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Day 4, 6, 22, 29- I'm Fine (Don't Peek Behind the Curtain)

This one was a great time, I got to just play around with Bakugou's trauma for funsies hehe this one has Shinsou in it. and here's the thing about Shinsou (I'm not fully caught up, no spoilers please) I know very little about his quirk. So I took... a lot of liberties. So if it turns out that's not how Shinsou's quirk works, that's a problem for future me.

prompts- shock, made to watch, "watch out!", troubled past resurfacing- hurt Bakugou, a lovely little walk down memory lane, with memory lane being everything Bakugou's ever suffered through, emotionsTM

AO3 Link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/50331418

While Shinsou wasn’t particularly thrilled with being in a group with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou, it really seemed like tempting fate at this point, he was glad that he was finally starting to catch up a little bit to his new classmates. Everyone else had already gotten a ridiculous amount of real world experience and they weren’t even done with their first year, and while one day out on patrol with Aizawa wouldn’t do too much to make up for it, at least it was a start.

The class had been thrilled at the thought of going out with their teachers, patrolling the warehouse district near the docks. Aizawa had told them that this wasn’t about fighting villains, but about how to do proper patrols. The teachers were hoping nobody ran into any villains, but, knowing 1A, they could fight if they did since they all had their probationary licenses. Shinsou had been a special case, since he’d transferred into the class after the test was given. Aizawa had vouched for him, to give him a temporary and restricted license until he could take the test, convincing the committee that since class 1A was constantly running into villains, that he needed to be able to fight alongside his classmates in an emergency. The license he had wasn’t like everyone else’s, but it was enough to let him get the real world experience he’d been looking for. Though, since he had to be in Aizawa’s presence the entire time he was out in the field, that also meant he’d gotten assigned to the ‘problem child’ group since Aizawa was also personally keeping an eye on them.

Bakugou had protested loudly at being stuck with Midoriya, but Aizawa had silenced him with a few whispered words. Shinsou hadn’t heard him exactly but it was something along the lines of ‘I need you to keep Midoriya and Todoroki from doing something stupid.’ Shinsou hadn’t been with the class long, but it was an open secret that Midoriya was always willing to go too far to try and save people, and that Todoroki often seemed way too easily convinced to do something illegal. And while Bakugou was often at the crux of shit that went down around 1A, it was well-known it hadn’t been his choice to be involved in any of it, ironically, making him the more sensible one. So it made sense to redirect Bakugou’s anger to something that he actively enjoyed, telling other people what to do.

“Stop walking ahead of me!” Bakugou snapped for what seemed like the twelfth time in ten minutes, which was followed by the twelfth “sorry, Kacchan,” in ten minutes, which was then followed by the twelfth “Don’t call me that!” in ten minutes.

Shinsou didn’t think he’d ever met a bigger asshole in his life.

Even though he was paying attention to everything around them, as Aizawa instructed, internally he was trying to wrap his head around why the fuck Midoriya and Kaminari called him their friend. Midoriya kept insisting that Bakugou just needed time to warm up to him, that he was softer and kinder than he seemed, but honestly, Shinsou didn’t believe him. Midoriya saw the best in literally everyone, Bakugou included, even if it wasn’t always really there. Kaminari said that Bakugou was an acquired taste, that he took some getting used to, and Shinsou thought maybe the whole class was just noseblind to Bakugou’s dickishness, for lack of a better term. Bakugou had only ever been insulting, arrogant, cocky, and a temperamental hothead around Shinsou, and he did not understand what his friends saw in the blonde.

“Will you just fucking shut up?” Shinsou groaned, running a hand down his face.

“Shut up.” Bakugou responded bluntly, his voice lower than expected. He suddenly stopped in the alleyway they were in, and Shinsou rolled his eyes. Midoriya and Todoroki stopped as well, no doubt to stop him from blowing Shinsou up for daring to tell him to be quiet.

“No seriously, shut up.” Shinsou shot back. “Not everything is about you all the fucking time. You’re not that special, dude.”

“I said shut up.” Bakugou hissed, his voice even lower. That unsettled Shinsou for some reason, and he stopped as well.

“Sensei?” Bakugou asked quietly, pointing at someone Shinsou could barely see. “They supposed to be here?”

Aizawa came to Bakugou, to look at what he was pointing at. Shinsou could just barely make out three people standing around, talking with each other. It looked like a few people talking on their breaks, and Shinsou was ready to ignore it and yell at Bakugou for being overdramatic when the men shook hands, and one pulled a thick wad of bills out of his pocket.

“There’s supposed to be a ship coming in about now.” Midoriya said, looking at the manifest schedule they’d been given earlier.

“I fucking know that Deku,” what, had he memorized the schedule? He’d barely even looked at it! “But something’s off. I can sense it.”

The wad of bills was exchanged for a briefcase, and when it was opened, the man who paid pulled out a white brick. That looked like…

“Drug runners.” Aizawa said with a hard look. “I was hoping they wouldn’t be here, but it seems they’re trying to get around the patrol schedule.”

Shinsou realized he was now a full-fledged member of 1A now, it barely being three weeks since he’d transferred in before running into villains. This was his first outing with his license, and now he was going to have to use it. That must have been some kind of record.

“You know them, Ai- I mean Eraserhead?” Midoriya asked.

“Not them specifically, but I’ve caught my fair share of drug smugglers here.” Aizawa said. “Ports are a big target for smugglers, hiding contraband on ships is easier than you think.”

Aizawa radioed the other teachers, relaying their position and that they might need backup. They couldn’t see any other villains beyond the three in front of them, but they all knew that didn’t mean those were the only ones.

“Dynamight, don’t ignite the drugs unless absolutely necessary.” Aizawa said, and to Shinsou’s mild surprise, Bakugou just nodded. “Try to keep that briefcase as undamaged as possible, we need it for evidence.”

The men hadn’t seemed to notice them yet, just talking and laughing as if one of them wasn’t holding an entire briefcase of what Shinsou thought was cocaine. They crept along the walls of the warehouses surrounding them, Bakugou walking quieter than Shinsou thought possible for the blonde. Red light began to shine from Midoriya, and Shinsou felt the temperature drop a few degrees.

“Easy.” Aizawa said, waving his hand a little. “Mindfreak, get their attention. Get as many of them under your control as you can, get them to surrender. Only then do we go in, and I’m on point. Just arresting them is the goal, don’t fight unless you have to.”

Everyone nodded.

Aizawa nodded at him, and Shinsou took a deep breath. Getting more than one person under his control was hard, and keeping them under control was even harder, but he just had to keep them under control until they were arrested. He could do this.

Fiddling with his artificial vocal cords for a moment, disguising his voice into something older, something more adult, he called out, “Excuse me? Can you help me?”

All three men turned to him, shouting at him in surprise, and Shinsou pounced. He had to attack each one individually, blanketing their minds with his quirk. The first one fell easily, and the second one wasn’t far behind, but the third one, the one holding the briefcase, clearly had psychic defenses. There wasn’t a way for him to enter without being crushed, his mind sharp, prepared for intruders.

Splitting himself in two was already making his head throb, his connection with their minds weak and flaky, hanging on by a thread and getting weaker as he tried to get briefcase guy.

Dammit, he couldn’t hold this, he was losing his grip on the other two. His legs wobbled, his heart stuttered, but he shouted out a, “surrender!”

The two he had control over immediately got down on their knees, putting their hands behind their head. He heard Aizawa say, “go!” but he couldn’t move from his spot. His vision went a little blurry, but he saw Aizawa and Bakugou go after briefcase guy, who had some sort of emitter quirk, which surprised Shinsou, since he thought he would’ve had a mental type quirk due to his shields.

Midoriya shouted, “Go help them, I got this!” and Todoroki joined the fight after handing Midoriya his cuffs. Midoriya was quick and precise, and both of them were arrested without much issue. Shinsou slumped against the wall, panting a little as he retracted his mind. The two woke up, and shouted, but Midoriya was already taking them away, getting them out of the line of fire. Shinsou could barely hear a “please stay here so you don’t get hurt” over the sounds of the battle, and he couldn’t believe just how true that rumor was.

He turned back to the battle, and he realized briefcase guy was more than a simple drug smuggler. The bastard fought as if he’d been trained, catching Aizawa’s capture weapon in his hands and using it against him, throwing him towards the water. Todoroki shot out a block of ice, catching their teacher before he fell into the ocean.

Okay. He could end this. He could do this.

“Over here you bastard!” Shinsou shouted, getting the briefcase guy’s attention once more.

Shinsou attacked with everything he had, trying to blanket the guy’s mind as he had the others. Going up against one was way easier, but damn, this guy had thorough mental shields. People who were psinull, without any psychic training whatsoever, getting in their mind was like walking through a house without walls. But this guy, he didn’t just have walls, he had fortresses, reinforced with training and expertise. Shinsou didn’t give up, though, he just had to find this guy’s weak point.

“Watch out!”

So focused on the guy’s mind, Shinsou hadn’t seen the emitter blast headed straight for him, Midoriya’s voice his only warning.

Caught by surprise, Shinsou didn’t have time to get his body to jump out of the way. He felt something slam into him, but it wasn’t a blast of energy. It was a person, propelled by an explosion he felt at the edge of his body. Bakugou smashed into him at full speed, his momentum forcing Shinsou out of the way. Shinsou crashed to the ground, but he wasn’t flattened by two hundred pounds of muscle and temper.

Bakugou had tried to blast them both out of the way, but he hadn’t had the time to get both of them out of the way, Bakugou getting hit by the edge of the blast. He was thrown down the alleyway, landing in a heap.

“Bakugou!” Shinsou shouted, scrambling to his feet and running to his classmate. He could hear Todoroki’s ice move and then the emitter blasts went silent, so Todoroki must’ve caught the guy. Shinsou barely noticed as he ran to Bakugou’s side. “Bakugou, are you alright?”

The blonde was trembling a little, the excess energy radiating from his hands, his ribs, his face, but then dissolving into the air. His hands hovered over Bakugou, knowing Bakugou didn’t like to be touched, but wanting to help anyway. Bakugou groaned, and then began to push himself up on his hands. “I’m fi--” Bakugou started, but his voice cut off suddenly. Bakugou turned to him, with a confused frown on his face, surprise in his eyes, and Shinsou gasped.

Little characters were carving themselves into Bakugou’s cheeks, and bruises were sprouting across Bakugou’s neck.

The energy began to diminish from his face, and Shinsou realized the energy dispersions must be targets of the quirk. Bakugou fell back on his ass, still wearing that confused look, and Shinsou saw blood starting to stain the orange parts of Bakugou’s uniform. Shinsou got Bakugou’s gloves off, and little characters were writing themselves in Bakugou’s blood on his hands too.

Shinsou wrapped Bakugou’s arm around his shoulder and hauled them both to their feet. They hadn’t even been able to make it two steps before Shinsou heard a sickening crack!’ and Bakugou shouted, his right leg suddenly unable to hold weight. Shinsou could barely look at how badly it was broken before his stomach lurched at the sight. They went from walking together to Shinsou all but dragging Bakugou forward, and Shinsou could feel Bakugou’s arm start to tremble as they went. Bruises spread across his shoulders, down his arms, and Shinsou ran as fast as he could carrying an entire person.

“Sensei!” Shinsou shouted, getting everyone’s attention from briefcase guy to them.

Todoroki immediately rushed forward to grab Bakugou’s other arm, and together they dragged him to Aizawa. His mentor was a seasoned professional, able to keep calm when everyone else was panicking, but seeing a look of fear, even just hidden in his eyes, scared the fuck out of him.

Instead of talking to them, he turned back to the man encased in Todoroki’s ice. “What the hell is your quirk?”

Briefcase guy just sneered. “Isn’t that the brat from the news? The villain one or something? I wouldn’t have thought he’d be so affected from watching TV.”

“If you don’t answer my question, I’m going to throw you into the water and tell the cops you jumped.” Aizawa said harshly. Shinsou knew Aizawa would never do so, not just because it was illegal but because Aizawa wasn’t a murderer, but he was obviously trying to convince the man he was. He must be scared if he went straight to threats.

“Alright, alright!” Briefcase guy panicked. “My quirk makes internal pain external. Guilt, fear, regret, that kind of thing.”

“Release him now!”

“I-I can’t! It lasts an hour, there’s nothing I can do once it’s started!”

Shinsou’s blood ran cold. Bakugou would have to go through an hour of this? He could barely stand as it was! Instinctively, both he and Todoroki turned to look at Bakugou, and the characters inscribing themselves on Bakugou’s face were beginning to form words.

“Sensei, I did as you said-- Kacchan!” Midoriya then joined them, Shinsou wasn’t sure where he’d been but right now it didn’t matter.

As soon as Midoriya came into their sight, a burst of blood spewed from Bakugou’s mouth.

“Deku, go!” Aizawa said, recognizing something Shinsou didn’t. Somehow Bakugou getting worse around Midoriya didn’t make sense to him, but it made sense to his mentor. “He can’t be around you right now. Todoroki, you go with him. Find another teacher, call an ambulance.”

