You're Not Supposed to Get Hurt

Aizawa was on patrol the night Cheshire was injured.

He was maintaining radio contact with her, a few blocks away, when he heard the blood-curdling cat shriek erupt from his device... and then silence.

He got there as quickly as he could, using his capture weapon to hook onto buildings and light fixtures, swinging him down back alleys and streets until he saw her. There was absolutely no resistance in her body; she lay limp on the pavement like a heavy cloth sack trimmed with fur. Frowning with concern, he carried her to the side of the road and checked her pulse. It was low and irregular, not a good sign at all. As he gently turned her to try and lay her flat, he saw blood speckling on her lower left side.

"Shit." His heart hammering in his chest, he clenched his teeth and looked closer. What he saw caused him to grab desperately for his cell phone to call for an ambulance.

That much blood was not a good sign.

All he could do was hand her over to the medics when they arrived; he had no real authority to ride with her. Besides this, he wanted to find the villain before they got away. He was extremely methodical, tracing her steps as she had told him and reasoning out a hiding place the man would have chosen.

"Damn it!" The villain was flushed out of the bushes at a nearby park. He stood his ground, his clawlike hands at the ready. Aizawa shuddered when he thought he saw blood on them - it would almost have to be her blood. "Fuckin' bitch was talking to you, wasn't she?!"

"Are you saying," Aizawa asked in a deadly quiet voice as his hair stirred upright, "that you are responsible for the attack on my colleague?"

"What, the batshit cat? Oh, yes. I fucked her up big time. What, you think I'm not gonna do the same to you?"

"You hurt my Cheshire." It was a statement and not a question. He was enraged but still coldly logical, calculating exactly how much force he could bring to bear on this villain to appease his sense of revenge without his hero credibility.

"Oh, shit ... does that mean she was your girl? Scrawny little ass like you?! Damn, no wonder you're pissed off. I put her out of commission for awhile -"

The criminal was cut off as he taunted, not realizing Aizawa had snaked his capture weapon around his backside. He snapped it grimly tight across the man's mouth and tied his arms and legs down before raising him in the air.

He fixed him with a penetrating stare and said quite clearly, "She's not my girlfriend." And with that, he slammed him down on the ground, his teeth bared in a grimace of effort.

And again, his eyes blazing as he thought of this piece of trash hurting his friend.

The cops arrived with another ambulance for the villain.

"If she's not his girl why d'fuck d'he do that?" He spat out blood, his eyes wild. "Keep 'im away from me! He's as nuts as she is!"

Aizawa stared back with dead eyes at the man, who cringed backwards so hard he fell off the stretcher before they could cuff him to it.

"Unusual amount of force for you, Eraserhead," a cop nearby noted. "You really bashed that guy good."

"He's not permanently injured."

"Nope. And you're within rights, I'm not saying you're not." He held up his hands, one bearing a notepad he had been transferring information into. "But what does he mean by you two not being together?"

"What?" This came out so flatly shocked the cop shrugged.

"Everyone that knows you knows you've got a soft spot for cats." He nodded.

"Hnf. Do you know which hospital they took her to?"

He named the correct one and Aizawa sighed inwardly in relief. It was close by, so she had gotten immediate care. "Thanks," he called out, then took off running down the road. The policeman stared after him for a short while, noting he turned off at the street that led to the care center.

He texted as he ran, knowing his shift wasn't over yet and needing someone to cover. Luckily a working hero picked up on his urgent texts as he neared the hospital and he cleared it with them to finish his work. Breathing a little easier, he strode confidently inside and took the elevator up to the proper floor. He had been in almost all of the hospitals in the region for one reason or another, and knew them quite well.

"Oh, Eraserhead! We don't see you often as a guest." The lizard woman behind the desk paused. "You are a guest, right?"

He shrugged. "Yes. Cheshire. Ah..." He thought for a moment. "Elly Sketchit. Can you sign me in for a visit?"

"Sure." The woman held out a clipboard, blinking her heavy lids with an audible sound. "Sign and date - and note the time, please."

He scribbled on it and handed it back.

"She's in 25b. Just down the hall on your right."

"Thank you."

