Work Text:
Katsuki
The level of exhaustion Katsuki felt was beyond what anybody should be capable of, yet he stood next to an hospital bed watching the rise and fall of the little girl’s chest after being at the hospital for more than thirty-six hours. Administration would scold him, like they always did, telling him it was a liability for him to continue working after being on shift for so long. And, with his usual response, he would flip them off and refuse to leave until his patient was stable. As a doctor, he was salaried and not part of a union like the nurses were, and if they wanted their death rate to stay down, they could shove it up their ass.
His time was primarily spent on the ped-surg unit, starting with rounds as soon as the sun came up, mass chaos for the next fourteen hours or so, then rounds again at nightfall. The funny thing about being inside the cement walls of a hospital for long periods was that time lost all meaning. Sure, there were floor-to-ceiling windows galore in the state-of-the-art medical facility he spent most of his time in, so he could at least tell if it was night or day, but 6am or 6pm meant nothing to him most times.
As a pediatric surgeon, his schedule was obviously peppered with surgeries, both routine and emergency. That’s where he preferred to be, standing at the side of an operating table with a scalpel in his hand, saving a life. He knew from the time he was ten that he was going to be a doctor, and decided on the surgical route when he was sixteen. Since being a superhero wasn’t an option, this was the next best thing.
He excelled, unsurprisingly, and was the top pediatric surgeon in this half of the country, yet he wouldn’t rest until he was the best in Japan, then the best in the world, and when they finally made it to Mars, the best there too, damnit.
This morning, however, he knew he couldn’t stand by Piper’s bed for much longer. He wouldn’t do her any good once he slipped past the forty-eight hour mark, and he had some things to do before he went home for a few hours of sleep and a much needed shower.
Unfortunately, in between his surgeries was far too much administrative bullshit. Paperwork, case notes, reports, statistics, budgets, and research on potential new treatments filled the rest of his already limited time. While he understood the big picture and the value it all held, it sure as fuck didn’t give him the instant gratification that it did to create a pain-free life for a child or repair some part of their little bodies that was broken.
After a few more minutes, he checked in at the nurses’ station and headed to his office. There weren’t many people in this side of floor at – he checked his watch – 6:14am, and a glance out the large windows wall of glass that separated his office from the outside, seven stories off the ground, gave him one hell of a view of the sun coming up behind the city skyscape.
Eijirou
Ah, another day, another… well, he had no idea how much. The thing about being a ‘Freelance Job Starter’ – yes, that was a made up way to say he hopped jobs a lot, and no he didn’t care – was that he had the first day job stuff under wraps but often forgot the little details like how much he was actually getting paid. He was a pro at the rest, though. Paperwork, check . Tour, check . Smile and meet a bunch of new people, check and check .
The latter was his favorite part, honestly. He loved meeting new people. They always had the most interesting stories. It didn’t matter if it was as small as how they dropped their coffee on the bus or as life-changing as how they met their long-lost cousin in a random diner in Osaka. Both stories were true and lived in his head amongst hundreds of others.
Today, however, he had started a new job as a window washer at the city’s fancy-schmancy children’s hospital. He was no stranger to manual labor and definitely didn’t shy away from the idea of being ten stories high, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Plus, surely they had appropriate safety gear, it would be okay.
“I’m unbreakable, man, it’s all good! Show me where to start!” he said, giving his new supervisor, Aizawa, his signature shark-toothed smile.
“We can set up the scaffolding for you to start if you don’t feel safe, but the harness and line will be your typical equipment. Ten stories on a huge hospital like this? Doesn’t make sense to set the scaffolding up every single day and the Industrial Safety and Health Association – yes, you need to know this, pay attention – requires that we take it down every night to eliminate the possibility of accidents,” Aizawa muttered, looking as if he might fall asleep standing up.
The dark-haired man with a five-o’clock shadow even at six in the morning and dark circles under his eyes didn’t exactly exude energy. School had never really been Eijirou’s forte but Mr. Aizawa reminded him of his tenth grade English teacher, making it a little difficult to stay on task.
“Right! I got it! I’m gonna be the best employee you’ve ever had, Sensei, show me the way!”
“Don’t call me that,” the tired man replied, shaking his head and walking away, mumbling something about problem children.