Aizawa switched spots with Todoroki, taking Bakugou’s arm. Another choked gasp of blood started running down Bakugou’s chin. Todoroki and Midoriya looked like they didn’t want to go, wanting to stay by their friend’s side, but after a brief moment, they both took off.

“This way. I want you with me.” Aizawa said, just reaching down to Bakugou’s knees to carry him away from the ice, heading to a spot Aizawa must have deemed acceptable.

“Why me?” Shinsou asked. “Why not send me away too?”

“Because I think your quirk can help.” Aizawa stated, kneeling down and setting Bakugou down. “And you’re the only one here who doesn’t know him. You don’t have history with him, you won’t make him worse.”

Shinsou nodded and his mind a tornado of thought. How could he help Bakugou right now?

“Okay, Bakugou, I need you to answer me.” Shinsou said, looking directly at Bakugou’s face. To his horror, the words were becoming legible through the blood. “Talk to me, say something.”

Bakugou opened his mouth again, his chin still dripping blood, but he managed a quiet, “yeah?”

With the opening, Shinsou went to Bakugou’s mind, and he was surprised to feel a jaggedness he hadn’t felt before. It almost reminded him of when he’d entered Midoriya’s mind at the Sports’ Festival. Midoriya hadn’t felt like anyone he’d ever put under his control, and Bakugou’s mind even sharper than that. He got a flash of Bakugou’s memories, the quirk obviously bringing them to the forefront of Bakugou’s mind, and he could see Aizawa’s disapproving stare, and he could feel an immense amount of guilt, a feeling of not hitting a standard someone had set for you.

Shinsou didn’t even have time to figure out what that meant when he felt Bakugou’s mind kick him out, and he fell backwards from the force.

“Sensei, you gotta leave.” Shinsou said, scrambling back to his feet.

Aizawa turned to him, a frown deeply inscribed into his face.

“There’s something there with you too.” Shinsou said. “I think he feels like he disappointed you or something, but I can’t be sure, it might be the quirk.”

Actually Shinsou was very sure, but he knew Bakugou wouldn’t want him broadcasting his inner feelings to the world. Aizawa pursed his lips, but sighed, and nodded. “Do what you can, as soon as medical gets here, I’ll send them over to you.”

Shinsou nodded, and with a sinking heart, he watched as their teacher headed away from them too. Turning back to Bakugou, he found crimson eyes glaring at him, but he could see the pain he was trying to hide. The bruises started to spread down from Bakugou’s neck to his collarbone.

“Look, I’ll tell them it was just the quirk la… ter.” Shinsou said before his mouth went dry.

Terror struck him again as more characters began etching themselves into his neck. Shinsou opened his mouth to try again, but the words on Bakugou’s face were finished. His heart stuttered for a moment as he read ‘pathetic’ on his left and ‘weak’ on his right. Internal pain external. Bakugou must have had these thoughts on his own, but now he couldn’t hide them, as they were literally carving themselves into his body. Shinsou looked to his hands, and found the words ‘cruel’ and ‘villain’ finishing their last strokes.

Bakugou thought of himself as a villain? That… that was impossible. Bakugou was always so confident in himself, he was constantly yelling at everyone that he was going to be the best hero in Japan, better than All Might himself. No, no, this had to be the quirk. No one with Bakugou’s superiority complex and ego thought of themselves like that. Briefcase guy’s psychic shields were making more sense now, putting thoughts into other people’s heads or amplifying ones that were already there required psychic talent, even if it was done by emitting energy.

Shinsou shook his head clear of those awful thoughts, and he tried again. “Bakugou, you can’t kick me out like that. I know having someone else in your head probably feels terrifying right now, but I think I can help you. I should at least be able to knock you out so you don’t have to suffer through this. Come on, Bakugou, answer me.”

The glare that was badly disguising the fear in Bakugou’s eyes intensified, but after a moment, he got a “fuck you” with more syllables than letters due to Bakugou’s stutters and gasps, and Shinsou slipped back into Bakugou’s mind. The jaggedness still took him by surprise, but he forced himself through it, trying to blanket Bakugou’s mind with his control. Bakugou’s mind kept lashing out at him, fear at the forefront of the assault, but Shinsou was better prepared this time. Bakugou was like Midoriya, he could fight Shinsou off, but Shinsou had gotten better at controlling others with just his will. He would help Bakugou dammit.

The second Bakugou’s entire mind was covered, weakly, thinly, but covered, it was a simple “sleep” and Bakugou’s eyes closed, his mind going dark as Shinsou withdrew himself. Shinsou sighed, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion. But not even a full minute went by before he heard another nauseating ‘crack’ and Bakugou’s right arm snapped to the side, and Bakugou woke back up with a scream. The pain must have been so intense it woke him up. Which meant that Shinsou’s quirk knocking him out wouldn’t work, as he was only able to convince a mind to shut down for sleep, not be completely unconscious. Honestly at this point, Shinsou didn’t even know if that would even work. Dammit. Dammit!

Okay, think Shinsou, Bakugou needs you. He’s in excruciating agony and can’t be put to sleep. How else can he help? Think, dammit, think!

He couldn’t think. The now finished word on Bakugou’s neck, thankfully avoiding his aorta, stared right into Shinsou’s soul.

Monster.

Shinsou couldn’t do anything but stare in disbelief for a moment. Not even twenty minutes ago, Shinsou had been shouting at him, thinking he was nothing more than a nuisance, an asshole who he happened to unfortunately get stuck with. Bakugou was just an egotistical jerk, a self-important bastard who thought himself better than everyone. But now, the pain and fear Shinsou couldn’t deny was staring him right in the face. Bakugou actually thought of himself as a monster. Tears were streaming down his face before he even realized he was crying.

“Bakugou…” Shinsou breathed, heartbroken at the sight.

His only response was a choked, gurgling noise, but it was a response. Shinsou slipped back into Bakugou’s mind, finally starting to understand the jaggedness. Midoriya had been through a lot, he hadn’t told Shinsou everything, but he could still tell that Midoriya was haunted by it. It was obvious that something had happened since Midoriya was unusually attached to Bakugou, who had been nothing but a jerk to him, and while everyone in class speculated (and Todoroki created wild conspiracy theories) no one actually knew what had happened. But something had, something that scarred their minds into being jagged and reactive.

This time, Shinsou didn’t try to blanket Bakugou’s mind, instead trying to focus on helping Bakugou through the memories he was being attacked with, his (only) idea that if he could help soothe the memories, the injuries wouldn’t be as powerful. His internal pain was being reflected externally, and if he could help soothe the internal pain, hopefully the external pain wouldn’t be so strong. Shinsou had no idea what to expect, but he braced himself as best as he could.

Certain memories were connected to the words that were still bleeding down Bakugou’s face,  and Shinsou came to the first one, and the feeling of pathetic was so strong that Shinsou nearly lost his grip on it. He could see flashes of the memory, a moving sludge encasing his whole body, going down his throat, and struggling to breathe. The force of the memory was so strong, Shinsou could feel his own throat closing.

“I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die.”

That was Midoriya’s voice. It may not have been shouted when it happened, but the voice echoed so powerfully that Shinsou was thrown from the memory for a moment. He came back with a stronger grip this time, his mind racing on how he could ease this obviously debilitating pain? ‘It wasn’t your fault’ didn’t seem right, and ‘it wasn’t personal helping people is just who he is’ was definitely the wrong answer. Dammit, quick, Shinsou, his face is still bleeding.

“You weren’t pathetic.”  Telepathy itself was a small part of Shinsou’s quirk, as controlling people’s minds needed telepathy just to get into other people’s heads, but he rarely ever used it like this. Somehow though, he’d never been more confident speaking directly into someone’s mind. “It wasn’t pathetic of you to get caught. You did everything you could. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That doesn’t mean you were pathetic.”

Shinsou could feel the quirk trying to amplify Bakugou’s emotions, to try and kick him out again, but he pushed hard, keeping his mantra the same, that Bakugou hadn’t been pathetic to get attacked. He could feel the memory slow down, and start to slide away from the forefront of Bakugou’s mind. He couldn’t shove the memory away entirely, the word was already written into Bakugou’s face, but this was the best he could do. He could still use his own body rather than be essentially trapped in Bakugou’s mind, and looking out of his eyes showed that ‘pathetic’ had at least stopped bleeding, and was beginning to fade. His idea was working, thank fuck.

Once pathetic was taken care of as much as he could, Shinsou then moved steadily in Bakugou’s mind to ‘weak’. He knew what to brace himself for now, and weak was a much easier memory to grasp than pathetic. The flashes of weak were stronger, and Shinsou didn’t know if that meant that the quirk was trying to amplify it now that it had lost pathetic, or if Bakugou had been more affected by it, but that didn’t really change his game plan so he just took in the flashes with what strength he had.

The back of Shinsou’s neck burned, and seeing his friends’ horrified faces as Bakugou was dragged into darkness made his stomach lurch. The forest around was dark, but Midroiya and Todoroki were as bright as stars, and Bakugou had been unable to turn away, and not just because Dabi was holding him by his neck. Weakness flooded his mind, Bakugou not even all the way through the warp before he was already screaming at himself for being weak. Shinsou was now very much doubting that Bakugou actually had the superiority complex he’d thought he’d seen in Bakugou’s arrogance. Bakugou clearly used arrogance and cockiness as a cover to hide the fact that he thought of himself as pathetic and weak, that he was a hindrance to everyone around him.

The flashes were less focused this time, going from the forest to what was no doubt Kamino and then back again. Seeing Midoriya, Iida, and Kirishima in the air, and hating the hope that that brought him. Bakugou had wanted to rescue himself, but he couldn’t, and he felt lesser for it, but still he took Kirishima’s hand. And then being blasted with the horrible feeling of being trapped as Compress used his quirk and ensnared him in that tiny ball, the feeling of suffocation coming back tenfold.

Everyone knew that Bakugou getting kidnapped was the reason they were all forced into the dorm system, that he was the reason why the school was constantly in trouble and on thinner and thinner ice. He’d heard plenty of kids talking about Bakugou in the past, even before he transferred into the hero course, talking about how it was Bakugou’s fault for getting kidnapped, that he must have done something stupid to let it happen, that his cockiness wasn’t deserved as he hadn’t gotten himself free, and how everything now was his fault. Shinsou hadn’t paid much attention to it, he rarely paid attention to gossip, especially since whenever someone learned of his quirk, and his heroic intentions were put into question. (When he’d told his general studies classmates he wanted to transfer to the hero course, the rumor that he was a traitor started because his quirk could only lead to villainy, and he’d struggled to shut it down.) So he’d heard people talking about Bakugou, blaming him for the state of the school, but he hadn’t thought about it afterwards. He hadn’t even conceived the idea that Bakugou blamed himself more than any of those gossipers.

There was something else in Bakugou’s mind, he could just barely hear All Might’s voice, but this was deeper in the memory, and Shinsou could feel the same jaggedness but worse, and decided to leave that alone. Something in Bakugou’s mind was protecting that, and Shinsou didn’t want to fight him over his own memories.

“This wasn’t your fault.” This felt more right to say that, especially feeling the blame that Bakugou was putting on himself. “You aren’t weak for taking Kirishima’s hand. You were strong for letting them help you, for taking yourself out so the pros could go in without holding back. You kept yourself alive, that’s what matters. This wasn’t your fault, you didn’t choose any of this, you didn’t deserve any of that. You’re only fifteen, Bakugou, the League were grown adults, experienced villains deliberately going after someone who couldn’t have seen it coming. You weren’t weak, Bakugou, this wasn’t your fault.”

The quirk again tried to fight him, tried to shut him up, but Shinsou refused to go unheard. Bakugou would know this wasn’t his fault if it killed him. As with pathetic, weak started to slow down, growing distant in Bakugou’s mind. Shinsou didn’t know whether or not Bakugou believed him but he was at least hearing him, and that was all that mattered for now. Weak had stopped bleeding as well, and Shinsou wanted to move fast to the other, not exactly aware of how much time had passed, but trying to let whatever time left that Bakugou was still forced to deal with this be as easy as Shinsou could make it.

He did promise himself to pay more attention to what people were saying about Bakugou though, because while the emotions didn’t come from outside forces, they reinforced it in his mind, and Shinsou knew how awful that feeling felt, and he didn’t want Bakugou to feel it as well as deal with all of the other shit he was clearly going through.

As soon as weak was as far away as Shinsou could push it, he immediately moved onto the next one, ‘cruel’. But what Shinsou braced himself for wasn’t the emotion radiating off of the memory, and Shinsou nearly doubled over from the sheer magnitude of regret that he was inundated with. A quick press gave him flashes of conflicting feelings, the emotion that Bakugou had been feeling when the memory happened, and the regret he felt remembering it. He saw a classroom, and Midoriya cowering at Bakugou’s feet, a desk with scorch marks off to the side. Shinsou pulled away from that, not wanting to see his friend like that. Judging by their looks, this was middle school at the most, it didn’t look like 1A and he knew Aizawa wouldn’t have put up with that shit. Bakugou had been a bully in the past to Midoriya, and he’d loved it back then, but now all that was left was the bitter taste of regret. Bakugou actually did have a superiority complex, he could feel it in how he lorded his power over Midoriya, feeling like it was his right to do it since he felt he was better than Midoriya, though Shinsou wasn’t sure why. But somehow, he did also have an inferiority complex, he could feel it woven into the regret Bakugou had over these memories. How the fuck was that possible?

