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Kaminari couldn’t breathe.
There were hands on him, a couch pressed into his left side, and his legs were awkwardly bent beneath him. His left knee hurt. Gasping, Kaminari squeezed his eyes shut a little tighter. Someone had wrapped something tight around his chest, his ribs, his heart. He’d been grabbed once on an internship patrol. The villain had squeezed him around his ribs, nearly crushing him. He’d had to spend a few days recovering even with the extra healing, stuck on desk work while his ribs were so sore he still wheezed.
There was a hand running up and down his right arm. Another arm was wrapped around his middle, a chest pressed to his back as he was pushed against the couch. His head was resting on the corner of a cushion. None of this was comfortable. The hand on his arm was at least soothing, though. That was something.
He rasped in another breath. His muscles jolted, legs twitching under him. “Is he seizing?” Jirou’s voice asked softly, somewhere behind the couch.
Kaminari’s heart was still pounding. He could feel it in his throat, his chest, trying to force its way out of his ribcage. Wheezing, he felt his right shoulder twitching a few times.
“It’s not a seizure. His oxygen’s low.” Aizawa’s voice rumbled through Kaminari’s own chest. He didn’t seem too disturbed by the fact Kaminari jolted in his grasp, thankfully. “If it were a seizure, I wouldn’t be holding him. We’ll go over first aid in class once I get this handled.”
Kaminari still couldn’t breathe right. Another gasp left him. He might have whimpered. Aizawa’s hand continued to rub up and down his right arm, sending sparks through his nerves. There weren’t any actual sparks.
Aizawa was calmer than he was.
I can’t breathe. I’m going to die. His heart squeezed again. Gasping, he tried to move. His hands were tangled in one of the blankets that had been thrown over the couch. I’m going to die. I won’t be able to breathe.
“Keep breathing, Kaminari. It doesn’t need to be slow. You just need to breathe. If you pass out, I have you.” Aizawa told him. Against his arm, Aizawa’s fingers began tracing small symbols on his skin. Not kanji, not katakana, not hiragana, none of that. It was…something else. Maybe nothing, maybe just something random.
His neck hurt from the way his head was craned. “I’m going to make him some tea.”
“Dunce Face hates tea. Come on. We’re making hot chocolate, Ponytail.”
“Oh—alright.”
“Do you think he’ll want something to eat? I always like something to snack on after I have a panic attack.”
“Good idea. Kirishima, why don’t you help Sero find Kaminari something to eat? Ask Bakugou if there’s something specific that he likes, he’ll know. Jirou, can you and Ashido go and see if there’s a blanket in Kaminari’s room? A hoodie would also work, something soft to the touch and warm.”
His stomach did a flip. His lungs seized. Gasping, Kaminari tried to move again. His arms wouldn’t listen to him. There was a fuzziness creeping up his legs, his fingers, his arms. Even if he wanted to move, he was weak. If a villain attacked, then he would be a liability. He would already be a casualty.
This was embarrassing. He’d just gotten up from taking a nap after class on the couch, walked a few steps, and now he was stuck here. Leaning on the couch, with Aizawa holding him up. His ribs ached. I can’t breathe.
“It’s okay, Kaminari. It’s okay.” Aizawa kept murmuring to him.
The world went hot. Too hot. Something was wrong. With his hands, his heart, his—
(He’d never get used to the sensation of being thrown back into his body.
It was almost like he was dreaming.
Except significantly more disorienting on waking up.)
A hand was cradling his neck. He was on the floor. His brain tried to lock onto what he had been doing. A hand brushed his hair out of his face.
Sucking in a deep breath, Kaminari cracked his eyes open. Aizawa was the one holding him. Dark eyes studied him. “Are you alright? Are you going to have a panic attack?”
“No. I’m—” He gasped for breath again. “My chest hurts. And my head.”
“You passed out.” Aizawa explained.
“Explains the general anxiety.” Kaminari mused, resting his head against the ground. With a shaking hand, he reached up. His whole arm was trembling violently. Sitting by him, Aizawa rubbed Kaminari’s arm again. “I don’t even know what—do you know what happened?”
“Seems like you had tachycardia of some sort. Your pulse was oddly fast.” Nodding, Kaminari exhaled weakly. Again, Aizawa rubbed his arm. “We’ll handle this, Kaminari, I promise. On UA’s money, we have plenty of funds for this.”
“Thanks.” Kaminari exhaled weakly, shifting. Aizawa adjusted his grip, letting Kaminari’s head fall into the crook of his arm. “I’m tired.”
“I understand that. Just breathe, Kaminari. Everything will be fine.” A hand brushed through his hair again.