As the day ticked on, he realized that he may have been slightly overconfident in his abilities, but took it as a win that Aizawa cursed at him less than ten times before lunch. However, the uniform, as it turned out, was not nearly as exciting as the job itself.
Charcoal gray coveralls that buttoned from neck to groin and covered everything except his hands, feet, and from the neck up. Not only was the material stiff with little room to breathe, it was constricting, making it difficult to actually maneuver while in the harness. He was a big guy, tall with broad shoulders, and even the biggest size was snug.
Squeegeeing windows when he could barely bend his arms and legs did not work well, but he was in no position to complain. Not on his very first day.
It was fine. He could deal with it!
***
Plot twist, he could not deal with it.
By the end of his training period two weeks later, he still hadn’t gotten used to them. It was early, just after six, and since the weather was supposed to be hot the rest of the week. Since today was the only cool and cloudy day, he was glad the plan was to get as much done on the southern side of the massive building since it got the most direct sunlight.
He was never alone, always working with at least a couple other people, but as they worked along the seventh floor, he tuned out their idle chatter about the girls they were dating or the football games they’d watched. Instead of moving his squeegee or checking for streaks, he was staring through the reflective window.
While it wasn’t easy to see inside, if he squinted and got close enough to the glass, he could see a small group of children in a brightly lit room, decorated almost obnoxiously with primary colors. They sat in a circle, four of them, playing with large building blocks. It was such an innocent scene to come upon, sweet and wholesome.
It wasn’t until he looked a little more closely that he saw that each child was connected to their own mixture of tubes and wires, two hooked to a machine that dripped fluid into their bodies, one that kept track of their heart rate. For a second, he’d gotten caught up in the cuteness of the moment and stupidly forgot that this was a hospital and these kids were sick in one way or another. They just looked like regular kids having fun together.
He sighed, frowning as he dragged the squeegee across the glass a couple of times, but inevitably got pulled back into watching the kids. The tower they’d created was taller than two of the four kids, and for a moment he thought it was going to topple, teetering slowly side to side as if in slow motion until…
It did. It fell and, even though he couldn’t physically hear the kids’ crying, he could feel it in his heart. It was a feeling that stuck with him, heavy and dispiriting. Each window he looked in that day got progressively worse. Children recovering from painful surgeries or life-threatening illnesses. Kids alone, parents at work or sleeping and nurses too busy for constant companionship. He saw more kids frowning and crying that day than he had in his entire life.
He knew it was wrong to pry into the kids’ private lives, but now that he’d seen the sadness that lay beyond the glass, he needed to do something.
Unsure of why he’d suddenly made it his responsibility to fix it, a plan was forming in his mind regardless. After his shift was over and he clocked out, he hopped on the train to Mina’s apartment. This was big. It would take a lot of help from his bestie, and might actually get him fired, but if it made a few kids smile? Well, he was a pro at starting new jobs. He could do it again.
Katsuki
Giggles.
When he and two nurses walked into Miko’s room, which she shared with her identical twin sister Kiko, he didn’t expect to hear giggles. Miko had just undergone a kidney transplant, courtesy of the donation from her twin, just two days ago. The surgery was a resounding success for both patients, not that there was any doubt with Katsuki at the helm of the operating table.
“Doc, look!” Kiko exclaimed, pointing to the window, but Katsuki was mid-note on her chart. “Mhm,” he said without looking. “How’s your pain level today, Miko?”
“Doc!”
“What do you-”
Katsuki froze when finally looked out the window. Honestly, he’d been expecting a rainbow or a cloud that looked like boobs, whatever it was that made eight-year-old girls giggle.
What he wasn’t expecting was…
“Is that fucking Spiderman?”
His curse made the nurses gasp and the girls giggle even more, even if he hadn’t realized it’d slipped out. He was definitely going to hear from the Chief about this.
“Doc said a cuss word! I’m telling Spiderman!” Miko called out, while Kiko just waved quietly from her bed, enamored with the superhero.
Spiderman was washing the damn windows of the hospital. What was going on in this place? Normally the administration ate this shit up and would’ve made a huge deal about hiring costumed window washers, plastered public relations flyers all over the place and probably even had the news channels there, but he hadn’t heard a word about it.