Okay, figure that out later, these memories were taunting Bakugou with his past cruelty, but Shinsou needed a way to at least distract him from it. Shinsou couldn’t stop the regret, nor would he even if he could, regrets were often what made a person change after hurting someone else, and he didn’t want Bakugou to lose what character development he had gotten since. This was Bakugou’s journey to go through, and Shinsou’s route to help him through this pain.

“You’ve grown since.” Shinsou couldn’t believe he was saying this, because he hadn’t thought Bakugou capable of said growth, but everything he’d ever known about the blonde had been completely warped and changed since this started, so he felt more confident in saying it. “People make mistakes, Bakugou. You’ve learned from them. Looking back on the past does nothing, and I’m sure Midoriya has forgiven you.”

Jaggedness smacked Shinsou in the face, and he felt his own nose start to drip blood. Okay, that was the wrong thing to say, he got it.

In checking his body for the effects, he saw that cruel had stopped bleeding, but it hadn’t begun to fade yet, so something he was saying was working. With the other memories, Shinsou could ease their strength, take it away from the quirk forcing Bakugou to think only of them, and right now that was his only goal. Bakugou’s feelings over his mistreatment of Midoriya were his own, but at the very least, Shinsou could set them back to simmer in the back of his mind until he was ready to deal with them, stopping the quirk from torturing him with them.

“Your past isn’t all of who you are, Bakugou. Sometimes redemption arcs are the best stories we can tell.”

Shinsou could tell that it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t nearly enough to actually help Bakugou through what he was feeling, but it was enough to get the memories out of the quirk. No wonder Bakugou had gotten so much worse just from looking at Midoriya.  Those feelings did dismiss his idea though that Midoriya trying to save Bakugou from that sludge had been the event that had made Bakugou so angry at Midoriya. It could still be what made Midoriya so attached, but Shinsou couldn’t be sure. He’d just ask when this was all over.

With cruel sliding back with the others, Shinsou pressed on, exhausted but desperate to keep his friend from the pain that was still overwhelming his senses. Shinsou could tell that his pushing the memories away was helping, able to sense that the pain wasn’t so intense anymore, but it was like going from one hundred percent to eighty. Shinsou couldn’t solve all of Bakugou’s pain, but he was going to keep trying to soothe what he could. Regardless of Bakugou’s assholery, in the past or in the present, he didn’t deserve this kind of pure agony.

Villain also didn’t have the same emotion that Shinsou would’ve thought, nor the same memories. He thought it might’ve been tied to Midoriya but what he found was somehow even worse. Chained to a chair with so many restraints that Shinsou couldn’t even count them all, and that was just what Bakugou could see and feel, surrounded by the same people who tormented his class, the same bastards who attacked the USJ, unleashed Nomus onto the world, who led to the fight that would bring about All Might’s downfall. Shinsou couldn’t even imagine being surrounded by so many villains, let alone be as calm as Bakugou had portrayed himself to be.

“People… rules… heroes… we’re all shackled by them.”

Shinsou didn’t have to have met Shigaraki to know that that was his voice, even before Bakugou’s mind recognized it fully. He was pitching to Bakugou, an opportunity to join the League of Villains, that he had the stuff that they were looking for… and the temperament.

There was no way to hide that Bakugou’s attitude had been the reason the League had gone after him, and that was the main reason why everyone else blamed him. ‘If he hadn’t been such an asshole on live TV, then we wouldn’t have to be the ones suffering the consequences’, was the overwhelming majority opinion he’d overheard. Even members in the press implied that in their questions, even with Aizawa defending Bakugou’s character at that press conference. He could distantly hear Aizawa’s voice on what he could just sense as a tv, and oh gods, Bakugou had seen that? While literally in the middle of a hell that couldn’t be described?

Oh gods. This is why Bakugou blamed himself. Shinsou couldn’t imagine already feeling weak for getting kidnapped, for being restrained to the point where he couldn’t move for the second time, and seeing grown ass adults tell everyone watching that he was going to join the league. And Bakugou had gone through all of that. Alone. With only his teacher to stand up for him in a room full of people who’d never met him yet seemed to hate him for no reason, surrounded by villains who thought the exact same thing. And no one had said anything nice once they’d come back to school, only adding to how shitty Bakugou felt about this happening in the first place. No one outside of 1A had felt bad for Bakugou for getting kidnapped, only blaming class 1A but mostly him for the changes in their lives. Saying the exact same things that the villains had over those horrible days.

No wonder Bakugou saw himself as a villain, as a monster. Everyone else did.

This time, Shinsou didn’t have words. He couldn’t think of anything to say, just repeating choppy utterances weren’t even real sentences, desperate for anything at all to say.

“You’re a hero, they were wrong, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, they’re wrong, they’re all wrong, you saved me, you save people, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, you’re a hero.”

Villain didn’t fade like the other ones, but Shinsou could feel the memories slipping through his fingers. Something was happening, the quirk was doing something he hadn’t expected, and he chased after the memories he’d already taken care of. It was like something was drawing them back, a gravitational force he didn’t understand, drawing in the other memories and collecting them into what seemed like one mass.

In telepathy, sometimes when two people are connected for a long time, the stronger telepath could sometimes see creations being formed without them actually being there, sort of a way to rationalize what was going on with the signals the brain was getting. The stronger telepath’s mind could create a picture that only they could see that was deeply connected to the actual feelings and memories of the weaker telepath. Since Bakugou wasn’t telepathically inclined at all, he probably wouldn’t be able to remember this as a telepath might, but as Shinsou looked at what the quirk was turning the weaker memories into, he thought it was for the best that Bakugou wouldn’t be able to.

All four of the words he’d seen amalgamated into one, swirling black hole that turned into what Shinsou thought looked like a building with a single door, with MONSTER emblazoned on it in bright red, flickering neon. It almost looked like the door before a final boss fight in a video game, but Shinsou wasn’t deterred. Besides, this wasn’t real per say, this was just a psychic projection of the emotions the quirk was bringing out in Bakugou.

It was only after he opened the door that he heard a lock snap, and he could sense that the quirk which had its own psychic energy, and was trying to keep him out, was trying to create this into a singular pain that Bakugou couldn’t escape. However, Shinsou had moved as soon as the doorknob had created itself, and the quirk hadn’t been able to lock the door before he got in. Shinsou was going to discuss how this quirk tried to fight him with Aizawa, as he was ninety-nine percent sure that briefcase guy was still controlling the quirk psychically because otherwise he didn’t think the quirk would be fighting him so hard, psychic quirks needed direction and couldn’t generate it on their own.

At first, Shinsou couldn’t perceive anything, only to hear a sound that sounded suspiciously like a child crying. A light flickered on, and a tiny form was illuminated, on their knees, hunched over with their hands out. That was what had been crying. At first, Shinsou thought that this was a projection of Bakugou’s inner child, but when a small head looked up at him, he realized that it was Bakugou as he was, just much smaller than the teenager Shinsou knew. When he recognized Shinsou, he blushed fiercely, unable to look Shinsou in the eyes, somehow getting even smaller. Shinsou wasn’t good at kids, but he thought maybe Bakugou was the size of a five-year-old.

“Bakugou?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Gods, Bakguou sounded so small, Shinsou’s heart just broke all over again.

Shinsou went to his friend, and knelt in front of him, and gasped when he saw Bakugou’s hands were covered in blood.

“Bakugou, what happened? Why is there blood on your hands?”

The sobs just got stronger.

A television screen formed behind them, and from the memories Shinsou had seen, this was the same room he’d been held in by the League of Villains, just empty. Instead of All-for-One on the screen, flashes of memories began to play. Blood bursting from Best Jeanist’s abdomen, Midoriya staring at him with his big green eyes and he could hear Bakugou’s voice say “Why was I the one who ended All Might?”, then it flashed to being in the air, holding Kirishima’s hand, big drops of blood in the air as Mount Lady fell, and then after the fight, All Might in his smaller form, steam emanating from all over his body, his finger pointing straight out. And… somehow, Shinsou could tell that Bakugou felt like it wasn’t pointing at him.

Shinsou rarely acted without thinking. His relationship with other people required him to think first before any action, no matter how small. So many people were quick to jump to the thought that he was a villain that he had to think everything through, even if it was asking to borrow a pencil or asking for notes if he missed a day. But now he wasn’t thinking at all. He just moved.

Arms wrapped around the small form, bringing Bakugou close, holding him as tight as he could. Bakugou just kept sobbing, and Shinsou cupped the back of his head, tucking him into Shinsou’s shoulder. Bakugou was so small that Shinsou could wrap his entire body around with room to spare, crossing his legs and holding all of his friend with all of him.

Shinsou wasn’t sure how long he just held his friend before he felt a hand touch his shoulder, his body’s shoulder. Immediately, he pulled out of Bakugou’s mind, and when he came back to himself he saw Aizawa standing there. There were flashing red lights of an ambulance, where he could see people moving in the back, and they approached quickly. Shinsou stepped away as soon as they did, and he looked back at Bakugou for the first time since he slipped into his mind. The cuts had stopped bleeding, and weak had faded to the point where he couldn’t read it clearly anymore. The wounds were still horrific to look at, but Shinsou thought he’d gotten them down to a level that was more manageable. He thought he might ask Bakugou if he was okay, or at least in less pain than before, but Bakugou’s eyes were already closed, and his breathing was even. The medics must have sedated him, with something stronger than a mental suggestion. It actually seemed to keep him asleep this time, so Shinsou allowed himself to relax a little.

He checked his phone, and to his surprise it had only been a few minutes. He knew telepaths perceived time differently when they were inside someone’s head, but that seemed a bit extreme, even for him. At least Bakugou could sleep off the rest of the hour now.

“You alright?” Aizawa asked, placing his hand on Shinsou’s shoulder again. “Your nose was bleeding.”

Shinsou nodded, his throat tight, wiping away the blood. “I'm fine.”

Aizawa clapped him on the back, and then went to deal with the medics and everything else. Shinsou took a deep breath, and he walked over to where Midoriya and Todoroki were. His friends were talking, Midoriya practically vibrating with worry.

“Shinsou!” Ah, he’d been noticed. “Is everything alright? How’s Kacchan?”

“The medics are helping him now.” Shinsou said, skirting the question. “Just a matter of time now.”

“Are you alright, Shinsou?” Midoriya asked, his green eyes full of sincerity. He could feel his stomach constrict a little, the echoes of Bakugou’s feelings still fresh in his mind.

“I’ll be alright.” Shinsou said. “I’ve just… got a lot to think about.”

Day 1, 2, 3, 7 13, 15-Bakugou "doesn't get sick"

Trying another whumptober whoo hoo! I got a new job, a great one for the first time in my life lol, and I've got a lot of time to be able to sit down and just write. So I'm gonna try my hardest to finish this whumptober, I've been writing as much as I physically can haha

prompts- swooning, thermometer/delurium, "make it stop", "can you hear me", cold compress, "I'm fine"- fever, passing out, sick Katsuki, todobaku pre, shower scene ;)

Feel free to find this on AO3- https://archiveofourown.org/works/50196034/chapters/126773227

This is a long one, so I'm gonna put it under a cut.

Katsuki had been hot and sweaty all day, which is normally something he encouraged for his quirk to work at its highest potential, but today it just felt wrong. He wasn’t sure why, he always took very good care of his body, but something just wasn’t adding up. It was spring, and the weather was supposed to be very nice, but it felt like he couldn’t cool off no matter what he did. He felt like the sun was projecting pure heat through the window as he sat uncomfortably in class, trying his best to pay attention through one of the worst headaches he’d ever had in his life.

To make matters worse, Katsuki had been assigned fucking Todoroki as a partner for an upcoming hero research paper. He hated group work in the first place, but assigning him goddamn Todoroki (even if Aizawa claimed it was random, he never believed that bullshit, Aizawa lied to them all the time) was just adding insult to injury at this point. But he never shirked from his academic responsibilities, he was going to graduate top of his class, so he still had to actually try on this stupid assignment even though he didn’t want to work with the half-n-half bastard. His headache would just have to wait. The sooner they were done, the less he had to talk to IcyHot.

“We’re finishing this as fast as we fucking can,” Katsuki had hissed at Todoroki, who only stared back blankly. Bastard. “I don’t care if you have plans tonight, I’m coming over to your fucking room and we’re finishing this tonight.”

“Aizawa distinctly said we should not do this in one night.” God, even his voice irritated Katsuki. Everything about the bastard irritated Katsuki, from his stupid hair to his stupid muscles to his stupid blank face that never showed any thought Katsuki could pick up on. Kaminari had teased him over ‘how obsessed you are over Todoroki’ and how it ‘sounds like you liiiike him’ but he shut up when Katsuki pushed him off his chair.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “He was talking to the idiots who wait until the last minute to do the work.”

