in to kill them anyway. 

Gently, he sinks down to the side, pressing his head to the cool tiles of his bedroom floor. 

“Is this what heroes have to go through all the time?” Iida wonders out loud. His tongue pokes out to wet his lips, and notices that there’s blood crusted on them. A wince. How unhygienic. “It’s terrifying...”

Spots dot his vision. 

Oh. Oh no. Momo can’t just… Tell him the truth. It’d be too much. Iida’s already dealing with the obvious pain in his legs and it wouldn’t be fair of her to make him deal with more. But frankly, Momo can’t lie to him either. Not when she’s like this. She knows that she has to say something, even if that something is the wrong thing. And she knows that she’s been nothing but useless the whole morning, that everything she’s done has been absolutely wrong and that there’s nothing she can do now—or ever—to fix it.

She’s pathetic. And a failure. All she does is watch people suffer, let them down, and then inflict more heartache upon them. Some rolemodel she is.

“…No,” she breathes, hands tightening into fists as she grabs at Iida’s bedsheets for stability. “They’re not… Kirishima needs to be rushed to the infirmary and Monoma—“ She chokes on the sound of her own voice, stopping herself mid-sentence as she recalls Kaminari’s earlier message to her. Oh, that’s right, Monoma was fine, he was going to be okay, he just—

“His blood… Kirishima’s blood… It’s all…” Her trembling is uncontrollable now, her skin burning at the memory of that dreaded drip-drip-dripping. She needs to get their blood off her, needs to clear her head, needs to…

Focus.

She takes another deep breath, desperately trying to regain some semblance of control. “But Kaminari is okay. Shouto, the girls, and Aoyama too. We just have to… Regroup. Contact one of the teachers for help.” There. That’s good. Logical. But the tears still run down her face as she says it aloud, even as her voice sounds stronger and more stable than it has all morning. “But Iida-san…” Good. She’s remembering her honorifics again. It was so rude of her to drop them before, what had she been thinking? “You should worry about yourself before the others…”

(Hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite.)

A lump forms in Iida’s throat. Kirishima was hurt-- she said blood... Where were the teachers? Were the students abandoned? Were the adults dead? 

Iida’s arms tremble with the effort it takes to just lift his hands to remove the blindfold. He was so tired, too much was going on at once. His brother was here-- his legs were mutilated -- Kirishima is hurt -- Monoma -- He blinks a couple of times to clear up his vision, and he can just barely make out Yaoyorozu’s figure. “I will be fine, it’s just... flesh wounds... You need to go and find the others first.”

With shaky fingertips, he reaches towards his legs to assess the damage. Blood and torn muscle on both calves.

He has to bite his tongue to keep from screaming his lungs out. 

It’s like she takes in everything at once: Iida’s trembling form, the cloth covering his eyes, the violent red of the blood that soaks the sheets, that’s begun to dry and crust over the ugly gashes on his calves. Momo feels a chill crawl up her spine at the sight of it, mind immediately wandering to the ugly crimson that’s seeped into her own skin, wondering if…

If his blood is on her hands as well.

The thought feels like a blow to her stomach and the feeling of disgust immediately washes over her. She takes in a shuddering breath before hurrying to the side of his bed, doing everything she can to block out all thoughts that don’t immediately pertain to the boy in front of her.

It’s the sound he makes—so quiet, so soft, a whimper that almost escapes her notice—that squeezes the remains of her heart before immediately dropping them in her chest.

“Iida, it’s me. Yaoyorozu,” she whispers, fingers still a little shaky as she moves to untie his blindfold. She wishes that she could do more, that she could tell him that he was going to be okay now, that the worst was already over—but to do so would feel like a lie, and she’s not quite ready to tell those yet. She wills her hands to stabilize as she begins to unlock his handcuffs using Shouto’s key, mind scrambling for something, anything to say to fill the painful silence between them. 

“You’re… Not alone anymore,” she manages, forcing a smile and praying that she doesn’t look as broken as she feels. “I-I’m here. With you.”

We’re going to be alright…

Yaoyorozu...

Iida breathes out a sigh of relief, lower lip quivering. If the vice rep was here... That meant everyone else was fine, right? Right? That was one thing he didn’t have to worry about at least.

When the handcuffs are unlocked, his arms fall unceremoniously to his sides, and he finds that he can barely lift them to take his own blindfold off. God, he really was pathetic-- it seems as if Mystery had covered almost every single base they could. He half expected the villain to force him to piss his pants or anything else as embarrassing. 

If it wasn’t obvious by now, Iida had resorted to using some twisted sort of humor to comfort himself. 

Logic didn’t help him before, anyway.

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