“Weird,” he said to himself, shaking his head and returning his attention back to the girls. “Now, if you don’t mind, let’s talk about your pain, yeah?”
“Aww!”
“Boo!”
Eijirou
“I’m surprised you haven’t gotten caught yet,” Sero said, shaking his head as he shucked off his hospital-mandated uniform coveralls in front of the bank of lockers. “Aizawa will have your ass if he finds out, man.”
“I know, but Sero! The kids love it!” Today’s costume was Captain America, a favorite amongst the younger kids. So far, in the three weeks since he’d completed his training, he donned seven different costumes, repeating the favorites more often than the others. Well, if laundry allowed, of course.
He wouldn’t have been able to do it without Mina, the thrifting queen, who not only scoured the city but also online thrift stores in search of the perfect costumes. It was only slightly challenging to find them in his size, and he bid farewell to the Superman design after two wears. He still owed Mrs. Tanaka, the sweet, old cafeteria lady, an apology for having to witness the seam-splitting incident… maybe tomorrow. He was still mortified that she laughed at his rubber ducky boxers and needed more time for his bruised ego to recover.
The sound of someone clearing their throat startled the guys, and when Eijirou whipped around, his heart sank.
“Aizawa-sensei!”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“Oh, um, hi! I thought you were on vacation this week!”
Shit. Shit shit shit.
“Kirishima, why are you wearing…whatever it is that you’re wearing?”
Aizawa had one eyebrow raised and a look on his face that showed his displeasure and annoyance. Eijirou had gotten lax in making sure he wasn’t seen, especially thinking that his boss wasn’t around this week. He knew his stint at the hospital would be short because of his decisions to dress up the way he had, but he had hoped it wouldn’t be this short. Otherwise he was a good employee, right? So maybe he’d get off with a written warning and a slap on the wrist.
“Well, you see–”
“So you're the guy that I’ve heard rumors about dressing up to wash windows? I thought they were full of shit,” the older man said with a grimace, more to himself than to Eijirou. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, staying in that position for so long that Eijirou wondered if he should continue or stay silent.
“Shit,” Aizawa grunted, finally opening his eyes with a sigh of utter irritation. “There’s already been reports and now you’ve just proven them. I can’t have my own job on the line because you can’t follow simple rules. I’m going to have to let you go.”
Kirishima’s face fell into a frown, a rare expression for him. He glanced at Sero, whose face nearly matched his own, then looked back to Aizawa and nodded. There was no talking his way out of this, not when the evidence was quite literally plastered all over his body.
“Right,” he said quietly, head hanging low. “Let me just grab my bag.” He pulled his shoulder bag over his head, strap across his chest. “Catch ya later, man,” he said to Sero, bidding his new friend farewell. They’d become fast buddies after working together a few weeks, and he’d really miss seeing him every day.
“I’ll text you,” Sero replied, which softened the blow of losing his job just a little bit. At least he wouldn’t be losing a friend at the same time.
With one final wave, he closed his locker and followed Aizawa out.
Katsuki
Aside from paperwork, Katsuki’s least favorite thing to do was attend meetings, most especially those in administration that were a complete waste of time. Every year, Human Resources made them review policies, watch the annual sexual harassment training video, and sign off on having attended. Because Katsuki had been in a long, emergency surgery the day before when the original meeting was scheduled, he got to attend his own private showing. What a fucking joke , he thought with a roll of his eyes. Bureaucracy was such a pain in the ass sometimes.
The head of HR was out on leave, which left her assistant Ochako Uraraka in charge for the past couple of weeks. She seemed a bit frazzled, considering the size of the hospital, and it showed when she accidentally put on a basic bloodborne pathogens training rather than the one for sexual harassment.
“This isn’t mine,” Katsuki said, lips pursed and arms crossed over his chest in annoyance. It wasn’t her fault, not really, yet the more time he sat here fucking around for no good reason, the less time he was doing his damn job.
Just as the correct video started to play, there was a knock on the administrative office door just outside of the small conference room he was stationed in, which opened directly after.
“Uraraka.” She was greeted by a tall, thin man with string black hair who looked like he’d been put through the ringer a few hundred times. Katsuki couldn’t read his name badge from where he sat, but the red stripe across the bottom indicated he was in maintenance. A supervisor, maybe? He pushed his chair back from the small table so he could see the doorway better.