Like the idiots he couldn’t help but call friends because… well, he didn’t know what else to call them. They wouldn’t leave him alone, always forced him to participate in their activities, and every time he tried to leave the group chat they’d set up, he’d just be added right back in and chastised lightly as if he’d just made a small mistake. It had been hard to admit, but sometimes, only sometimes, Katsuki enjoyed their company, and even had fun once or twice. He would never admit to it, especially since he didn’t know how to feel about it, and he refused to be laughed at because he was unsure of these new feelings.

“I suppose we’ll find out when we attempt the assignment.” Todoroki said, which only infuriated Katsuki more, which caused his headache to spike. He wanted to argue some more, but having done it in the past proved its inefficiency. Todoroki never fucking reacted to anything he did, even when he was purposefully antagonizing the bastard just to see him make some kind of facial expression.

“Whatever. I’m coming over right after dinner,” and didn’t that sound disgusting, “so be ready.”

Todoroki nodded, and Katsuki almost felt cheated since Todoroki never reacted to anything he said. He’d seen Todoroki make facial expressions for fucking pathetic Deku, Katsuki was way better than him, why didn’t he get those reactions? Katsuki was ridiculously past good enough to get one of those stupid ass smiles or little puffs of laughter. Katsuki deserved that more than Deku ever would.

Getting through the rest of the day had been difficult, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He just had a headache from dealing with everyone’s bullshit, and the day was a fluke of being too hot, and he just had to get through it. Katsuki was the strongest person in this entire class, he could handle anything. It got easier after school when he took off his uniform and could put on a simple tank and shorts. At dinner, he forced himself to have some congee rather than his normal, nutritionally balanced meal, but the thought of food was so unappealing that forcing himself to cook and eat his routine foods almost outweighed his knowledge that he had to eat dinner in the first place.

When he went to put the half he couldn’t finish in the fridge, Kirishima was in the kitchen, burning whatever he was trying to make. Usually Katsuki could tell by smell alone, but this time he couldn’t smell anything but it was obviously burning. Even worse, Katsuki knew how to salvage his dinner and he didn’t have a reason not to tell him.

“Your heat is too high. Take it out now and it’ll only be slightly burnt.” Katsuki grumbled, rolling his eyes both at himself and his idiot best friend. He couldn’t believe he was best friends with someone who could barely function like an independent human being.

“Thanks, bro!” Katsuki had given up on Kirishima calling him ‘bro’, it seemed to be a core aspect of the redhead’s personality. The chipper smile directed at him as Kirishima did as he said kinda made up for it. Making his friends happy wasn’t the worst thing he’s ever done. “Are you done already? Usually you’re in here cooking up a storm, I was surprised not to see you.”

Kirishima then saw the congee in his hands as he put it in his tupperware, and he frowned. “Dude, is that all you had? Aren’t you the one always yelling at us to ‘make better dinners’? Are you okay?”

Katsuki bristled at the question, his pride flaring up in defense. “I have to work with fucking IcyHot on a dumb fucking project I don’t need a partner for, and apparently I can’t have a simple dinner for once without everyone jumping down my throat! The fuck do you think?”

“Okay, okay, sorry, bro.” Kirishima held up his hands in defense. “Just wanted to check in. You haven’t seemed yourself today.”

Katsuki glared at him. “I don’t need you to ‘check in’. Leave me the fuck alone.”

“If you say so, bro.” Kirishima shrugged. “We’re gonna have a smash brothers tournament at Denki’s tonight, you wanna join in?”

“You shits are lucky I can’t destroy you tonight.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “I’m doing my fucking report, which is what you should be doing. When it’s two nights before it’s due, and you still haven’t done it, don’t come crying to me. I won’t help you.”

He would help them. His friends struggled with schoolwork, and if he was going to be seen with them then they had to live up to his reputation. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do that without his help, and he didn’t like watching his friends struggle and seeing them upset over their grades. That stupid feeling he hated outweighed his annoyance at helping them, so, he didn’t really have a choice if he didn’t want that stupid feeling he got when he saw his friends get upset. He didn’t know how, but somehow his idiots had figured that out, and they still came to him every time, and every time, despite him telling himself that he wouldn’t help them this time, he helped them regardless. They were all the worst and he hated them.

But for now, Katsuki was too busy hating the elevator’s stupidly bright lights to hate his friends anymore. Katsuki leaned against the metal, the coolness of the metal a balm on his overly hot skin. He’d never been so glad that the entirety of Heights Alliance had air conditioning. The day had been way too hot today, Katsuki had always been sensitive to hotter temperatures since he couldn’t cool his body through his sweat like other people did, which is probably why he hadn’t heard anyone else complain about it. But he could take anything, any temperature, any obstacle, because no hero worth their salt would let a thing like a hot day stop them so he refused to let it stop him.

Even though he really didn’t want to be doing this, he’d much prefer to just take a cold shower and go to bed early so the day would finally be over, he still pushed forward and went to Todoroki’s room. He went to just walk in, not like the bastard didn’t know he was coming, but the door was locked. He jiggled the door handle a little violently, clearly seeing the light was on under the door, but it still didn’t open. Katsuki’s eye twitched.

knock. knock.

It was the stiffest knock of his life, but apparently that was enough for Todoroki, who finally opened the door. “You knew I was coming, that was a dick move.”

“So is barging in unannounced.” Todoroki replied, raising an eyebrow. Katsuki’s eye twitched again.

“We should get started since you want to finish tonight.” Todoroki said, and Katsuki just growled, and then just set his stuff down on the tiny ass table Todoroki had. Sometimes, Katsuki had to choose his battles. Most of the time, he chose all battles, but this one he had to let go since he didn’t want his grade to suffer.

“I’m taking this pathetic excuse for a chair since you’re apparently so fine with being on the floor.” Katsuki said, referring to the mat Todoroki slept on. Todoroki didn’t protest, he merely just set the mat next to the thing that couldn’t even be called a desk really since it was too damn small. The room didn’t seem to have much in terms of temperature control, as the elevator had been much cooler. It was probably because Todoroki could regulate his own temperature, so he didn’t need the ac unit to do it for him. That was annoying as fuck.

The headache that Katsuki had been working very hard to ignore was becoming more and more of a problem as they worked. Katsuki could at least appreciate the monotone right now since it was quiet, and he spoke slowly enough that Katsuki could hear him despite the pounding in his head. A hammer was slamming into his head with every beat of his heart, and it just got worse as they kept going, the material not interesting enough to get past the pain. He would’ve given up and gone to sleep if he didn’t have to do this damn paper with Todoroki. The bastard couldn’t keep a secret for his life so in order to keep his reputation, he had to keep going, even through the worst headache he’d had in a long time. But with every beat of the hammer, he was losing his resolve. It was only his drive not to be weak that kept him going.

“Bakugou? Did you hear what I said?” Todoroki said, startling Katsuki a little.

“Of course I did. I was just thinking.” Katsuki snapped, trying to brush it off, ignoring the fact that he actually hadn’t heard what Todoroki had said. He hoped it wasn’t important.

“Thinking.” Todoroki echoed, but it wasn’t a question or a challenge. It was just a statement.

“That’s what I fucking said.”

“Are you alright, Bakugou?” Todoroki asked, and Katsuki could almost hear a touch of concern in the monotone. It pissed him off, though he wasn’t sure exactly why. “You’ve been strangely quiet today.”

“I’m fine.” Katsuki sneered, a violent threat in his voice.

Todoroki pursed his lips at him, but only continued on with what he was saying. Katsuki struggled to keep focusing on it, Todoroki’s voice was soothing in its quiet volume, but he couldn’t process the words the bastard was actually saying.

Dammit. He couldn’t keep doing this. If he actually turned in the report they were working on now, Katsuki would get the worst grade he’d ever gotten in his life, even though he very much understood the topic. His headache was just too bad, and the room had only gotten steadily hotter as they’d worked, and Katsuki couldn’t take it anymore, his reputation be damned. He’d just blame it on Todoroki not properly cooling his room and sweating him out of it.

“I’m done, I’m going to bed.” Katsuki said, gathering up his stuff as quickly as he could. He was a little uncoordinated in his haste, but he blamed it on the heat. “We’ll just do this tomorrow.”

Todoroki didn’t even show his surprise beyond a raised eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to do this in one night.”

“It’s not my fault your room is like a sauna and your voice is like a fucking icepick in my head!” Katsuki snapped, absolutely done with today. The room was so hot he was starting to get a little dizzy, and standing just made his vision swim for a moment. “How the fuck am I supposed to focus on court cases and legalities when the room is a million degrees and you won’t fucking shut up?”

That seemed to actually surprise Shouto, though it still only showed in his eyes. “Bakugou, my room isn’t hot. And I was only talking since you wouldn’t. You’ve barely said anything tonight.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and then had to pinch his nose and shut his eyes when the room blurred, playing it off as annoyance. Dammit, he was so fucking hot. “You wouldn’t notice, you have that stupid temperature thing because of your quirk.”

“I turn on the ac when I have guests, Bakugou.” Todoroki said, and Katsuki scoffed. He was sweating far too much for that to be true. He didn’t doubt that Todoroki was lying, but there was no way the ac was actually on right now. The bastard must’ve just set it to the wrong setting, he wouldn’t be the first in their class to struggle with the thermostat, to his perpetual annoyance.

“Bakugou, I may not be an expert, but you do not look well.” Todoroki said, which only infuriated him more. If he was suddenly going to care about Katsuki, the least he could do was fucking show it. Katsuki knew not everyone wore their emotions on their sleeve, but Todoroki never seemed to have any emotion at all, not even when dealing with Katsuki.

“I’m fine.” Katsuki hissed, parroting what he said earlier, with the same vitriol.

“You clearly are not.” Todoroki said firmly. “I can regulate my own temperature, you’re correct, but I can still feel the temperature around me. My room isn’t hot, and you’re sweating like it’s summer. I think you should see Recovery Girl.”

Katsuki growled an incoherent shout. “I don’t need that old bat, there’s nothing wrong with me beyond suffering from dealing with all you idiots. Fuck off!”

Katsuki turned to leave, but his vision swam so quickly that he had to stop mid-step. His hand came to his eyes, trying to steady himself, forcing himself to push through the heat. But before he could get his body to work, his backpack slipped through his fingers as his vision went black.

“-ugou. Bakugou. Bakugou.” Someone was shaking him, insistence in their voice. He groaned lightly, his eyes fluttering, his head pounding even harder than before. He squinted, and Todoroki then came into focus. He was wearing a look Katsuki had never seen before. It looked almost like worry, but Katsuki couldn’t tell.

He groaned again, and then he felt something blissfully cool against his forehead, easing his headache and the unbearable heat he was trapped in. He sighed, his eyes managing to stay open now. He was in Todoroki’s arms, with Todoroki’s right hand pressed against his forehead. He remembered that Todoroki’s right side was cool, and Katsuki wanted to just sink into him.

“Wha- happen?” Katsuki said, the act of speaking a struggle it had never been before.

“You passed out.” Todoroki said, a frown tugging at his lips. “You have a fever. I’m going to take you to Recovery Girl.”

Todoroki began to push them both upwards, but Katsuki shook his head. “No! No. ‘M fine. Just… just need to sleep it off. ‘M fine.”

“You are not fine, Bakugou.” Todoroki groaned, and Katsuki could’ve sworn he heard concern and frustration in Todoroki’s voice. But that was impossible, Katsuki never got emotion from Todoroki, no matter how hard he tried. “You literally just passed out. You’re sick, Bakugou.”

“I don’t get sick.” Katsuki said, and that was completely true. Katsuki got sick so rarely that he couldn’t even remember the last time. “Be fine. Just need sleep. Don’t need help.”

“You can’t stand on your own.” Todoroki said, deadpan. Katsuki frowned at that, and he opened his mouth again, but Todoroki cut him off. “If you say you’re fine one more time, I’m going to throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and drag you to Recovery Girl.”

Katsuki pouted at that, and stayed silent for a moment, knowing Todoroki was just as serious with his threats as he was.

“I don’t get sick.” He repeated. “Just need to sleep this off.”

Todoroki pursed his lips again, clearly torn between what to do, before he sighed, obviously coming to a decision. “Fine. I’ll take you to your room, but only for now. I can’t tell if this is just your pride or if this is actually how your body works. If you get worse, I’m taking you to Recovery Girl no matter what you say.”

Katsuki nodded, and went to get up, pushing himself up on noodly arms. He immediately fell back into Todoroki. Thankfully, Todoroki didn’t comment on his weakness, he just wrapped Katsuki’s arm around his shoulder and pushed them both up. With Todoroki’s support, Katsuki could mostly walk, his feet dragging a little as he couldn’t raise his feet off the ground very high.

The elevator ride down to the fourth floor was silent, almost awkward. Katsuki couldn’t find the strength to say anything, but Todoroki didn’t seem to mind the silence. Right now, he just wanted his bed more than anything in the world.