The rooms were private in this wing due to the nature of the occupants. All were heroes injured in the line of duty, some far worse than others. He hurried down the hall until he came to her room, and took a deep breath before entering.

It was dim, the blinds pulled, and the only sound the steady beep of the machine that monitored her heartbeat. Aizawa saw how pale she was and clenched his fists.

He sat in the chair beside her bed and looked as much of her over as he could see. She had a blanket draped over her but he could tell she was tightly bandaged around her middle.

"I caught the bastard," he told her quietly. "He's going to be imprisoned for his crimes plus what he did to you." His normal deadpan voice cracked despite his struggle to remain calm, and he sighed. "I never thought what would happen if you were injured. I get hurt all the time, but you ... you're not supposed to."

He laughed drily. "And just how logical is that line of reasoning? I'm fucked up because you are, Ches. Please get better."

He heard a light step next to him. Hizashi had come to visit as well. The blond man squinted down, hands on his hips.

"Well? Ain't'cha gonna kiss her?"

Aizawa glared up at his friend, then rubbed a weary hand over his face, pulling down at the stubble on his chin. "No," he grunted. "No, she's too good for me, Hizashi. I'll just do what I can to protect her until she finds someone."

"Aww, shit," Hizashi breathed. "You fuckin' serious? Wait. Wait ... are you crying?" He stumbled backwards in shock, his hand clutching the fabric of his shirt over his heart. "Holy shitfuck, Shota!"

This time he refused to look up and instead hung his head, his long, dark hair hiding his face from view. "You're exaggerating as always. I'm fine. She's not."

"They got her drugged up pretty good, huh." He frowned. "She's not even twitchin'."

"She doesn't like medicine like that," the ragged man said flatly. "It frightens her."

"Well, but if she needed it..."

"She's going to need someone here when she wakes up. She'll be in a strange place and highly drugged." His breathing picked up slightly. "Damn it."

He had raised his head on this last, and Hizashi could see his paler-than-normal face, the cheeks splotchy with hectic color.

"Your eyes are red from cryin'," he pointed out.

"My eyes are always bloodshot, Hizashi!" He snarled as quietly as possible to avoid waking her.

"Yeah, but yer hair is up. Plus, ya know, you still got tears on yer cheeks, dumbass. Just admit it. You're in love with her."

Aizawa swore softly. "Don't you dare tell anyone that. I mean it. If this gets out, she'd have to deal with all the grade school bullshit teasing from our colleagues."

"I fink - think -- I c'd handle zat." A thick-sounding voice drifted up from the cot.

Aizawa's gray eyes shot wide open, almost as if he were using his quirk. "Ches!"

"Sho?" She was trembling, her eyes still closed. "You were right. M'scared." Her heart monitor was beeping a little faster, though not enough to alert the nurse.

He scooted as close as the chair would reach and reached out to her, flinching and pulling his arm back when he had been about to drape it around her. "I'm here. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Hizashi smiled gently as he watched the two interact. He stepped slowly to the door and stood guard so they wouldn't be disturbed.

Back inside, Elly was weeping silently. She had managed to grasp blindly out of the covers with one hand and he immediately caught and held it. "It's going to be okay. I'll tell them you don't want the harder dosage anymore. They'll give you something else that won't put you under."

"A - Aizawa..!"

"Are you in pain?" He panicked, staring around for the button to call the nurse. "Do you need me to -"

"I need you!"

He blinked, his heart racing incredibly fast in his chest. "You said..?"

"If you really meant wh'you said before, please hold me."

Aizawa swallowed hard and wrapped his free arm around her. She opened her eyes, sniffling, clearly wanting to be as close as possible but unable to move.

"Wait," he murmured, and stood up. She was at the edge of the bed so he walked to the other side and carefully laid behind her. He re-wrapped his arm around her and tugged her gently so she rested snug against him, his other arm worming its way around her as well. This took awhile due to the I.V. and monitor she was hooked up to but he managed.

She sighed so deeply she coughed, then settled her head under his chin. "Aizawa-kun," she purred softly, already drifting back into a sleepy haze.

"You can call me Shota, if you'd like," he murmured.

The purring grew louder and he smiled.