Torn Down The Middle Chapter 36: Shouto Versus Jaguar

You stared at the bush that was nearby, your eyes glued to where you had heard the growl come from, but you couldn’t see anything at that point.

Presently, you heard another low hiss that definitely sounded like an angry animal and you panicked internally.

“Ok, about to die…”

shifting your weight, you winced, not exactly sure how to handle the situation at present.

“If I hold my hand out and touch, whatever it is in the bush there, when it comes out…then I can activate my quirk on it and possibly bring it down before it eats me alive?”

Shakily, you held out a hand, waiting for the creature to present itself, then you saw movement and a giant black cat emerged slowly from the thick underbrush, it’s ears flat back against its head as it bared it’s teeth at you.

“What the fuck is that? Is that a Jaguar? Black panther? They’re not even native in Japan?!”

You whimpered as the black cat stalked towards you, it’s tail twitching angrily.

“N-No! G-Go AWAY!” You half yelled, shakily.

The cat growled and hissed again.

All of a sudden a figure landed in front of you in a classic hero pose, ice shooting from his right hand that had slammed into the earth the minute he touched down.

The jaguar leapt to the side, dodging the ice and preparing to lunge at your hero who activated both his fire side and ice side at the same time.

You gasped, this was the first time you had ever seen both quirks activated simultaneously and you held your arm up to shield your eyes, it was  a sight to behold as fire leapt from his left side and ice encased the ground on his right.

Shouto was staring the cat down intensely, willing it to back down but for some reason this beast was out for blood and had backed away but was still facing the duel haired hero.

Your hero deactivated both sides and waited, his eyes still on the cat, shirt half burned off.

“Y/N….are you ok?” He called to you, not taking his eyes off the black beast in front of him.

“N-no, but I’m ok now that you’re here.” You replied, tears welling up in your eyes.

The cat crouched and pounced, with Shouto waiting till the last minute before activating his ice and freezing the beast on the spot.

The second he had encased the threat he spun around to you, breathing heavily as he came over to you.

The stress of the situation coupled with the relief of being saved by the guy you adored and not being eaten alive, caused you to burst into tears again and Shouto captured you in his arms as he knelt down beside you.

“You’re ok now, I’m here.” He said softly as you bawled into his shirt, your knuckles going white as you gripped him like you feared he would disappear at any moment.

“Are you hurt, Y/N?” He asked lowly as he pulled back to check you over.

You nodded as you sobbed and pointed to your left knee that was now becoming visibly swollen.

“What happened?” He asked.

You tearfully told him how you had twisted your ankle then fallen on your knee then rolled down the cliff and then a stupid jaguar appeared and how you believed you were going to die.

Shouto couldn’t help but smile at your wild arm gestures and the way you babbled about what had happened, while snot and tears rolled down your face.

“Can you move?” He asked, his worried eyes watching your face gently as you tried to shift your weight again.

You grimaced and he placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Don’t move.” He commanded.

He placed his right hand over your knee and activated his quirk again slightly. 

“We need to try and contain the swelling.” He commented, looking down to watch what he was doing.

You wiped your eyes and nose on your sleeve, sniffing heavily.

He glanced back up at your face. His turquoise eye glistening as it locked onto you. It wasn’t often that you got to see him up this close and he nearly took your breath away.

You just looked into his eye, then switched and looked into his grey eye. He just stayed transfixed on you.

“You’re beautiful.” He whispered quietly, throwing you completely with his gentle adoration, his left hand still softly holding your shoulder.

“I look like a potato with sweaty eyeballs.” You replied in the most deadpan voice you could muster.

“I’ll be honest with you, Y/N, I really don’t understand how you can compare yourself with a potato?” He said with the most innocently perplexed look on your face it made it you laugh.

“You really are gorgeous, Shouto.” You giggled.

His face flushed and he pulled back from you, looking away with embarrassment.

You reached out and tossled his duel coloured hair and he hesitated a look back at you and cleared his throat.

“Uh, well in any case, we need to get you medical attention.” He said, looking up the small cliff you had fallen down as he frowned.

“How are we going to get back up there? Because I seriously can’t move.” You said, glumly.

“That is true.” He replied, “we’ll listen for the next person that comes along the trail and if we hear them we can call out for them to get help, because I’m not leaving you.”

You smiled softly. “Sounds good.”

“In the meantime.” He said, standing and walking around behind you. “You must rest.”

He gently hooked his hands under your arms and dragged you closer to the base of the cliff so he could sit down with his back to it and you could lean against him.

“Y/N, would you mind using me to rest against? I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with being so close to me.” He said softly in his monotone voice.

“Boi, if you don’t INSIST I lean against you, I’m going to throw a tantrum.”

You reassured him that you would be very happy with being close to him and he then positioned you between his legs so he could reached his right hand across your body and hold it on your left knee.

“Pardon me Y/N. Is this ok?” He asked lowly.

You swallowed thickly and nodded, trying to calm your breathing.

He instructed you to lean back against his torso and you did, with heart pounding, as he rested his left arm protectively around your shoulders.

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Torn Down The Middle Chapter 37: Hospital >>>