Their next obstacle was Katsuki’s door, as he always locked it when he wasn’t in his room. He couldn’t remember where he put his keys at first, patting down his pockets. Suddenly a hand reached into his back pocket and he yelped a little at the surprise, his reaction was too slow, but he still hated being startled with touch. Had for a long time. Todoroki then handed him his keys, with a sheepish look on his face. “I saw them in your pocket. Thought I’d save you the trouble.”

Katsuki took the keys and opened his door, using the door handle to keep himself up, trying to keep himself upright on his own. Todoroki went to follow him in and Katsuki growled again.

“No one goes in my room.”

“There’s a first time for everything.” Todoroki said, a little snippy, uncaring that he was stepping into Katsuki’s space.

Todoroki turned on the lights, and Katsuki hissed as his headache spiked, unconsciously pressing himself into the nape of Todoroki’s neck. Todoroki immediately turned the light off with a quiet “sorry.” before he started walking again.

Katsuki flopped into bed with all the grace of a newborn giraffe, but his bed was cool (he had special sheets so he wouldn’t overheat as he slept, his parents had designed them for him) and that was all that mattered to him. He rolled onto his side, felt something lift his legs into the bed, and he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow, just barely feeling a cool hand brush his sweaty bangs out of his face.

“- been asleep for a little while… nothing’s changed…”

“- not sure, Todoroki. He really doesn’t get sick that often. I think the last time was over five years ago. Even I don’t really remember.”

He knew that voice. Goddammit, he knew that voice and he went to glare at fucking useless Deku, but he was still squinting in the darkness he’d woken up in, lessening its effect. Todoroki had left the door open a little, the hall lights shining in his room far too brightly for his headache. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep, but his mind wasn’t as fuzzy as before. Still way too fucking hot though.

“You got fucking Deku?” Katsuki growled, refusing to admit that it sounded more like a whine.

“I didn’t know anyone else who would know how your body works when it’s sick.” Todoroki said matter-of-factly, coming back over to Katsuki’s bed. He was mostly forgiven when he put his cool hand back on Katsuki’s burning forehead, getting a soft noise Katsuki didn’t even know he made.

“Well, his parents will know, for sure.” Deku said to Todoroki. Katsuki glared harder. “I can call them, figure out where to go from here.”

Todoroki nodded.

Deku then handed Todoroki a rather big box that Katsuki surprisingly recognized. Auntie Inko knew how injured they got in training, especially since Deku wouldn’t fucking stop constantly breaking all of his bones, and had gifted him the same first aid kit that Deku held in his hands. Actually, it really wasn’t a first aid kit but a mini hospital, with so many things Katsuki didn’t know when he’d ever use some of them. (Seriously, Auntie, when was he gonna need a goddamn stethoscope?) He’d only taken it because his mother would’ve been mad if he made Auntie cry, not that he could handle her tears anyways, and, well… secretly he could appreciate the gesture. He never understood why Auntie continued to try and take care of him even though he really wanted nothing to do with her son, but he supposed that’s just how she was. Deku too, but he was way more annoying about it.

“You should take his temperature, if he’ll let you.” Deku said, still talking to Todoroki and not him. “You’ll have a way better chance with him than I will.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!” Katsuki shouted, immediately regretting the loudness when he made his own headache worse.

“Sorry, Kacchan.” Katsuki just glared at him, fighting off the wince he’d just given himself. “I- I’ll just go call Uncle Masaru now.”

Deku stepped out of the room, and Todoroki set the kit down onto his nightstand, digging through it with one hand, keeping his right hand on Katsuki’s forehead.

“There are three thermometers in here.” Todoroki stated, seemingly a little overwhelmed by Auntie’s overprotective nature. “And they’re all different.”

Katsuki made a noncommittal noise. Something then pushed gently at his mouth, and he turned his glare to Todoroki.

“I can’t use the other ones, I’ve been cooling you off too much.” Todoroki said, poking him again. “They won’t give accurate results. This is the only one left.”

“I can do it myself.” Katsuki said, trying to move his mouth as little as possible.

Todoroki sighed, definitely sounding frustrated. “Bakugou, will you please just put your damn pride aside for two minutes? I just want to help you. You’re my friend. Let me help you.”

This was the first he’d heard about them being friends, though he supposed he had started paying more attention to Todoroki after their supplemental classes. He hadn’t thought it had been reciprocated though. But even if they were friends now, this was something he couldn’t allow. He wasn’t weak, he didn’t need help, not even Todoroki’s.

Not even if a dark part of him wanted to accept it.

Moving his body was like trying to move through molasses, but he did eventually get his arm out from under the blanket (when did he get a blanket?) and he reached for the thermometer. Todoroki sighed, but gave it to him. This time, the silence was awkward as they waited for the thermometer to beep. He wasn’t sure why this time was so different.

Deku was the one who broke it when he came back in. He still didn’t like anyone in his room, but he didn’t have the strength to blast the fucker out, even if he did have the sweat.

“Uncle said that there’s not much we can do except keep him cool, the illness just has to run its course.” Deku frowned, trying not to talk directly to Todoroki and failing. “And. um. Auntie Mitsuki said, um, not to take any of his, uh, ‘bullshit’. Her words, not mine.”

Todoroki just nodded. Katsuki didn’t know what that meant.

Once the thermometer finally beeped, Todoroki withdrew it without asking permission. Oh, that’s what that meant. Damn hag, and damn Deku. Todoroki took everything too literally, Deku should’ve fucking translated his mother’s stupid words.

“39.27 (102.7)” The monotone was back. Katsuki felt an emotion he didn’t know how to describe, but it wasn’t pleasant. “That’s higher than I was expecting, though unsurprising.”

“Yeah, Uncle said when Kacchan gets sick, he really gets sick.”

Katsuki growled at him again, wanting to yell and blow him up but trying not to be stupid and repeat past mistakes. His head was still throbbing from the earlier shout.

“I-I-I should go, Todoroki.” Deku said, shrinking away from him. “I think I’m just making it worse. He doesn’t want me here.” No. No he didn’t. Especially since he wouldn’t stop talking about him like he wasn’t there in his own fucking room. “Do you want to come with me? I’m sure Kirishima wouldn’t mind looking after him.”

The beat in between Deku’s question and Todoroki’s answer made the emotion he had worse.

“No. I’ll keep him cool for now. It’s no trouble.” Katsuki didn’t know whether that made him happy or annoyed. God, he hated emotions, they were literally the worst. It was so much easier to just be angry all the time.

“Don’t forget to not overuse your quirk, Todoroki. Just let one of us know if you get too cold. We’ll figure something out.”

Todoroki just nodded and Deku very quickly left the room. If Katsuki was more childish like his friends, he would’ve flipped him off as he left. But Deku didn’t deserve what little energy he had, and closing the door until very little light was left was at least the decent thing to do.

“You can leave, IcyHot.” Katsuki grumbled. “I’m-mmph.” Suddenly Todoroki’s cool hand was over his mouth. Katsuki did not like that, he didn’t like anyone touching his face and it had only gotten worse since the-incident-that-shall-not-be-named. He nipped at Todoroki’s hand, and it quickly returned to his forehead, but the message to shut up was loud and clear.

“Stop saying you’re fine.” Todoroki snapped, and Katsuki thought he almost sounded angry. Katsuki didn’t know that Todoroki could even get angry. “Stop lying to me. I don’t care about your stupid pride, and I cannot understand why you won’t let it go for two seconds for your friends. I want to help you but I can’t if you won’t let me. Why won’t you let me? Do you… do you hate me?”

Grand displays of emotion were hard for him. Grand displays of emotion coming from Todoroki were another beast entirely. Katsuki had no idea how to respond to this, and if he wasn’t sick, he wouldn’t have responded to it beyond anger. But right now, with a fever he could no longer deny, his mind didn’t immediately go to the rage he used to shield him from emotions he didn’t like. It just took much energy that he didn’t have, and he hated himself for his weakness.

“No.” Was Katsuki’s response, and it was a lot more awkward than he’d wanted it to be.

“Then why won’t you stop lying to me?” Todoroki said, looking just as uncomfortable as Katsuki was. But apparently, not uncomfortable enough to shut up and let this go. “I thought you respected me, at least a little.”

Shit. Katsuki did not like letting people know when he respected them. They never responded in  a way that Katsuki liked or could handle, either acting all smug about it or like it was obvious that they deserved it. Both reactions drove Katsuki up the wall.

Thinking about this was too hard, even with the soothing coolness Todoroki was projecting. He didn’t do emotions, and everything he was feeling right now just made him even uncomfortable in his skin. He’d take the fever and headache over this any day.

“I didn’t lie to you, I’m fine by myself.” Katsuki said. “I can take care of myself.”

“Except you won’t.” Todoroki snapped again and Katsuki internally cursed at his mother for putting this idea into Todoroki’s stupid head. “Taking care of yourself would’ve been canceling our plans, or going to see Recovery Girl. You refused to do either. That’s not taking care of yourself. You couldn’t even admit to me that you weren’t feeling well after you literally passed out in my arms. You’re lucky I was there to catch you, what if you weren’t with me? What if it happened when you’d stepped into the hall and I hadn’t followed you? You might’ve gotten a concussion or worse. If you don’t hate me, then why can’t you let me care about you?”

Katsuki unconsciously curled a little into himself, his quills puffing up, ready to lash out at any moment. His head hurt, and even with the frosty air Todoroki was creating he was on fire, he just couldn’t deal with this right now. Being sick for the first time in years was already way too much for him, he’d never felt so shitty in his life, and having fucking Todoroki of all people see him this weak made him so uncomfortable he didn’t have a word for it. Katsuki didn’t understand why Todoroki was so upset, and thinking about it hurt his head too much. He didn’t even have an answer for Todoroki. He didn’t have an answer when his friends asked him the same question after they were fed up with his insistence on independence and refusing to accept their help. He’d learned the hard way that sometimes he had to depend on other people, but that hadn’t made it any easier to deal with. So he’d rather just not deal with it at all.

After a fair amount of silence, Todoroki just sighed, sounding resigned. This was the most emotion Katsuki had seen out of Todoroki since he’d met the bastard. Katsuki thought that was very rude, and he should’ve gotten this a lot earlier. Though, he could do without the annoyance and anger. “You should get some sleep, Bakugou.”

Well, now he was purposefully not gonna do that, even though he was exhausted. Once spite was activated there was no stopping it. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Then stop being an idiot.” Todoroki hissed.

Katsuki glared at Todoroki but it didn’t matter since Todoroki still wasn’t looking at him, only straight ahead.

“Don’t fucking insult me.”

“I’ll do whatever I want, thanks.” Todoroki said, matching his energy. “Since that’s all you do, I get to do it too.”

“Oh fuck you!” Katsuki snapped, absolutely done with this stupid bastard, throwing his own words in his face was the last straw. “Get the fuck out of my room! Leave me the fuck alone!”

It was quiet for a minute.

“Fine.”

Todoroki ripped his hand away from Katsuki’s forehead and stood sharply. He walked out without another word, and Katsuki expected the door to slam and prepared himself for it. But Todoroki caught it just before it did, and he closed the door quietly behind him.

Katsuki stared at the door for a moment, almost in disbelief. Todoroki never got angry, let alone to this extreme. He thought even Deku hadn’t seen that before, the damn nerd would’ve said something. Even though Katsuki liked antagonizing Todoroki, liked seeing if he could get the bastard to show emotion, even if it was negative emotions, this didn’t… this didn’t make him feel good. The emotion he hadn’t been able to describe twisted in his gut, making his chest hurt in a way that it never had before. He wanted to get Todoroki riled up, it’s why he talked to him the way he did, the way he purposely tried to push the bastard’s buttons, that was his end goal. He wanted to see Todoroki show some sort of emotion, any sort of emotion.

So why did that make him feel so shitty?

Getting what he wanted never made him feel bad in the past. It was a point of pride for him that he basically always got what he wanted, that he’d earned what he’d wanted. Katsuki was always so sure of himself, he always knew what he wanted, and he did everything he could to get it.

Was this… actually what he wanted? Somehow, he didn’t think so. Which never happened, Katsuki always knew what he wanted, and he never regretted anything. (Well, he regretted a few things but he never let himself think about them so that was basically the same thing.) But the more the silence of the room echoed in his ears, the more he regretted saying any of those things, and not just because he’d lost the hand that had been keeping his headache at a somewhat manageable level. The icepick in his head only seemed to make his actions seem worse, and Katsuki did not like that. Even though he knew he was an asshole with no filter, and no intent on getting one, this felt like he’d gone too far. He’d gone too far a couple of times in his life, and this felt worse than all of them.

With the door closed, heat was starting to build up in his room, and the blanket that he still didn’t know how he got was kicked around to his legs. His hand flopped around to his nightstand, opening the drawer and grabbing the remote for his ac unit. He turned it down several degrees, and didn’t have the energy to put it back. His hand just fell to his bed, and his eyes closed on their own accord. Even though he’d wanted to stay up to spite Todoroki, despite the fact that he couldn’t remember why anymore, his body just started to shut down on its own. At least sleep would be a reprieve from the overwhelming pain in his chest and his head, so he surrendered to the thick haze of sleep and hoped he’d wake up without this agony.