Closing his eyes, Kaminari let Aizawa keep talking as he focused on breathing.
Kaminari’s knee bounced on the floor, heel patting out an odd beat against the wood.
Aizawa was sitting next to him, on his phone. He was reading something. What that something was, Kaminari didn’t know. (His parents weren’t…involved with the situation anymore. He was a ward of Yuuei now. Sometimes, he didn’t know how to feel about it.)
“Living with heart failure—” The commercial above him blared. Staring at the floor, mouth drawn into a thin line, Kaminari swallowed. He continued bouncing his knee. Gnawing on his lip, he glanced at Aizawa again.
Reaching up, he pulled at some of the loose skin on his lower lip. His knee kept bouncing, heel pounding on the floor. There wasn’t anyone else in the waiting room. At least he wasn’t making some poor old lady panicky as she waited for her own appointment. He dropped his head back against the wall behind him. He closed his eyes. Breathe, Kaminari. It’s okay.
The door opened. “Kaminari Denki?” The nurse asked. Snapping his eyes open, Kaminari turned to Aizawa, who had tucked his phone away and was getting up.
The both of them followed the nurse down the hallway. She was kind, and calm, even as Kaminari fumbled with his shoes so she could weigh him and get his height. Then, he and Aizawa were settled in another room. The pleather seat squeaked as Aizawa sat down, and Kaminari was made to sit on the…medical…bed…thingy. What were they called? He didn’t think it was a gurney, those were in hospitals, and they were not in a hospital. They were at a cardiologist’s.
The nurse returned. Aizawa had to answer a lot of the questions Kaminari just didn’t know the answers to—the new medication he was on for anxiety, what had happened while he was in that sort of unconscious state, what Aizawa had seen. His blood pressure was taken. Then, quietly, the nurse asked if he wanted Aizawa to leave.
Panicked, he glanced back at Aizawa. “I can stay if you want me to, I don’t mind.” Aizawa reassured. Nodding, Kaminari settled onto the medical bed a little bit more.
“Alright. Well, Mr. Kaminari, I need you to remove your shirt for me and lay down so I can put these on you. They might be a little cold, sorry about that.” The nurse said. Nodding, Kaminari laid down. To his surprise, Aizawa grabbed his hand. He glanced over. There was a tight smile.
Then, he turned to the nurse. Midoriya would probably have a field day trying to figure out all the different ways her Quirk affected her. There were small, blue and green scales on her cheeks and at the outer corners of each eye. Her eyes were slitted like a cat’s and a solid, gleaming yellow color. From the look of things, the scales continued down her neck and arms, disappearing under pale pink scrubs. A long, blue and green scaled tail flicked up, and she wrote some things down on a tablet attached to it. Thin spikes ran down the spine of it. She glanced at him and smiled, attaching electrodes to his shoulders and chest.
“Two are going to have to go on your sides, here.” She showed where they would go on her own sides. “I’ll get those down quickly.”
“I’ve had plenty of these, kid. They look scarier than they are.” Shouta reassured. Glancing over at him, Kaminari nodded tightly. Then, he turned back to the nurse—whose name he didn’t even have.
“I’m so sorry, I never got your name.” He suddenly said as the nurse attached one of the electrodes above his left hip. They really were cold. Not bad. Honestly, the wires were worse, because Kaminari hadn’t realized how heavy they would be. Or how many of them there would be, either.
“Call me Nurse Nori. Or just Nori, if you prefer.” The woman replied with a close-lipped smile. He could just see the tips of too-sharp canines poking out of her hip.
“I’m Kaminari—but you know that and—uh—nice to meet you.” He squeezed Aizawa’s hand a little more. Gently, Aizawa returned the squeeze. His hand and fingers were unexpectedly, pleasantly warm.
Smiling, Nori attached an electrode to his other side, then added another one right in his solar plexus. Then, she adjusted the wires so they went off to the side and then started the machine.
After a few minutes, she pulled out what looked like the CVS receipt of medical papers from the side of the machine. Glancing it over, she frowned. Then, schooling her expression back to neutral, she helped remove the electrodes. “Hmm. I’m going to go fetch Dr. Sasaki, okay, sweetie? I’ll be right back.”
“Is something wrong?” Kaminari asked.
Smiling at him, Nurse Nori shook her head. “I’ve just realized that this is going to be a bit more complicated than I thought. No worries, though, your EKG appears completely normal.”
With that, she ducked out of the room, taking the EKG machine with her. “Are you alright, Kaminari?” Aizawa asked, “You’re squeezing my hand rather tightly.”
