Fruit Basket

[Author's Note: This chapter will contain numerous themes concerning suicide, suicide jokes as a coping mechanism, guilt-tripping, and a mentally deranged Midoriya like you've never seen before. Be warned.]

Pale white knuckles rap three times against the white wooden surface of 702's door.

"Come in,"

Todoroki Shouto slides the door open with his free hand, while the other carries a get-well-soon fruit basket.

Just like the door, the inside of the room is completely white. The blinds, the tiles, the ceiling, the metal bed frame, the bed sheets, the bed, the pillow. Everything is blanketed by white, except the patient. He isn't white, though his skin is comparably pale to how it usually looks. He's far from white.

He's green.

Literally and in the name.

"Todoroki-kun, you shouldn't have!" Midoriya Izuku's dainty brows furrow slightly upon seeing the gift.

However, Todoroki knows fully well that his little gesture isn't making Midoriya upset. In fact, quite the opposite. Todoroki sees his bright green eyes sneaking a glance at the basket, trying to search for something.

A second later, it widens in glee.

Todoroki tries to hide the slight curve at the corner of his lips, setting down the basket at the patient's bedside table.

He fails miserably.

Of course, Midoriya would find his favorite fruit in there. Todoroki made sure of that.

"I thought Uraraka and Iida would be here today?" He asks, rightfully so. After all, they often visit him in trios. It's an odd (and almost unbelievable) sight to see only one of them present.

"Uraraka and Iida would like me to offer their apologies, they're a little busy with work right now."

"Oh," Midoriya utters, his hands clenching tightly at the white hospital sheets.

He knows.

Of course, he knows! Midoriya has always been an astute person, that's one of the main reasons why he fell in love with him in the first place! He's aware that the reason why Uraraka and Iida's work shifts piled up was because they prioritized taking care of him rather than their jobs in Café Perry.

"You know," He cleared his throat, forcing a smile. His freckled cheeks twitch a couple of times, Midoriya's odd mannerism of showing guilt. "most of my friends gave me flowers whenever they stop by. You're one of the few who gave me fruits instead."

"When people give flowers," He speaks in his usual monotonous voice, yet Midoriya could sense the slight change in his tenor that emanates the warmth of affection and... longing? "it's because they think the patient will stay at the hospital for a prolonged period of time."

He doesn't need to expound his sentence further because Midoriya already knows what he's trying to say: Todoroki believes that he'll be discharged soon enough.

"Still a man of a few yet meaningful words, aren't you?" Midoriya chuckles.

"Also, you can't eat flowers."

There was a pregnant pause.

Midoriya howls, rolling around the bed.

"Did I say anything...?" He trails off, his cheeks color into a bright shade of crimson, matching the other half of his fiery head.

"No, no, don't worry," Izuku assured, wiping a stray tear off of his face as he sits up. "That's a logical explanation, thank you, Todoroki-kun. Your gift is well-received."

Todoroki bows theatrically on his chair. What's even better is he did it with his usual deadpan.

"You really are cute, Todoroki-kun." Midoriya gasps, covering his lips. Forest-colored eyes avert its gaze, while his child-like freckled cheeks are flustered red. "Oh, I'm sorry, are you the type of guy who dislikes being described with--"

"I don't mind," Todoroki's features soften, shaking his head in amusement. "This seems like deja vu, isn't it?"

"Is it?" He tilts his head to the side like a confused puppy. "I can't recall,"

"You have been out for quite some time," He realizes belatedly that he uttered the wrong choice of words as a dark, thick silence enshrouds the room.

Todoroki fixates his attention on the sterile white hospital floor as if there was something so magically interesting about it all of a sudden. While Midoriya stares blankly at the wall, gnawing at his inner cheek until he tastes blood as he urgently thinks of what to say to break the tension.

Only for the silence to thicken even further.

Ever since Midoriya woke up from his comatose, no one really tried to broach the topic of his suicide for fear of stressing him out. Instead, they focused all of their attention in order to make sure that Izuku is in a suitable environment for the treatment of his rehabilitation.

Iida, Uraraka, and Todoroki share a mutual agreement that they will ask him once Midoriya gets discharged.

He shifts his weight to the other side, changing the topic of their conversation before things go awry. "I've heard from the doctors that your rehabilitation sessions are working well for you. At this rate, you'll be discharged within a--"

"Todoroki-kun, I'm sorry for hurting you that night."

And awry exactly did it go.

Todoroki freezes, and the scripted words that are coming out of his mouth go to a sudden halt. He looks at the wide green eyes that are pleading with him, begging for forgiveness even though it was supposed to be the other way around.

"What are you talking about?" Todoroki scoffs, feigning innocence. He shifts his weight again, a mannerism he has acquired whenever he feels uneasy.

"You know what I'm talking about." Midoriya's voice is no louder than a whisper, yet it seems like a scream in this quiet, tense room. "I... I did something to you, didn't I?"

Heterochromatic eyes dilate in horror. The events of that fateful night came rushing to him like a cold splash of water. Todoroki involuntarily turns his head, clicking his tongue while his hands suddenly clench to fists without him noticing it.

"Your reaction..." Midoriya is visibly shaking, his face contorting to horror. "Oh no, Todoroki-kun, I'm so so sorry. I know words don't suffice to make up for the hell I made you--"

"Midoriya," Todoroki scratches the back of his head, heart beating fast as it has never done so before. Like a hummingbird, if this was a romantic situation. But it isn't so he wouldn't dare use a comparison so Junoesque in their current situation. "we don't need to talk about this right now."

"God, I'm really sorry!" Midoriya does it, the cute little shriek he's known for that Todoroki finds awfully endearing if only they aren't in their current situation. "It must be horrible for you to relive the traumatic experience--"

"Midoriya."

"--It's bad enough that you're in the same room as the perpetrator--"

"You got it wrong."

"--Please report me to the police for rape--"

"I don't think it counts as rape since there was no..." Todoroki coughs awkwardly. "penetration. The proper term is sexual assault. Furthermore, I'm the one who assaulted you. I think." He adds as an afterthought.

Midoriya's face turns blank.

"What."

"You were intoxicated after all," Todoroki's usually pale skin glows in crimson. "I could've stopped you but I didn't. Not because I couldn't but because I w-"

Todoroki begins to stammer, his skin turning into a deeper and deeper shade of red by the second. By the time he stops in order to pull himself together (belatedly realizing two minutes later that he looks like a fool), Midoriya saw a fascinating fifty shades of red.

"Nevermind," Todoroki sighs, defeated.

"What." Midoriya demands.

"Let's talk about this when you get discharged," Todoroki repeats, turning his head away, revealing a flustered ear that matches his cheeks.

"No, Todoroki-kun." Midoriya finally snaps out of his initial shock. "Please, do continue."

He gives him a piercing glance. "Are you doing this to spite me?"

"This is one of the few moments I heard you stutter, might as well hear you finish your sentence."

"I forgot how utterly sadistic you are."

Midoriya sticks his tongue out.

"This doesn't make sense," Todoroki groans in frustration. "You just woke up from a coma due to a suicide attempt, yet why is the mood of this room so light-hearted."

"I guess that's what people often misunderstand about us mentally deranged," He says with an odd gleam in his eyes as if this was a comedic topic. "they think just because we tried to kill ourselves, we're gonna have this massive change in our personalities. But that's not true, life goes on, literally."