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Every time Katsuki had gotten seriously hurt, it was always from some epic battle against a villain. He had plenty of scars to show for his triumphs, and plenty of painful memories, too.
But this time, he got hurt outside of combat, through his own mistake.
He had heard of an earthquake that had happened in a small town somewhere in Okinawa. He didn’t usually respond to natural disasters, but hell, lately it seemed like villains were few and far between. Might as well find something to do. So he got the quickest flight there to help out the rescue teams that were digging people out of the rubble.
Tokoyami had followed him even though he insisted he would be fine, and that Tokoyami should stay on the mainland. They had stuck together for a while, but the damage was so far widespread that the heroes had to divide their resources.
He had successfully evacuated a few families stuck in the rubble on his own. But by the sixth one, tiredness weighed on his body. He was carrying the last child out of the building when the roof collapsed on him, his hands too occupied to blast the rubble away.
The girl he was carrying made it out fine. Katsuki, though, was pretty stuck. He had told them to focus on getting to the nearest medical center, and that he would be fine…
But he couldn’t breathe. His ribs were cracked and his throat was filling with blood from his lungs. He tried to clear his throat, though the coughing only jostled his injuries more.
With a grimace, he turned away and aimed at the pile of wood and roofing tiles that covered him. Luckily, he was able to blast away enough so he could drag himself out.
The breeze ruffled his hair as he laid on the ground and a shadow darkened his peripheral vision.
“Katsuki!” Tokoyami’s voice cut through the pain. He kneeled beside him. “What happened? Is there a villain nearby?”
Katsuki spat out a glob of blood, his stomach lurching in disgust as some of it dribbled down his chin. Tokoyami’s eyes widened as he noticed, but Katsuki only smirked. “Nah, I wish. Pro tip, don’t let a roof collapse on you when you’re trying to evacuate people.”
Of course, Tokoyami took his jest a little too seriously. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He looked Katsuki up and down with wide eyes.. “Stay here, I’ll come back with first aid and let the heroes know of our location.”
It didn’t take Tokoyami long to retrieve medical supplies and start working on his wounds. Of course, neither of them were doctors or anything, but they were both trained to make sure they could at least prevent someone from bleeding out on the way to a hospital.
And… as Katsuki’s vision blurred, he realized a piece of the roof had sliced him across the chest. Bleeding out was more of a possibility than he previously thought.
“Katsuki,” Tokoyami’s voice echoed in his head distantly, almost muffled. “Stay awake, please.”
But sleep sounded so warm, and Katsuki was so damn tired…
“Katsuki!” Tokoyami shouted from somewhere far away. “Katsuki? Hey! Listen to me!”
His voice sounded so worried. Why was he so worried? Katsuki was actually pretty comfortable, considering the circumstances. He could fall asleep right now. His eyes drifted closed…
“Forgive me.” Tokoyami muttered. And then, Katsuki felt a sharp smack across his cheek. His eyes flew open and pain seared through his body again. Damn it! He almost lost consciousness on the field! A true pro would never.
Katsuki was finally all bandaged up and Tokoyami had covered them both with Dark Shadow, lifting them into the air.
“You’ll be alright.” Tokoyami assured him. “But please stay awake. We don’t have time to wait for a medical team.”
Katsuki couldn’t ignore the worried tears in the corners of both Tokoyami’s and Dark Shadow’s eyes. Damn, he must be a lot more busted up than he thought if he was getting this torn up about it.
Despite the pain and the blood, though, Katsuki didn’t feel afraid. He was in capable hands. If anything, this only made him swear off responding to natural disasters entirely. Never again. He much more preferred fighting a villain to fighting off the crushing weight of rubble.