Archive of Our Own ^beta

maybe the outcome was a bit predictable, but todoroki continues to argue that if you train enough then nothing is impossible. however, they are back in the broadcast room, just like last time, after murayama gave todoroki a good beating.

tsuji's shoulder is under his arm for support, as he gently places todoroki down on the couch, "man.. he got you again huh, todoroki?"

"..."

todoroki is breathing heavily, the adrenaline still coursing through his body. his left eye is bleeding pretty badly, and he doesn't wanna know how it looks in the mirror right now; he considers visiting the hospital later today so that shiba will stop worrying. in fact, he can feel shiba's worried stare from beside him but he refuses to look up. he remains silent even as the thoughts in his head are endlessly running; the other two can notice he's really not taking his second defeat well.

shiba gets off the couch to crouch infront of todoroki on the floor, seeing the conflict in todoroki's eyes as he contemplates his defeat, "yosu— todoroki.. i told you, you can’t just keep challening murayama when you’re angry, " he places his hands on todoroki's knees, and if todoroki notices they're shaking a little bit, he doesn’t mention it.

"i—", "you can't just do that!" shiba's voice wavers a bit as he cuts todoroki off before he can even give a reason for his actions, "you can't just do that without telling the others, or—or asking for our help, and just make us watch all the time, yosuke—"

shiba stops his rambling as todoroki's hand goes to pat his fading auburn hair, his knuckles still bloody, palm still dusty, and yet shiba doesn't move away, maybe he even leans into the touch, because it's not so often todoroki will do things like this, or any of them will do things like this, so he relishes in the rare touch.

"i know," todoroki can see shiba's eyes welling up a bit, "i know. im sorry, shiba."

shiba is known (only tsuji and todoroki know), as the most emotional one between the three, or as emotional as you can get with a troubled past and such a tough exterior, but between the three, he worries the most. they know this, which is why tsuji now comes to sit beside todoroki. in his hand is a first-aid kit, one that he keeps in this room. in case one of them ever comes back after a fairly severe fight, tsuji will pull it out and tend to their wounds.

because after the three became a group, they’ve learned a few things.

todoroki would argue that he’d kill anyone in the way of his goal of becoming the top dog in this school, but these days its getting increasingly harder to ignore the fact that he’ll give into some days off with shiba and tsuji just to lounge in the broadcast room.

tsuji used to neglect his wounds up after a fight, but seeing the other two get beat up brings a foreign feeling in his chest, and its uncomfortable. which is why, after getting a first-aid kit, he watched a few videos on applying bandages or sanitizing wounds, practicing on himself until he could finally put it to use on the two.

and shiba, would argue that he never cries, because who would i even cry for, and yet, here he is infront of todoroki, with his shoulders trembling slightly.

tsuji is concerned too, but he just continues unraveling the bandage in his hand to wrap it around todoroki’s hand. todoroki clenches his jaw before he speaks again, “i’ll tell you, yeah? if i won’t tell anyone, i’ll atleast tell you.” he moves his hand to shiba’s cheek to wipe away the stray tear, “come here.” and shiba follows until hes on his knees where he wraps todoroki in a tight hug, despite the beating he just endured. the black-haired man grunts, but nonetheless wraps the hand that isn’t currently being tended to by tsuji around shiba, patting his back a bit.

shiba sniffles a bit, but looks up from todoroki’s chest, “your eye looks really bad, shouldn’t we bring him to the hospital, tsuji?” the other nods, “yeah, i was thinking about it, because there’s no way you can see through it clearly..” todoroki admits he can’t, infact, his head has been throbbing ever since the way up to the room, and it’s really bothering him.

they do go, but not after a few minutes of just being in each other’s company. tsuji finally finishes wrapping his hand, and shiba is still clinging unto him. todoroki thinks; he has a feeling he’s getting rid of these two even after his time in oya high.