Blood. Blood and screams and death and fear. Katsuki spun around, lost and scared, wanting to run but unsure of where he could run to. Screams rang in his ears from all directions, each one different yet full of the same agony. Each one echoed their pain into his heart, overwhelming him with emotions he couldn’t handle. Unable to take anymore, his legs took off running without thinking, his chest heaving as the torturous screams pierced his chest.

He skidded to a stop as an image flashed in his mind, his own scream blending into the background. Deku’s body was still crackling with energy, his green lightning dying as Deku lay still. His arms and legs were both black, bent in horrific ways, and Katsuki’s stomach lurched as his gaze finally landed on Deku’s chest. His ribs had pierced through his skin, his chest cavity a mess of blood and bone, surprise still written on Deku’s lax face, his green eyes dull and lifeless. Again, Katsuki’s legs took off without his consent, tears streaming down Katsuki’s face as nausea built in his stomach.

His arms flailed as he slipped on something wet and sticky, crashing into some sort of small building. Looking up, Katsuki screamed again, seeing Kirishima spread eagle across the top, his head hanging down, his neck brutally slit open, dripping blood into the fiery red hair he was so famous for. Katsuki slipped again in his haste to get up, realizing with a sickening jolt that he was slipping on Kirishima’s blood.

“Make it stop.” Katsuki sobbed. “Make it stop.”

He finally got up again, only to freeze in place. In front of him was Ashido, lying in a heap, her neck bone protruding from her skin as her head twisted the other way. As more and more tears spilled down his cheeks, he turned and turned and turned. Jirou, her own earphones wrapped around her red, raw neck. Sero hanging from his own tape, his limp hands still stuck from trying to free himself. Kaminari’s head soaked, water still dripping from his motionless mouth. His world began to spin, and he crashed to the ground, curling into a ball.

“Make it stop.” Katsuki covered his ears and shut his eyes, trying to block it all out. “Please, make it stop.”

The world went silent.

Katsuki warily opened his eyes. Vast ground filled only with empty space. He was too scared to try and speak, terrified that the death and screams and blood would come back. No matter where he looked, all he found was emptiness until he came across Todoroki, laying on the ground too, facing away from him.

He crawled over hesitantly, his mouth moving to speak Todoroki’s name but his vocal cords refused to make any noise. Katsuki’s hand hovered over Todoroki’s body for a moment, not seeing anything on his red side. Maybe he was just unconscious? His hand finally landed on Todoroki’s arm, frowning as it was cool. No, no, his red was his fire side, he should’ve been warm. His hand jerked as he pulled it back, causing Todoroki to roll over.

Katsuki screamed again, his voice laden with agony as Todoroki’s head lolled to the side. His white side had completely disappeared, charred to ash, his skin covered in burns matching the scar on his face. He cowered away, his hands dragging him away from Todoroki’s dead body. He slipped again, curling back into a ball, sobbing.

Everyone he had ever cared about was gone, and Katsuki was alone. Emptiness beat in his ears, the silence louder than any of the screams had been. His sobs echoed across the vastness, his breath the only other sound. He longed for his friends, wanted someone to still be with him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay. That he would have more than himself to keep him company, to make him smile just a little, to make him let out a breathy laugh. To watch with amusement as they did something stupid, being far too noticeable when he was socially awkward with his stupid confused face, silently sitting with him when they knew he wanted company but couldn’t take any more noise. Grabbing him in one arm hugs, ruffling his hair and dodging when he swatted at them, squishing him when they were all crammed together in too small of a space to fit all of them. He wanted that back, he wanted them back so badly, he’d do anything.

“Anything, huh?” The back of his neck burned, and he was lifted off the ground. He writhed in the grip, sludge rising from the ground to latch onto his body, forcing him into submission.

“No, no, please, stop!” Katsuki wailed, the sludge only growing stronger, binding his body in muck. The heat on the back of his neck increased, and another hand forced his head forward, his eyes only able to focus on Todoroki’s lifeless body. “Not like this, not like this!”

“Aw, I thought you said ‘anything’.” The voice taunted. “Don’t you love them? Wouldn’t you do anything for them? You know we have an offer for you, you remember our last one.”

“Can’t.” Katsuki wanted to shake his head, but the grip was too strong. “Won’t betray them.”

“Then die with them.”

Katsuki couldn’t move, his entire body now encased in the sludge, could barely talk as the goo began to tease at going in his mouth and down his throat. 

“Not again.” Katsuki gasped, feeling the horrid taste of the sludge as it crept slowly, maliciously, into his mouth. “Please not again.”

A mocking laugh, and then the sludge forced itself down his throat, cutting off his air. Katsuki panicked, writhing with great strength, but useless, so uselessly. The world spun one last time as he grew dizzy from hypoxia, and he fell into darkness with taunting laughter echoing around him.

Katsuki jolted up in bed, a silent scream on his lips. His eyes rolled at the heat of his room, just as dizzy as he was in his fever induced nightmare, practically seeing the waves of heat energy radiating from his furniture, his walls. He had to cool down. If he didn’t cool down, he thought he was going to die, his body melting into his bed.

His room had a shower. The door was right there. He just had to get there, the water could cool him down. He pushed himself up, his arms too shaky to hold him for long. Maneuvering his body was like trying to walk straight in a gyroscope. He stepped forward with his left foot, shaking as he stood, desperately trying to go forward. His right foot was next, but it was still tangled up in the blanket of unknown origin. He tried to pull it free, but another strong bout of dizziness sent him tumbling to the floor.

The world faded in and out as he lay on the floor, his arms trying to push himself up, but he crashed back down every time. He just didn’t have the strength to get up, the attempts draining what little he had until he just gave up. His vision flickered in and out, his sweat soaking into his carpet, his heart carrying agony all over his body, igniting each nerve with a bonfire, his head pounding like a thunderstorm’s rage.

“Sorry to disturb you…”

“Eh, no worries, Todoroki. If Bakubro needs me, then I’m there, no matter what.”

Even though the door was closed, Katsuki could still hear the voices through it. The dorm walls carried sound better than any speaker.

His door quietly creaked open, driving another spike of pain into his head. “Bakugou? Hey man, are you- oh shit!”

Light blinded him for a moment, before he felt a cold arm heave him up, cradling him in iciness. He whimpered, the sudden shock of frigidity making him wince. A warmer hand came to his forehead before jerking back with a hiss.

“He’s burning up.” Kirishima gasped, cursing again.

“Kirishima, get Recovery Girl.” Todoroki ordered, taking charge of the situation. “I’m gonna try to cool him down.”

Kirishima nodded, his face set in his ‘serious mode’. His best friend should’ve been a comfort, but seeing Kirishima’s frown and furrowed brow just made him a little scared. Kirishima was one of the smiliest people he’d ever met, and Katsuki always told him that his face would get stuck like that. It was always laughed off, bringing out that same smile, which always made Katsuki roll his eyes. But he still liked seeing it, and when it was missing, Katsuki didn’t like it, not one bit.

“Don’t use your quirk, use his shower.” Kirishima said, standing. “Anything lower than room temperature is too cold, you’ll send him into shock.”

Todoroki just nodded, and Katsuki wondered if he’d already known that, or if his temperature regulation thing kept him from getting fevers. Kirishima bolted out the door, his steps thudding down the hall then the stairs.

Another arm came to his knees, and he was lifted into the air. His vision swirled again, able to tell he was moving but unable to process anything else. His legs were gently placed on the ground, but then the sound of a massive waterfall assaulted him and he turned back into the soft, wintry physique. But then he was pulled away from it, and he didn’t know whether that felt good or bad. The waterfall then disappeared, and he saw that Todoroki had switched the tap to shower.

The arm came back to his knees, and another dizzying bit of motion finished with water pelting at him, as he was pressed against something that didn’t feel hot or cold. Even though the water droplets were needle-sharp, they were cool, and Katsuki sank into it, feeling the water soothe the bonfire under his skin. He wasn’t sure how long he was under the spray before his mind finally cleared enough to focus on his surroundings. Katsuki was laying against Todoroki, who was holding him up by his waist, in Katsuki’s shower. Katsuki decided to be embarrassed about this later, when he didn’t feel so shitty and when Todoroki wasn’t keeping him from drowning in his own shower.

“‘roki?” Katsuki groaned, his voice weak and quiet. But thankfully Todoroki still heard him.

“Yes, Bakugou?”

“I don’ feel so good.” Katsuki said, looking up at Todoroki. He must’ve looked like a drowned cat, his hair soaked and stuck to his forehead, his clothes soaked to the skin, his skin showing through his white tank top, Katsuki didn’t think he’d ever looked so pathetic in his life.

“No shit.” Todoroki muttered grumpily. “You couldn’t have said that a few hours ago?”

Katsuki ducked his head a little, his cheeks were already flushed but the pink got a little stronger. “Couldn’t. Can’t be weak. Specially not in front of you.”

That made Todoroki pause, and then meet his eye again. “Me?”

Katsuki nodded shakily.

“Why?” Todoroki breathed, the shower louder than both of their voices.

“Because… you’re so strong.” Katsuki mumbled, the fever that still raged within him loosening his tongue. If he were coherent, he’d rather be caught dead than saying shit like this, but he was still so hot and the water felt so good and his mind felt so worn thin that he just kept talking. “Noticed the first day I saw you. Never met anyone like you. Stronger than me. Pissed me off.”

Todoroki scoffed. “Of course it would.” a sigh. “But why would that mean you can’t be ‘weak’ around me?”

“Weakness doesn’t get notice. ‘N like that. Wanted notice.”

There was another beat of silence. Katsuki turned his head into Todoroki’s cooler side, using him as an ice pack for his still aching head.

“Are you saying that you thought I wouldn’t notice you if I thought you were weak?” Todoroki murmured, his voice low and uncertain.

His body was starting to get wracked with tremors, but he managed a nod through it. He couldn’t tell if he was shivering or shaking, just feeling his body vibrate, and the bonfire inside him was starting to win the battle against the water. His body went limp as the fire began to consume him, his eyes rolling around in his head.

“I, I… Bakugou? Bakugou, what’s wrong? Bakugou!” Todoroki’s voice jumped in emotion, in worry, but Katsuki could no longer differentiate the emotions. Todoroki was little more than a red and white blur now, Katsuki’s world spinning faster than a top, black spots dotting his vision, growing larger with each rotation. His mind lost all sense of reality, darkness swirling around him like a maelstrom. Voices again rang in his ears, but he couldn’t distinguish one from another.

“-hear me? Bakugou, can you hear me?”

“He was talking a minute ago, but…”

“-unresponsive -get him to the infirmary- covery girl can- hurry…”

Someone grabbed his arms, hauling him into the air, and the sudden movement had him blacking out entirely, falling into the black hole the maelstrom had created.

~~

Consciousness was murky, muddying his perception into something unintelligible as he slipped in and out of the darkness always on the edge of his mind. He wasn’t sure how long it took for his mind to clear, but the longer time went on, he sluggishly began to become more aware of his surroundings. He discovered new pain in his hand, but the agony in his head had subsided a great deal, though it wasn’t entirely gone. He was laying on something familiar but uncomfortable, his body propped up against it. To his immense relief, he found that he wasn’t on fire for the first time in what felt like days. 

Dazedly, he opened his eyes, immediately squinting at the bright overhead lights. It took him a minute to adjust, but the light didn’t increase his headache much, so he managed easily enough. White walls came into focus, along with cool, white sheets on the bed he couldn’t remember getting in, with a light blue canvas on his chest. He pulled lightly at it, confused, and pulled his hand up to his vision. No wonder it hurt, there was an IV stabbed through his hand, drawing out a noise of discomfort. He felt like he hadn’t slept in years, his mind struggling to keep up with the world around him.

Footsteps had his head immediately turning, his instincts sharper than any discombobulation, and he made another discovery, movement didn’t make him dizzy anymore. But that didn’t answer the question of what had happened, but the old woman walking towards him at least contributed to it. He knew this room, this was the infirmary, but he couldn’t remember how he got here.

“Ah, young Bakugou, I was wondering when you’d come back to us.” The old bat said, sounding far too cheerful.

He frowned at her, trying and failing to process her words in time as Recovery Girl walked up to his bed. His head still swam in uncertainty, cognizance lagging out like one of his friends’ video games. She stood on one of her little step-stools, coming up to his level, patting his hand gently before putting something uncomfortable in his ear. He groaned, attempting to turn away, but she cupped his cheek, gently but firmly keeping him in place.

“Keep still, it’s alright.” Her voice was as gentle as her hand, but that didn’t soothe him much. “Just a few seconds more.”

A quiet beeping and she kept her word. “38.44 (101.2). Much better, considering you came in at 40.5 (104.9). Any higher and you might’ve had permanent brain damage.”

Oh shit. That was bad. That was very bad. A brief flash of fear ran up his spine, a spike of anxiety panging in his stomach.

“Wha’ happ’n?” Katsuki asked, his voice hoarse from disuse.

