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“SHUT UP DEKU! OH MY GOD, CAN YOU BE QUIET FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?!”
The common room goes silent.
“Woah, Bakubro, he just asked if you were busy,” Kirishima chuckles nervously.
Katsuki looks over to Deku who, as expected, already has tears welling in his eyes.
“Shitty crybaby, of course I’m busy can’t you fuckin’ see? Go bother someone who cares.”
Deku sniffles like the pathetic little child that he is, and nods, “Ok Kacchan.”
“Fuckin’ annoying ass-” Katsuki mutters, ignoring the glares as he stomps out of the room. Taking the stairs two at a time before slamming the door shut behind him, imagining the flinches of his classmates as he does so.
Fuck that fucking nerd, always looking down at him. Asking him for help on math of all things, when he fuckin’ knows that’s Katsuki’s worst subject. Fuck him.
The little shit shouldn’t even be here, he’s not on Katsuki’s level. Just gonna get himself killed.
After a few minutes of grumbling into his pillow, there’s a knock at Katsuki’s door, followed by a meek, “Blasty?”
He groans dramatically and flops over onto his back, propelling himself up with a few controlled explosions.
“Fuckin’ what-” He swings the door open and comes face to face with the entire idiot squad.
Sero, Kirishima, Mina, and Kaminari all stand in front of him, Sero nervously wringing his hands, Kaminari avoiding eye contact, and Kirishima giving him a look.
Mina steps to the front of them, patting Kirishima’s shoulder as she does so.
“Blasty, you really gotta stop.” She stares him straight in the eyes, not backing down no matter how hard he glares.
“Stop fuckin’ what.”
Kirishima places a hand on Mina’s chest, stalling her step forward into Katsuki’s space. “You know what, Bakugo.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, “Oh please, like the little shit can’t handle some yelling. I’ve seen discount hot topic make his ears bleed-”
“This isn’t about Jirou. This is about you. You need to sort your shit out.” Sero’s frowning, a rare sight.
“Oh?” Katsuki quirks an eyebrow, “Or what?”
There’s a tense silence before Kaminari sniffs. “Or- or we won’t be your friends anymore!!” He stutters, bottom lip wobbling.
The rest of the group nods, one by one giving him a last glance.
Katsuki stands there for a few minutes, mainly thinking, but also fuming
How dare they treat him like that, like trash. He’s not trash, and he’s not the bad guy. He’s just trying to save Deku before it’s too late. Stupid idiot won’t last a day in the hero business, even with his new freak quirk. All it’s good for is hurting the nerd.
“Stupid Deku and his stupid protection squad, fuckin’ blind idiots.” He grumbles, slamming the door and returning to his lair.
He changes his clothes, resigning himself to finishing his weekend at the gym instead of on next week’s homework.
Bakugo stomps through the common room on the way to their practice room, a few of his classmates shoot him glares but he’s ignored for the most part. Something noticeably purposeful since he’s not exactly being quiet. Even Kirishima refuses to acknowledge his presence.
Yeah, that hurts.
He runs for two hours, lifts for one, and finishes with core for thirty minutes before his post-workout cooldown ritual. Thoroughly satiated and tired to the bone, he heads back to his dorm. Ignored this way too, he doesn’t bother saying goodnight to anyone. Not that he would usually. Not that he misses Ashido’s “Night blasty!!” on his way up the stairs.
He doesn’t give a shit.
He scrubs at his body with his last bits of energy and brushes his teeth half dead on his feet. Exhausted, he flops down on his bed and passes out almost immediately.
…
Someone’s screaming.
Katsuki lunges toward Shigaraki, whose hand barely grazes Izuku’s neck.
Izuku? When did he ever call the nerd something other than-
“DEKU!!!” Oh, he was the one screaming. He blasts himself forward and pushes Izuku out of the way, his dusted skin flaking off into the breeze as green hair skids to a stop on the ground below.
“Damn BRAT-” Shigaraki mutters, angrily scrunching his hand in mid-air before turning his attention to Katsuki. “YOU.” He points a cracked, pointed finger at Katsuki.
