Chapter Text
Shoto's classmates have somehow mistaken rescue training for a battle exercise.
"I'm going to get to Todoroki first."
"Like heck! I will acid your face off on my way past you!"
It's routine for them to argue over who will "take him out". He doesn't react.
"This is getting very unbecoming. This sort of talk is undignified," Iida says, chopping his hand.
The rest of the group abates their argument under the scolding.
"But, just so you know, I will be the one getting Todoroki. My speed far surpasses any of you."
The rest of them protest all at once. Yayorozu throws a balled up handkerchief in Iida's face, which is rather surprising.
Midoriya bumps shoulders with him lightly, and Shoto looks over at his friend. Midoriya faces Aizawa, but he side-glances with his deep green eyes at Shoto.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you."
"Thanks," Shoto says, mostly out of reflex, and then he blinks as Midoriya goes back to watching Aizawa and not looking at him. Midoriya knows this is only a rescue exercise, right?
Doubt creeps in. Is he the one that heard wrong? He looks down at the blue wristband Aizawa had given him that says 'civilian.' There isn't any room to misunderstand that, right?
"You will rescue the victims in order of priority," Aizawa says, narrowing his eyes and sweeping it slowly across the class, a warning. "Triage rules. You'll be docked marks for ignoring severity of injuries and level of danger."
The class stands under his narrowed gaze for a moment, until Aizawa finally seems satisfied.
"Alright. Civilians, go head to your places. The number on your wristband will match your disaster area, and teachers on the grounds will help put you in your assigned predicament. You may not use your quirks during this exercise. Only the heroes may do so. Go."
Shoto obediently heads off into the disaster zones.
*
Shoto shivers in the water where he'd been put, a single, pinhole of light glinting off the black surface from a crack between the rocks of the cave around him. Any other time, he would have regulated his temperature, but Aizawa said 'victims' weren't allowed to use their quirks in this exercise. When some of the kids complained of the cruel conditions they would be stuck in while waiting for their classmates that were designated the 'heroes', the teacher had said it would teach them empathy for the people they rescued, and sent them off.
A long electronic chime sounds over the PA, letting everyone know that the exercise has started and the heroes are on their way.
His body gives a violent jerk and his teeth clack. He has a low percentage of body fat. He's never considered that a bad thing before. It's only been two minutes, and he's already stiff and shivering. His body is not used to using normal means to regulate itself and is floundering without his quirk to warm it.
Treating early hypothermia is probably one of the objects of the lesson. As a teaching method, it’s logical, efficient, unsympathetic, just like aizawa.
The heroes will be saving victims as they come across them and in order of severity, and he’s the furthest from the start. If he's lucky, it'll be less than half an hour, with them going through the cliff zones and the earthquake zones to get here—
Rocks crack and fall. Shoto's head whips around to the sound.
He sees it’s not a cave in, after all, but his rescue, and he blinks.
Midoriya stands in a newly made opening, arms out to his sides, pushing the boulders apart. He's a figure of shadow, with light only coming from behind him, but that unruly head of hair and costume shape are definitely him.
Midoriya hops down into the water with a splash and strides toward Shoto. Shoto just stands there, only a second to absorb the situation, before he's scooped up into Midoriya's arms, the water rushing off of him and dripping. Midoriya carries him to the opening, leaping out and landing on the rocks.
"H—ow did you get h—ere so fast?" Shoto says, his words breaking up from his body's jerks and shivers, but he's so surprised that he can't help asking. How could they have saved all the higher priority victims on the path before him already? Aizawa had barely signaled that it was time for the heroes to start the rescue mission.
"I ran," Midoriya says, as if that's any explanation. Then he cups a hand around Shoto's head to secure it to his shoulder and momentum pulls on Shoto, making him hold onto Midoriya as wind and gravity attack him and green light flickers.
When it stops, he opens his eyes and they're at the start, in front of a glaring Aizawa. His ire is focused on Midoriya, ignoring Shoto laying in his arms.
"You bypassed Kaminari with a head wound to save Todoroki who was simply wet and trapped."
"Kaminari has a pretend head wound. Todoroki has real symptoms of oncoming hypothermia."
Aizawa becomes even less impressed, if possible. "He has a temperature quirk," Aizawa says, flatly.
"You told him not to use it."
"For the exercise, to refrain from helping the heroes in their rescue — what are you doing?"
Shoto's gaze flicks to the teacher at the high pitched tone, as Midoriya leans down and Shoto is plopped down, finding himself on something soft. He barely has a chance to turn his head and see yellow, before Midoriya has the sides of the sleeping bag tugged around him, and the zipper whips up to his chin.
Shoto blinks.
Midoriya is crazy, but Shoto has known that since the greenette jumped between All Might and the villains at USJ.
"You can't make general statements like that. He takes things literally," Midoriya says, posed over Shoto with a knee on either side of him as he adjusts the warm hood around Shoto's head and then tucks Shoto's bangs back out of his face.
Shoto is confused. Why would he not take Aizawa literally?
"Fine, but what's stopping him from using it now? Why are you defiling my sleeping bag? It's getting wet!"
"You said to run the exercise realistically. A sleeping bag like this one is the perfect treatment."
Midoriya's fingers brushing at his hair is distracting Shoto, making some strange shivery sensation go through him. It's a new feeling — an incredibly good one — and he pays attention to it, absorbing it. His eyes droop, going out of focus, and all of his attention is on the way it feels when Midoriya's warm fingertips caress across his forehead and push over his scalp as he pokes wet hair inside the hood. There's something about it that makes the world seem further away.
Being touched is amazing. He hasn't had skin contact since his mother was sent away. Sure, he's been punched and pinned in sparring, and dabbed at in infirmeries, but that kind of contact was painful and didn't elicit this sensation from his nerve endings or make him feel floaty and safe.
It ends, Midoriya's hand leaving him with a pat-pat on the top of his head, padded by the thick hood.
Then Midoriya heads back into the simulation.
Shoto looks at Aizawa, to see if he will demand he get out. It’s nice in the bag, and the way Midoriya had tucked him in seems to linger in the softness of the material against his skin. He doesn’t want to part with it yet.
Aizawa turns away and crosses his arms, burying his nose in his capture weapon with a sigh.
Shoto tucks his own face down in the bag and cuddles into it, happy to be allowed to indulge in the feeling of being hugged indirectly by Midoriya.