“A stress fever.” She replied, handing him a little paper cup of water. His hand was shaking a little as he took it, but he kept her help to a minimum. “Unsurprising, considering the amount of stress you all are under, you especially. Normally, they’re not an issue, and they fade rather quickly, but you’re a special case. As you know, your sweat can’t cool you down like most people so you’re easily affected by fevers. Since you didn’t come to me, or do anything to reduce it, your fever just worsened and worsened until your body couldn’t take it anymore. You’re very lucky that Todoroki and Kirishima found you when they did.”

Jumbled memories came to the forefront of his mind, of Kirishima’s voice in his room, a hand on his forehead, of Todoroki carrying him, holding him as they lay in the shower. Fuck, that was embarrassing, and the chastising Recovery Girl was giving just made him feel even worse.

“Didn’t notice.” He said, needing to defend himself, his pride leaving him unable to do anything less. After all, it wasn’t like he’d done this on purpose. He may hate being in this damn room, but he wasn’t stupid enough to not seek medical help when he was seriously sick. He just honestly hadn’t noticed something was wrong until it was too late. He’d dealt with plenty of hot and uncomfortable days before so he thought yesterday had been no different. “Not til af’r dinner. Don’t get sick.”

“Yes, young Midoriya said that.” Recovery Girl sighed. “As did your parents when I called them. They said since they’re currently in Madrid, they’d do their best, but the flight home is rather long, even without layovers. Hopefully, by the time they do get here, you’ll be fever free.”

Well, his day just got a lot worse. Katsuki hated it when his parents had to pick him up from school. He didn’t need his parents to come and fuss over him, he wasn’t a baby.

His unhappiness must’ve shown on his face, since Recovery Girl just tutted at him. “Give them a break, you gave them quite a scare. You’ve gotten very good at that.”

Katsuki huffed, definitely not pouting.

“Really, I should’ve expected something like this to happen.” She muttered. He cocked his head in confusion. “It’s been a week since I’ve had one of you in here, and if someone from 1A isn’t in here, something is very wrong.”

He had to admit, that seemed like solid logic. He was classmates with the biggest dumbasses he’d ever met, and they were all klutzy and accident prone, and that was off the battlefield.

“Speaking of your classmates,” ah hell, what do those idiots want now? “when you’re feeling up to it, you’ll have plenty of visitors.”

Oh fuck no, he was not doing that. His classmates were so emotional, crying and pitying and all sorts of terrible shit he hated being around. He got uncomfortable when one of his friends was upset, he couldn’t take the whole class. Leaving before Recovery Girl said he could sounded like a much better option. He’d rather get yelled at than deal with all of his dumbasses.

“Try to get out of this bed and I’ll sedate you.” Recovery Girl said bluntly. Katsuki deflated, miserably becoming resigned to his fate. Obviously, this was just going to be one of the shittiest days of his life and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“I’ll keep them from overwhelming you.” She said sympathetically, patting his hand again, and that was at least something. Normally, he would’ve snapped that he didn’t need her pity, but he could tell it wasn’t pity. He didn’t quite know what it was, but anything was better than pity. “But for right now, you should get some sleep. Let your body’s natural processes heal you. I’d much rather have your body heal itself, I don’t like how high a dosage of fever reducer I have to give you to help you fight this. I want to take you off that as soon as I can.”

Ah, that explained the IV, and why his mind wasn’t working right. He’d seen his idiot friends on too much cold medicine before, he’d just never experienced it himself until now. It was a lot more disconcerting than he would’ve thought. Next time, he’d have to watch more closely when one of his idiots got sick, this fucking sucked.

Sleep did sound like a fantastic idea, though. Keeping up with this conversation was taking far too much energy than it should’ve, and Katsuki was just fucking done. Even better, if he slept the rest of the day away, he could avoid all of the extras and idiots who wanted to ‘visit’ him and annoy him with their presence. The medication was no doubt keeping his spite under control, as when Recovery Girl stepped down to do other shit he didn’t give a fuck about, he could just close his eyes and let the exhaustion that been on the edge of his mind since he woke up take him without much resistance.

Awww I’m so touched! I’ve heard a lot of good things about Always Sunny and I really should check it out someday. I love this community :>

Last Song You Listened To:

Oh I love the new rendition of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, Fall Out Boy was not on my 2023 bingo card, but I’m so glad they did it. I love that song, and how serious they took each of the events. Also EverGiven Suez in the same place as the previous song makes me craaazzyyyy hehe

Currently Reading:

I don’t really have the ability to read right now, healing has set me back a lot unfortunately, but I will never not take a moment to promote @aliceinwhumperland​ ‘s Jack and Simone stories. They’re literally stories that I could never get enough of and I can’t wait to reread them eventually. But in terms of currently reading, all I can really do is maybe a sick!Bakugou Katsuki when I’m feeling good. Torment that spiky blonde and make the gremlin feel vulnerable and I will go feral :>

Currently Watching:

I am a 28 year old grown adult and I am unashamed to say I’m watching Bluey. I adore this show, it’s wonderful and sweet and I swear every episode helps heal my ptsd a little bit more. Also it’s really just a good show, with really great morals. I’ve seen plenty of other shows that have really shitty morals and make people apologize for not being wrong and giving in to the person who’s being mean and/or unreasonable, but this show doesn’t do that. The parents regularly apologize to their kids when they screw up, and they admit to them that they screwed up. I swear I come way too close to tears over this show. I know everyone loves Sleepytime, but honestly mine is Bin Night. That one always gets me, right in the feels.

And I will die on the hill that Muffin isn’t a spoiled brat. She’s just three you monsters. I can tell that none of you have ever been around a three-year-old. They throw tantrums all the time, and it’s a good thing that she feels comfortable being able to express her emotions all the time around her family. That means she feels safe. I am a Muffin defender and I will be forever.

Current Obsession:

I have a couple haha I play Disney Dreamlight Valley every day, I love this game. I really don’t like games that are too intense or with too much fighting or where I die and have to restart. I’ll play Lego games with my partner @withywhump​ (who you should definitely check out, they’re amazing) but that’s as far as I go. But this is soft and sweet and actually has a plot and I get to hang out with all of the characters I’ve always wanted to interact with since before I can remember. And some I’m not too fond of but eh, gotta take them all together. The other one is my always obsession with My Hero Academia. Honestly, if anyone wants to talk the show (up to season five I haven’t been able to continue until Katsuki is proven to be alive) or Bakugou Katsuki or Todoroki Shouto, I will talk until you’re begging me to stop haha

tagging

@taylortut​ @whumpitywhumpwhump​ @sick-bae​ @straight-to-the-pain​ @thefevertrope​ @la-vie-en-whump​ @a-fever-a-day​

9 people you'd like to get to know better

Thank you for tagging me @moonystardust7!

Last Song You Listened To: Something off of Lover by Taylor Swift. I think is was It's Nice to Have a Friend.

Currently Reading: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and fanfiction of course.

Currently Watching: Nothing but I just finished watching Arcane.

Current Obsession: Arcane. I just binge watched it and it is so good! Also Six of Crows and Varian and the Seven Kingdoms.

Tagging: @simplydifficultme @lilisouless @littlemisslol-fic @imaginativeworks @marvinthecrow @baura-bear @crystallizedtwilight @rupturedhaven @promptful

First of all, how dare the universe or Tumblr not tell me that it's your birthday. (how dare). And SECOND, I hope you've had a wonderful day. Congratulations on completing another orbit around the sun. Happy birthday!

It's okay, I don't advertise it. and thanks (/ω＼) you're a good friend. It's been a really nice day. Work didn't have much going on and I've just gotten to go home, relax and cuddle my kittens. We're also going to out to lunch tomorrow to celebrate since today didn't end up working out. A calm birthday is all I could ever ask for haha

hap birthday, beloved! I love you bby ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

~withywhump

;-; I don't know how you could always be the best person I know. I adore everything about you. You're beyond even the best partner I could've ever asked for. I love you.

tis day of my birf. I am now 28 and my life has never been better. I have a great job, and the people in my life are the ones I could always surround myself with, people who love me and genuinely want to treat me with respect and affection. And I could never have thought before I made this blog the amazing community I would find here, in all of you.

Sorry, I'm getting a little sentimental. hap birf to me

I am also late *sadface* but a very , very happy birthday to you!!!!! I hope you're having a good day, despite all the nonsense in the world right now.

No worries <3 I don't advertise my birthday really, this year I was really busy haha but thanks <3<3<3 I do really appreciate being remembered^^ It's a wonderful feeling <3

I'm a bit late oopsie, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY babygirl! 🎉🎉🎉

Thaaaaannnnkksss (/ω＼) you're sweet, angel. I love you <3

Thanks for the tag, love! I’m always happy to share my writing, especially since it’s become very hard to come by since the pandemic started.

“Hearing his one problem child on the phone, sobbing but trying to be so, so strong was heartbreaking in its own right, but watching Bakugou unravel as he struggled to breathe, the fear in his eyes when he heard that he’d have to be intubated, and the fight that he hadn’t had the strength to give but gave anyway had broken something deep within Aizawa’s chest, as if his heart had stuttered and missed several beats and his lungs had begged for air just as Bakugou had, even though nothing was inhibiting his breathing.” Okay so mine’s way too long, since I am very bad about run-on sentences lol 

but tagging: @withywhump​, @toosicktoocare​, @taylortut​, @sick-bae​, @bleedingandfeverish​ and anyone else who wants to join in on the fun!

Last Line Tag

Rules: write the latest line from your WIP and tag as many people as there are words in the line

Make a new post, don’t reblog! Tagged by: @whumpy-writings

If only she knew, he thought and shivered for the last time before sleep finally got a hold of him.

Tagging: @hold-him-down @peachy-panic @afrosarah @orchidscript @ceph-the-writing-spook and everyone who feels like it - the sentence is too long to tag adhering to the rules

Lumine from Genshin impact who takes a very high fever and collapses alone in her home until her bf comes home and take care of here 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Oh dear, um, I'm so sorry to have to turn this request down but I don't even know what Genshin Impact is, let alone who the characters are. I wouldn't be able to do this justice, so I'm gonna turn it open to anyone who wants to take it. If you need an excuse to write something, if you've never tried this fandom before but you love it, if you wanna take a stab without knowing who these characters are, go for it. It's yours and I hope it gets written soon.

If you want to submit a request to me, inbox is always open. I write for My Hero Academia, Lucifer, the Flash, The Greatest Showman, and the occasional Marvel, usually Irondad and Spiderson, with some of the Avengers thrown in there for good measure.

Again, I'm so sorry I can't take your request but I hope you find someone who can very soon. Best wishes <3

oooooo I love these things! Thanks so much

I’m gonna tag @withywhump @bleedingandfeverish​ and @beautifulbrokenmen​ have fun!

PiCrew Game~ https://picrew.me/image_maker/188948 I found this 8-Bit Picrew maker and it’s just too cute– I made myself 💀

Taglist: @whatgoeswhumpinthenight​​ @madrono-but-i-am-not-a-fruit​ @cowboy-anon​​ @straight-to-the-pain​​ @peachycookies​​ @myst-in-the-mirror​​ @whumpers-inc​​ @jojothepanwithoutaplan​​ @thats-my-type-writer​​ @happy-whumper​ @whumpasaurus101 No pressure and anyone feel free to hop in!

Tag game! The post I was tagged in was long af so I’m just making a new post.

Thanks for the tag @sickasafish I love these things! The game is such:

List your top three whump tropes and tag people.

Whoever gets tagged gets to say how they feel about your top three tropes.

After finishing that, they then list their top three tropes, and the tagging cycle goes on!

If you don’t feel like playing, it’s ok!

1) Concussions- oooooooh I love concussions! The delirium, the uneven pupils, the incoordination, the confusion, love it! They’re a wonderful bit of whump!

2) Fevers- ooooooooooooooooooooooh those are some of my favorite things ever! I love me a good fever, be in an infected wound or pneumonia or even just a simple flu. Most of my fics are sickfics of some sort haha but I am not ashamed of that^^ and fevers lead to fever dream hehehehe

3) Survival where an accident leaves the whumpee trapped- now this isn’t one of my personal faves but I do still love it. I just love the caretaking aspect of it more. Finding the stranded whumpee, freeing them, bringing them home, treating the wounds they got, etc.

And now onto my own favorite tropes!

1) I do love me some good sedation. There are so many options, the whumper sedating a whumpee and the whumpee trying to fight a losing battle with consciousness, the caretaker being forced to sedate a desperate whumpee who’s begging not to be sedated for some reason and the betrayal or the soft fading as they can’t comprehend what’s happening.... mmmm that’s the good stuff.

2) Stabbings. Stabbings are alllllways such a wonderful form of whump. Be it a blade, a piece of shrapnel, whatever works. If it pierces the skin, it’s good with me^^

3) This is a weird one but I still love it. A whumper having control over a whumpee’s hair. It’s a thrill to have a whumper cut, style, change, control a whumpee’s personhood by screwing with their hair. I do love an intimate whumper who loves to show their control over the whumpee by something so basic yet so personal.

Okay so that’s me! Tag time! @withywhump @the-wandering-whumper @sick-bae @bleedingandfeverish and @thefevertrope Have fun!