Someone clearly stood behind him, hidden from view, but the maintenance guy did not look happy. This interaction was a fuck ton more interesting than the same video he’d seen years in a row, so Katsuki chose to focus on it instead.
“Unfortunately, I’m terminating Kirishima effective immediately. He’s here to sign his termination paperwork and turn in his badge. He…doesn’t have the uniform here, I assume it’s in his locker?” The tall man gave the man behind him a questioning look.
“Yes, Sensei,” a quiet voice answered.
“Don’t call me that,” the tall man replied, turning back to Uraraka. “He was caught, obviously, wearing unsanctioned clothing, and it’s been reported that it’s been happening multiple times over his short tenure here. Kirishima hasn’t denied the claims.”
“Sure, okay, thank you Aizawa, I’ll take it from here,” she replied with a small smile, then stepped aside as the tall man – Aizawa something or another – left and the hidden person behind him stepped forward.
Katsuki’s jaw dropped open when he saw who entered the Administration office, or rather what the guy was wearing. It was none other than the window washer, aptly dressed as Captain America. Well, half-dressed, since his mask and helmet were gone, revealing what was quite possibly the hottest guy Katsuki had ever seen despite what appeared to be obnoxiously dyed red hair.
Today’s costume was Saito’s favorite, which Katsuki found out as he was doing rounds that morning while the washer was working on the windows outside of his room. Saito, a six-year-old kid who was in the hospital more than out of it due to complications with idiopathic scoliosis, loved Captain America so much that he brought his favorite figurine every time he had to come for a lengthy stay. Katsuki had just completed the kid’s third surgery in three years, and hopefully the last for a while, a few days ago.
So why the fuck was the window washer getting fired?
“Kirishima, do you admit to wearing something other than the hospital-issued uniform for your job?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the redhead replied quietly, head hung in what appeared to be shame.
“Were you provided with the appropriate uniform to wear?”
“Yes, ma’am, but the kids… they looked so sad and…and whenever I dressed up like this, it made them smile.”
“I’m sorry, Kirishima, but it’s still against hospital policy. We’re still going to have to terminate your employment here, effective immediately.”
A silent pause, then the redhead nodded, accepting his fate.
“I understand–”
“That’s fucking bullshit,” Katsuki interjected, garnering gasps and stares from both Uraraka and the idiot window washer.
“Dr. Bakugou, I thought you were watching your training video!” Uraraka exclaimed.
“I’ve seen this same video every year since my goddamn internship. I could recite it verbatim if you want. Now why the hell are you firing him for dressing up like a dumbass superhero?”
“Hey–” Kirishima said, but Uraraka cut him off before he could continue.
“Dr. Bakugou, I’m afraid that’s confidential information and–”
“Not so damn confidential if you just spilled it all while I was sitting right here,” he countered, cocking a challenging eyebrow up.
“Well, I wasn’t aware that you were listening!” she shot back. This back and forth was nothing new to him, especially with Uraraka. If there was anyone at the hospital that he might consider something akin to a friend, it would be her. She didn’t put up with his shit and he didn’t stop giving it to her. It was called balance , damnit.
He stood up, walking the short distance to the other two and jutted his chin out at the window washer – Kirishima, was it? “This idiot has made more of my kids smile in the last few weeks than in the entire time I’ve fucking worked here, and–”
“I’m sorry that we can’t maintain someone’s employment just because they make a few kids laugh, Dr. Bakugou.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” he gritted out, getting genuinely pissed now. “Did you know that laughter has been shown to have a positive impact on the immune system, which is particularly significant for children undergoing cancer treatments?”
“Well… no–”
“Or that it helps to increase the production of white blood cells, which fight infection and protect against heart-related illness?”
“No–”
“Or that it helps increase pain tolerance, reduces stress and anxiety, and generally just makes this place suck just a little fucking less for these kids who are going through their own personal hell?”
“Dr. Bakugou, I–”
“Keep him on or I’m filing a formal complaint with the Board of Directors. As a matter of fact, I suggest the hospital hire more washers and fund new uniforms as such.”
The looks on both of their faces was enough for him to know he got his point across. Whether or not it made a difference was irrelevant because he was speaking the truth.