“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it old man?” He snorts, preparing his arms to blast again, he can feel the resistance from his last jump.
“You saved the little shit,” Shigaraki mutters to himself, nails dragging roughly down his neck, “must have a relationship, must be close to my enemy. Must die-”
Katsuki raises his hand, palms crackling in defiance, but he’s geared to go anyway.
Nothing happens.
“Fuck goddamnit!” His one fucking chance to get a drop on the guy and he’s out of juice? Fucking really?!
He’s so caught up in his fury he doesn’t notice the mad glint in the enemy’s eye. The way he smiles brokenly, bloody tongue barely peeking out.
“Poor little hero.” He mutters.
Katsuki jerks his head up just in time to see five fingers inches away from his face.
Well, this was fun.
“KATSUKI-” There’s pressure on his side and he falls, belatedly realizing he was pushed out of the way.
He looks hits the ground hard, hearing the reverberated snap of his ankle as it breaks.
“FALL HERO!! FALL BEFORE ME! YOUR NEW GO-”
Shigaraki falls to the ground as Todoroki whacks him over the head with a piece of rebar.
HIs normally stoic expression is frantic, he’s got fresh tears streaking down his face, and his forehead is covered in dried blood.
He tears his eyes away from the downed villain as Kirishima comes to cuff him, and screams in anguish at the sight of Izuku- Something Katsuki is still trying to wrap his head around.
A startled, almost pained sound escapes Katsuki as he half limps, half runs towards his best friend.
...best friend?
“IZUKU!”
Izuku has long since crumbled to his knees, clutching what remains of the left side of his face. Still slowly crumbling away. Blood pours down his arm and neck, making it difficult to see, but the sight of his eye frantically widening as Katsuki sits next to him is enough.
He removes his hand and sobs, throwing himself onto Katsuki.
“Eih- hgo-” He chokes, blood soaking Katsuki’s own suit as he rocks them both.
“Shh, it’s okay, Izuku.” He whispers, making eye contact with a sobbing Todoroki, who nods in approval.
“Izuku you’re gonna be fine.” The shock has yet to remove itself from Katsuki’s voice, and his words are filled with cracks and sobs, but he hopes it’s what Izuku needs.
“Aa- aah” Izuku’s broken kacchan followed by a fresh flow of blood down Katuski’s neck.
“I love you, Izuku. It’s gonna be alright.”
Izuku whimpers, clutching onto the blond’s neck for dear life.
And then he goes limp.
Katsuki’s eyes bug out, and he pulls Izuku arm’s length away. The gruesome sight that greets him is one he’ll never forget.
Izuku’s left eye hangs loosely down the side of his mangled cheekbone and jaw. Katsuki can see teeth starting to crumble as the decay works its way through his face. His nose is completely exposed, with no flesh left. No cute freckles. No scrunch when he smiles. And his other eye, possibly the worst part, stares lifelessly at Katsuki. The last remnants of tears make their way down his face.
He looks… terrified.
He died scared in the arms of his abuser. Someone who never even apologized to him. For fucking anything. Some vile part of Katsuki reminds him.
He saved me because I couldn’t do my fucking job.
He thrusts Izuku’s lifeless body into Shouto’s arms, who lets out a heartwrenching sob. Katsuki scrambles back, and can vaguely register the sound of pink cheeks vomiting behind him.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-” becoming increasingly more desperate with each utterance of the word, “FUCK!” Kirishima comes up behind him, picking him off the dust-covered ground and holding him to his chest. “This is all my fault!!!” He wails, “He fucking saved me, I couldn’t- this isn’t right no no NO-”
“Shhhh Katsuki-” Eijirou soothes him through his own tears, always the constant in Katsuki’s life. Well, after Deku.
Deku Deku Deku.
Dead Deku.
Because of you .
Katsuki takes another good look at Deku’s face where Shouto had freaked and discarded him on the ground. The unnatural bend of his arms, the bloody drool escaping his parted- if you can even call that a mouth anymore, his eyes.