Actually @the-wandering-whumper​ it’s kinda your fault we met^^ As we met because of an ask I had submitted to you, wondering if anyone had seen a particular movie and my beautiful @withywhump​ answered with a yes. I somehow got up the courage to message her and a year later we’re dating. ​And our lives are so much better for the other understanding and sharing whump preferences, we may not share every one but we delight in them all to make our partner happy and to have fun. I’m so glad that we can be open and honest with each other about whump as it helps us be open and honest with everything else.

@withywhump​ love ya babe.

For your last anon, I am in a relationship with someone I met as a result of being IN the whump community, and we trade whump fics as a love language more or less. It hasn't changed my enjoyment of any of my favorite tropes at all.

That’s fantastic! Anyone met someone through whump? I’d love to hear about it!

It's your birthday!!?!?!?!?! Why wasn't I informed until now?? Anyway, happy birthday. Congratulations on completing another orbit around the sun. Seems to be getting harder to do these days. So, well done!

haha 😅 I don't advertise it much. I don't make too much of my birthday so I don't bother putting it in my bio or anything. But yes, I have completed one more orbit! Harder, yes, I'm a whopping 26 now, but I'm glad I stuck around and I'm sure my girlfriend is too ;)

Happy Birthday!!! 🎂 🎈 🎁 🎉

Thank you so much!!!!! I'm so touched by all of this response!

happy birthday sweetheart. i love you.

~withy

thank you gorgeous. I adore you my sweet darling. I can't wait to see you again my love

it's your birthday? 🥳 happy birthday! have a great one!!

It is my birthday! I'm now 26! I've officially left the 18-25 demographic behind. Thank you sweetheart, I appreciate you sooooo much!

Happy birthday!!! Hope your day is great!

Awwwww thank you! I really appreciate that!

Hello, dear! You've been visited by the random character question fairy! :D ~☆

Who did your character last say 'I love you' to? Did they mean it? Did the other person say it back?

;;;-;;; omggg you're so nice thank you!

This comes from the novel I'm writing, it's about two superpowered siblings who have to go on the run when a shadowy organization targets them because of the older brother's powers and place in the time stream.

Said older brother has a boyfriend, who will eventually turn into fiancé during the story^^, doesn't get to answer the yes to his face due to plot reasons, but when he's drugged out of his mind on sedatives after being shot in the abdomen, he accepts the proposal with an "I love you"

His younger sister, who has been struggling ever since he got shot with feelings of guilt and uselessness, is the only one in the room.

But still, she lowers her voice as best as she can, and says "I love you too" to try and comfort him since she can help no other way.

This was so much fun! Thank you again!

And since I can’t resist being sappy with you either, I don’t even care who’s listening, so with an amazing amount of joy in my heart I can say

We’re officially dating! Even got our first date planned! I can hardly wait!

Little by little, I’ve fallen for this beautiful woman you see above me and I’m so excited to start this new chapter with you! She’s the perfect girl for me, and I’m so thrilled that she’s just as into me and I am into her. God, I still can’t stop smiling I’m so excited!

I love you too, baby. So much.

~Personal Update~

My family is super homophobic and I can’t come out to them about this, so I got a little sappiness for yall’s dash bc I can’t fucking help myself.

@bloodyfeverdreams and I are officially girlfriendsssssssssss

we met and bonded over whump (like ya do) almost a year ago, discovered a writing partner and then platonic soulmates in each other, someone we could talk to about anything at all, then realized like yesterday that we were more to each other than friends.

fam we were into each other, ya know what I’m sayin

so yeah we dating now, and I love her very much thanks for listening kids <3

Ah, that is true, but what about those of us who are like our frozen whumpees- when the temperature dips, you just can’t get warm, no matter how many sweaters and layers you have? I’ve had like ten layers on at once and still be absolutely freezing, and while being hot fucking sucks, at least being in front of a fan or ac will help.

People who love cold weather are fucking weird. You like to freeze? You like to shiver?? You like when you take a step outside and the air stings your skin???

Sure I’d love to play along, I love these things^^

Gender: Cis woman but I like to keep my options open

Star sign: Gemini (the lamest one, I hate those stupid two-faced “jokes”)

Height: 5′8′ 5′9″ on a good day

Time: 4:00 pst

Favourite bands: I don’t really have constant favorites, as I jump from special interest to special interest like a frog on lily pads, but I’ve always enjoyed Green Day and Queen.

Solo artists: Johnny Cash is always one I like to listen to, um, there’s also Terreance Zdunich, I love him (he does those movies Repo: The Genetic Opera and The Devil’s Carnival [my personal fav] so you should really check those out, they’re dark but they’re bangers)

Following: I’m still a baby here so only 71 but the number increases a lot

Followers: 301 but I’m sure that’s just bots and like 3 people who actually like my writing

Last show binged: hmm, I haven’t binged a show since I had to move back home so the only one I can think of is Avatar: The Last Airbender (I had to convince withywhump to watch it and now it’s one of her favs hehe)

When I created this blog: August 2019 I believe

Last thing I googled: Shelving Units. I need some new shelves for my old room, my mom transformed it into an office after I left, not knowing that a pandemic would force me to move back

Why I chose my url: I like blood, I like fevers and I like fever dreams. And I thought I was clever I guess

Hours of sleep: That’s classified

Lucky number: 13. Family’s lucky number, always has been. My two best friends are getting married on the 13th too so theirs as well.

Instruments: lol no I learned viola in elementary school because I wanted to get out of class for rehearsal and then quit when I realized I couldn’t play to save my life

Favourite food: Toss up between chicken caesar salad and chocolate cake.

Favourite song: hmm, one I’m listening to a lot lately is There She Goes by Sixpence None The Richer. I’ve always liked that song.

Dream trip: New York at Christmas, when it’s not in a pandemic. I live in California so I’ve never gotten a white christmas, and I want one

Dream job: Novelist who has enough money to do nothing but write and maybe sell her book rights to movie studios with the caveat that I get to help with casting and scriptwriting

Nationality: American. We actually know very little about our family, my grandma doesn’t remember and she’s our only living relative, and my dad was adopted with a letter that said Ukrainian and Canadian. No idea if it’s true though, as it was a closed adoption

Tagging: @withywhump my beautiful wife, @cookiecutterwrites @sick-bae and @straight-to-the-pain if you want to of course

@mickeymckeown tagged me in a thingy. It was in danger of becoming A Long Post. So here are the things!

Gender: Female (even if every time I even think of the word it sounds like a Ferengi is saying it)

Star sign: Pisces 

Height: 5′5 with good posture.

Time: 5:40 pm EST.

Favourite bands: Many and varied. Probably far too many that I like, but none of them are a legit fave. Really digging Rezz at the moment.

Solo artists: Um, not really? I am really digging just about everything Billie Eilish lately. So what if I’m old enough to be her mom. 

Following: 275 (and some/most days I cannot keep up)

Followers: 3,379. Why, I couldn’t tell ya.

Last show binged: The Sinner season three.

When I created this blog: November 2017… I think.

Last thing I googled: Daily Covid case count in my province. I like to either be reminded that things can be better or that I need to keep up the hard work of not getting sick and dying.

Why I chose my url: I dunno, I thought it was clever at the time.

Hours of sleep: … I … don’t know. Enough? Usually. Sometimes.

Lucky number: 19 or 119. it’s not lucky, but it does come up a lot.

Instruments: Ha. No. I learned to play three chords from Zombie by The Cranberries like 20 years ago. That’s as close as I’ve come to learning an instrument.

Favourite food: CHOCOLATE. Carbs, really.

Favourite song: Bang! by AJR is the one currently most likely to get me out of my chair and dancing around the apartment. I have a short and varied list of “I love this song, play it again and again until I hate music.”

Dream trip: Scotland. London. Places I’ve been a few times and actually feel a little homesick for despite not having been born there. I’d love to go back, but they wouldn’t be the same as they were in The Before.

Dream job: Voice actor.

Nationality: Canadian (English mutt going all the way back)

I dunno @bloodyfeverdreams and @grettiwrites do you wanna play along?

Duuuuuuuuddddeee everyone read this!!!! If you like angst and you’re in the My Hero fandom, then you gotta check this out! It’s super good!

Bakugou Katsuki didn’t do shit he didn’t want to do. Barring divine intervention or the minigod known as Aizawa Shouta, Bakugou did what he wanted, when he wanted. But for some reason there he stood, at the gates of hell, the place that was nestled comfortably in position number dead fucking last on a list of locations he’d also rather not be; prison, a burning building, the Principal Nezu’s office as he got expelled from UA, in a coma, the middle of Shibuya Crossing during a red light, fuck. Fate and the pesky thing called conscience had snatched him from the bliss of solitude, and of specifically ‘not’ being here, and had dropped him on his proverbial ass. And there is where he stood, like a loser, a fucking tool, staring at the too thin, pale green barrier separating him from the shitty nerd’s bedroom.

To apologize for how badly he’d fucked up.

~~~

A BakuAngst oneshot for the soul. Nobody’s really having a good time here, but it’ll be okay guys. <3

7 and 12 😘

~withy

Hey wifey I’ve missed you ;) It’s been a whole ten minutes since I last talked to you. You want answers, you’re gonna get em baby.

7) what is your favourite sentence/paragraph? read it to us!

12) what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

Wifey. You’re a menace.

but. I promised answers, and I always keep my promise to my lovely internet wife.

Favorite sentence/paragraph. hmmm that’s a definitely a hard one. Besides easy ones like “You’re burning up” or “got a fever of 103/4”. I mean, of course there are a few in the you-know-what wifey ;) like the one where a certain dad holds his little blonde son as he finally breaks down, or when a certain firecracker finally succumbs to his fever and passes out, but if I must share one aloud, then I’ll choose something else. Something where I have the author’s permission to share.  This is a piece of the novel I’m writing, and I know it won’t make any sense, but my “favorites” are often a passing fad, I go from one to another so quickly that it’s almost impossible to truly pin them down.  So here is me attempting to describe essentially my own version of the Mirror Dimension.

“Fae couldn’t breathe.  Concrete flooded her lungs and oxygen was smothered out.  She blinked and saw something unbelievable.  Sam’s entire body had changed.  Glass encompassed every inch of his body, even his eyes. She saw Sam reach out and cup Michael’s face in his hand.  In slow motion, Michael turned to her and she saw some etchings of glass embedded into his skin.  She saw every minute change in detail as her brother’s face went from relieved to fear. Their mouths opened but the sound was too slow for Fae to understand. Her body descended to the ground, until a hand put pressure on her stomach.  Her arms were thrown over shoulders and they made motions to run.  Her legs dragged behind like dead weight until strong hands grabbed them as well.    Black spots danced through her vision as she tried to breathe in.  No oxygen made it to her lungs.  Her eyes unfocused, the doorways becoming stars as she floated into the Heavens, the pathways between them blurring into comet trails, backdropped against the all consuming darkness. The hands shifted.  One star was getting larger and larger.  Slight pressure against her face.  With a silent crash, the glass cracked and oxygen flooded her lungs.”

Headcanon... um, well, there are a lot. There’s the basic ones like the character I wanna whump will always end up susceptible to fevers, that when the characters dream, they always talk in their sleep (usually revealing whatever nightmare they’re dreaming), and then there are the more specific ones, like how trauma attaches itself to human brains in an unpredictable way, (ex: like associating rain with being safe because right after someone was saved from villains, it rained, and now those two events are intrinsically linked). So I don’t care what canon says, if I say that two things are linked like that because trauma then that’s it. I will hear no other options.

welp. those are my answers, I hope they satisfied you, my precious wifey love you

(Apparently my ask box is kinda broken rn so I’m just copying the question into another box and sending it to myself)

Fanfiction questions number 9 and 6 from @aliceinwhumperland

Thank you @aliceinwhumperland Sorry the format got kinda fucked but I really appreciate the ask! I love things like this, I just usually never have the courage to reblog them lol I’m always afraid I won’t get a response, which I assume is a common fear

9) the “you got kudos“ e-mail is usually much appreciated, but is there a fic you wish you didn’t get these e-mails for? if so, which one and why?

Oh goodness, yes. There’s some earlier work that I have on my AO3, from when I was in high school back when I was on FF.net and some of it is atrocious. I barely knew how to form a sentence in high school, but also they do have bookmarks and the occasional kudos so I don’t touch them. I hate looking for a fic in my bookmarks and not finding it because it’s been deleted and I always wonder why they deleted it. So I make it a policy not to delete things, even if I wish people would just leave those stories alone. My Avengers 2012 fic from 2012 was not meant to be consumed.

6) what is your favourite sense to incorporate in your writing and why?

oooooh that’s a hard one. I definitely tend to focus a lot on touch and smell especially, ask @withywhump she’ll tell you lol, but I’m not quite sure I have a favorite per say. I think it depends on the characters I’m writing with. Because in my fanfic, I think I tend to incorporate more smell but in my original work, it’s usually more touch. I mean, it’s hard to just focus on one, since especially with whump, you wanna write with all five senses so the reader gets more involved, gets more immersed in your world. I don’t know if I have an answer to why, as I just sort of write whatever I’m thinking of, and I guess I like to smell and touch things lol