“I’ll finish the damn video another time. I have shit to do,” he added, pushing past both of them and leaving Administration. He needed a breather before going to check on his patients.
***
“Hey, Doc, wait up!”
After a quick stop in his office to grab his bento lunch, Katsuki had headed outside with the hopes of finding a semi-secluded spot to eat. It was sunny and warm, just after one o’clock, and since he was supposed to be in his meeting until two, his schedule just cleared up unexpectedly.
Well, that was until the ex-window washer came jogging after him, a big smile on his face.
“What do you want?” he asked gruffly, sitting down at a picnic table under a large, shady tree. Apparently doing so was an invitation for the redhead to join him, sitting down on the other side of the table.
“I just wanted to say thank you, man,” Kirishima replied, grinning widely.
“It’s whatever.”
“No, really, they didn’t fire me. Well, not yet at least. For now I’m just suspended pending further investigation. Isn’t that great?”
“Great,” Katsuki deadpanned, looking at the guy as if he was the biggest idiot in the world. Hot, yes. Kind, caring, too fucking cute for his own good, but an idiot nonetheless.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. It really made me happy to make your patients smile.”
Katsuki blinked once, then again, and before he even realized what he was doing, he said, “Do you want to get some coffee sometime?”
It was Kirishima’s turn to look dumbfounded, mouth gaping as he looked inquisitively at Katsuki. Yet just seconds later, his lips curled into a grin once again, and he nodded.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
Eijirou
*Six months later*
“Baaaabe! What do you think of this one?” Eijirou walked out of his bedroom into the living room where his boyfriend was sitting on the couch, thumbing through some medical magazine that he’d brought with him. Red eyes looked up at him, narrowing as they slowly grazed down over his body, taking in his outfit.
It was an incredible outfit, in his very biased opinion, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t pass the dress code at work. Bare chested with only gears over his shoulders, it probably showed too much skin to be appropriate for the childrens’ hospital.
“What in the actual fuck are you wearing?”
“Oh my god, babe, do you not know your superheroes?? The Unbreakable Red Riot! He was in that movie with All Might and I thought it might be good for–”
“You are not fucking wearing that to work.”
“Well, probably not, but maybe Halloween! Don’t you think it would be good for Denki’s party?”
“Ei, your fucking nipples are already hard and we haven’t even left your apartment yet.”
Eijirou looked down.
Crap
. He quickly palmed his pecs to cover them up, blushing a bit at the realization that Katsuki was right. He pouted, looking down at the rest of his outfit, suddenly sad because he’d been so excited. “You’re right, it was a dumb idea.”
“Jesus fuck,” Katsuki said, standing up and crossing the living room. He cupped Eijirou’s cheeks, forcing their eyes to meet. “I didn’t say it was fucking dumb. You look hot as hell, but it pisses me off that others will get to see you like this, okay?”
Oh.
Oh .
His blush deepened as it crept down his neck and up to the tips of his ears. He and Katsuki had only been together a few months but the blond never fell short in saying exactly what was on his mind. He loved that trait, honestly, but sometimes he couldn’t believe he was so lucky.
“Put it in the ‘just for your eyes’ pile?” he whispered, smirking as he closed the gap and pressed their lips together.
Katsuki hummed, sliding one hand around Eijirou’s waist and pulling him closer. That was answer enough for him.
“Don’t let the Employee of the Month go to your head,” Katsuki murmured, kissing him again before finally pushing him away, his own cheeks dusted pink.
“Hey, I wouldn’t even still be an employee without you sticking up for me that day, you know.”
“Damn right, you owe me big time,” Katsuki teased, flashing his mischievous scarlet red eyes at him.
“You’re not getting my parking spot!”
“Asshole, thought you were supposed to be the nice one between the two of us?” Katsuki quipped, flipping him off in jest.
Several kisses and one ass pinch later, and Eijirou went back to his bedroom to try on another outfit. Never in a million years would he have expected to find true love the way he did, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world.
He might dress up as any number of superheroes day in and day out, happily bringing joy to children who need it the most, but the real hero here was Katsuki. He saved children, yes, every single day. But that day? He saved Eijirou.
And it’s been one hell of a ride ever since.