And he screams.
He screams and he screams and he screams until someone shakes him so hard he wakes up.
Wait-
“BAKUGO!!! WAKE UP PLEASE-” Shitty hair screams at him, shaking his shoulders desperately as he thrashes in his sheets.
He stills, staring up at Kirishima with a shocked expression.
“Wh-”
“You were having a nightmare,” Kirishima explains, gasping for breath like he just ran a marathon.
Katsuki looks to the doorway where half of the boys in their class stand, expressions varying from worried to shocked.
He looks back at Kirishima, a pitiful whimper escaping his throat, “It- it wasn’t real?”
Katsuki looks to the door, half expecting to see Izuku there.
Missing an ear, you can see his tongue through his cheek.
Katsuki gulps, “Where’s Izuku?” He murmurs into the quiet room.
“Izuku?” Someone in the hallway mutters.
“Uh,” Kirishima catches himself before he can say something dumb, “Izu?- Uh- Midoriya is probably in his room. Didn’t think you’d want him here, but he knows. You kinda woke up the whole dorm.”
Kirishima has barely finished the sentence before he’s jumping out of bed, pajamas be damned, and sprinting toward the stairs. When he gets to Izuku’s floor he makes a hard right, Icyhot shouting something about being nice behind him.
Katsuki can yell at him later.
Running gives him time to think, and the more Katsuki thinks the more he realizes that his nightmare might as well have been a prophecy. Izuku would pull some martyr shit like that, but it was only Katsuki’s fault in the first place that he was put in that situation. He’s the only one to blame. Izuku had done everything right, and Katsuki managed to fuck it up.
Hollow socket, tendons hanging, blood turning his green suit a muddied brown.
Katsuki knocks on the door frantically, scared about what he’ll see when Izuku answers.
There’s some rustling from inside before Izuku peeks out, green curls messy from sleep.
“Wh- I thought Aoyama said you were having a nightmare.” His eyebrows furrow.
“I was,” Katsuki breathes, taking in how whole his rival is. “But it wasn’t real.”
He reaches out hesitantly and brushes an unruly lock of green out of Izuku’s left eye.
“Everything’s where it should be-” He chuckles almost in bewilderment.
He drags his fingers gently down Izuku’s cheek, tracing where the decay had rotted away skin, now whole.
A few of the classmates who followed him gasp in surprise when Katsuki clutches Izuku’s shoulders and buries his face in soft green hair. Completely breaking down as he sobs.
Izuku freezes, terrified of ruining the moment, even though he really wants to ask someone what the fuck is happening.
He gives Kirishima a questioning look as he hesitantly rubs along Katsuki’s back.
The redhead just shrugs.
“I’m sorry Izuku.”
Aaaand the damn breaks.
Izuku sobs as Katsuki clutches him tighter, their friends begin to awkwardly back out of the hallway after witnessing whatever that was.
“Wh- Kacchan?” He pulls away reluctantly, but he needs to see Katsuki’s face.
The blond’s eyes are red and puffy, same as his cheeks, but he’s dead serious.
“I’m so fucking sorry. You don’t deserve any of the shit I put you through, you’re a really good guy.” He heaves in a breath, “And- I know you’ll be a great hero someday.”
“Kacchan… why?”
Katsuki looks away, “I just- thought about some things,” He doesn’t mention that the thinking involved seeing his classmate’s bloodied corpse, “realized how full of myself I am. You really did just want help on that math homework, huh?” He huffs, shaking his head at his past self.
“I did. What else would I have wanted?”
Katsuki sniffs, angrily rubbing at his eyes, “I don’t know, Izuku. I’m a fucking idiot.”
Izuku smiles sadly, “All I’ve ever wanted is to be your friend, Kacchan.
The blond nods, “Yeah, I think I see that now. Can- can we still do that? Be friends?”
Izuku beams, rubbing his own tears away and pulling Katsuki into another tight hug.
“There’s nothing I want more, Katsuki.”