“Oh—sorry—”
“It’s fine. My husband’s broken my fingers doing the same thing.” Aizawa replied, flexing his fingers once Kaminari had pulled away. “It comes with the territory of being married to someone scared of doctors.”
“Present Mic is scared of doctors?” Kaminari asked, staring at him with wide eyes. Quietly, Aizawa nodded.
“He has his reasons. Besides, there is no shame in being afraid.” Aizawa said. “Everyone has fears. Everyone has moments of terror. It’s what you do afterwards that matters.”
Looking at him, Kaminari swallowed.
The door opened. Raising his head, Kaminari turned to the door. Nurse Nori had returned with the doctor, a woman with short, dark orange hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. She was dressed in a long, white coat with some small pockets. A stethoscope hung around her neck.
She was quieter than Nurse Nori, going about using the stethoscope to listen to his heart and only quietly asking him to take a deep breath when she moved it. Then, she pulled out some sort of blood pressure cuff. “Stay sitting.” She said, wrapping the cuff around his left arm. Kaminari watched, thinking about it.
Doctor Sasaki had him do some kind of…odd dance, of sorts. She took his blood pressure sitting, attached a small heart monitor clip to his finger, then took his blood pressure again. Then she had him sit up, doing the same song and dance there with the cuff. It happened multiple times. Kaminari found himself wavering a little bit as he stood for a couple minutes.
“Sit down if you feel dizzy.” She cautioned. Another thirty seconds or so passed.
Eventually, Kaminari had to sit down. Doctor Sasaki turned and wrote something down on a small notepad. Nurse Nori was gone. Glancing over at Aizawa, Kaminari swallowed nervously. “Uhm, Doctor Sasaki?” She looked at him, brown eyes soft. “Am—am I still going to be able to continue at Yuuei?”
As soon as they got back, Kaminari and Aizawa were mobbed by the rest of Class A.
“Are you okay?” Kirishima asked.
“Did you die?” That was Jirou.
Hands on the back of the couch, Mina asked, “Did you get any answers?”
Walking over to the couch, Kaminari dropped down on the cushions. Aizawa paused on the way to his own apartment. Touching his shoulder, he said, “Make sure to take it slow. I’ll handle everything with Recovery Girl and the forms.” He turned to everyone else. “Iida, Yaoyorozu, keep everyone under control. Try not to overwhelm your classmate. If you need me, don’t.”
With that, he left, and Kaminari sat on the couch for a moment. Everyone went quiet. His knee started bouncing, arms crossed. “I’m going to make some peanut butter cookies.” Sato announced. Glancing over, Kaminari smiled tightly at him.
“All you extras, get out.” Bakugou snapped, scowling at a bunch of people. “Shitty Hair, Racoon Eyes, Headphones, Tape Face, Ponytail, you all can stay. Everyone else out.”
“Let us know if you need anything, Kaminari.” Uraraka volunteered, Tsu nodding beside her. With that, though, everyone sort of…scattered. At some point, Kaminari ended up with a pillow in his arms. Hugging it close, he stared at one of the scrapped crochet projects on the coffee table.
Carefully, Mina came over and sat down next to him. A hand settled on his arm. “Denki?” She asked. Turning, he met her gaze. “Is everything alright?”
Bakugou disappeared into the kitchen. Distantly, they all heard a sharp snap, a small explosion, and then nothing. Typical Bakugou stuff. As for the others, they all were sitting around the couch, looking at him.
“Is it something—” Tilting his head to the side, Eijiro cut off. He shifted in his seat. “Is it something bad?”
“It’s, uh—” Squeezing the pillow in his hands, Kaminari said, “It’s not going to go away. At all. It—it can get better, but it’s. I’m going to be taking meds for a while, I need to get a medical bracelet, I just—”
He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. Gently, Mina found his hand, ran her thumb over his knuckles. He turned to her. “You don’t need to tell us if you don’t want to.” She offered.
Shrugging, Kaminari said, “You’ll find out eventually.” He sighed, then said, “I have POTS. If I stand up too fast, my heart rate gets too quick, and then you can have—what happened the other day. Which sucks. It’s not going to go away, I’m just going to have to handle it, and now—”
“POTS?” Sero sat up. “Oh, hey! My mom has that! Do you have any new meds?”
“Uh…something. Yeah.” Kaminari handed over the small scrap of paper he had written the name on. Sero looked it over.
“Huh. Man, I hope you don’t like garlic bread.” Sero winced. Turning to him, Kaminari stared at him.
“What do you mean?” With an even bigger wince, like he hadn't wanted to be the one breaking this news to him, Sero turned away. Desperately, Kaminari asked, “Sero, what do you mean?”