they all gave up on me (kiribaku)

21

Kirishima hesitated at the door, Todoroki and Midoriya already standing silently at the window. How did they convince me to do this again? It's not like I can make him do anything.

Midoriya glanced back at him, a hint of worry in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Kiri nodded. "Yeah. I--fuck it." He walked through the doorway into the white room, eyes immediately going to the man behind the glass. Bakugou. "So has he really just been laying there? Doing nothing?"

Todoroki nodded. Midoriya cut in, "Actually, he moved his face a bit. They caught it on the security cameras, just after we mentioned your name and left."

Kiri blinked. Huh. Moving over to stand next to the couple, he cocked his head, running his fingers through his mess of hair--the way he would when he was stressed, he noticed.

"Try saying something," Midoriya suggested. "Directly at him. I mean, it was when I called him Kacchan that he reacted, so..."

Kirishima hesitated, swallowing thickly before murmuring, "Bakugou?"

Nothing happened.

"Try again. Maybe louder? Tell him it's you, too. That might help." Midoriya said.

Kirishima nodded, raising his voice a bit. "Bakugou--it's, uh, it's me? Kirishima?"

Nothing. Bakugou's body remained still, as if he were sleeping.

"Maybe it's because we're here?" Todoroki asked. Kirishima whipped his head around to look at the dual-colored hero.

"Why would that have anything to do with it? It's... One-sided, anyway."

Todoroki shrugged. Midoriya's brow furrowed. "Well, you could try his first name, I guess? Though I can't say whether the effect would be any different... But what's the harm in trying?"

Kirishima could feel the blood rush to the tips of his ears. "I--would it be okay?"

"He's not here to say no--well, he's not responding, at least. I'd say it doesn't matter."

Kiri sighed, turning his attention back to the silent Bakugou. "Uh--Katsuki? Bakugou? Shit, I don't know, guys. I don't think this is going to work."

"Again, say it's you again," Midoriya urged.

"It's Kirishima?" Kiri said. "Um. Hello Katsuki? It's Kirishima-" He cut himself off, thinking. "Oh, you know what might work--Katsuki? Do you remember the lion?"

Bakugou's eyes flicked open for a split second. Midoriya gasped. "Did you see that? Say it again."

"Katsuki, do you remember the lion?" Kiri asked again.

"No, no, tell him who it is, don't just ask him-"

"Katsuki, this is the lion. Kirishima--uh. Kirishima is the lion? I am the lion-"

Bakugou sat up slowly, shaking his head as if to clear his mind. Blearily, he blinked up at the trio, his eyes falling on Todoroki, who was watching all this with a passive face. Next, he glanced at Midoriya--standing there, holding his breath, Kirishima could see new hope in his eyes, and he knew the smaller, green-haired man had been feeling the guilt eat at him as bad as it ate at Kirishima.

And finally, Bakugou's eyes landed on Kirishima--and he screamed.

X X X

He could hear someone, someone other than Todoroki and Deku this time. Was this Kirishima?

His voice sounded familiar somehow, a deep purr that reminded him of something he couldn't quite remember.

They were talking about him--Deku was reassuring Kirishima that it would be fine to use his given name, he wouldn't care.

And the wolf found that, though he wasn't quite sure who Kirishima was, he really didn't care.

"Hello, Katsuki?" Kirishima spoke softly, as if afraid that nothing he said mattered. "It's Kirishima."

Yeah, no shit, Bakugou thought.

"Oh, you know what might work?" Kirishima's voice had a hint of hope in it this time. "Katsuki, do you remember the lion?"

I'm fucking trying to, Bakugou wanted to say, his eyelids fluttering for a split second before falling still again. He heard Deku, quietly muttering about his reaction, then telling Kirishima to say it again.

"Katsuki, do you remember the lion?" He heard again. Dumbass, if I don't really react the first time, what makes it seem like I'll react the second?

"No, tell him who it is, don't just ask him-" That was Deku again--he knew Kirishima was the one talking, so did that mean they would tell him who the lion was? Could it really be that easy?

Kirishima spoke again. "Katsuki, this is the lion. Kirishima--uh. Kirishima is the lion? I am the lion-"

Holy fuck, hold up one second. What? He had to see this, fuck sitting still and trying to remember. Slowly he rose up on his elbows, a bit disoriented. Glancing over at the window--yes, there was Todoroki, Deku, and--a tall, strong man with a tangled red mane of hair falling around his face and spilling over his shoulders.

Oh. The lion.

And then he screamed.

X X X

The thorns tangled around him, unknowingly he'd stepped right into the brambles--and it hurt, just as he somehow knew it would. His physical body fell to its knees, the wolf of his mind doing the same, as the thorns wrapped hard around his legs, dragging him further in.

He could see blood on his hands. Red blood, red like the lion's mane. They were wrapped around someone's neck, squeezing the life out of the victim before a small bang! Sounded, and he could smell burning flesh. Silently, he dropped the lifeless body, and he could see someone he once knew. Yellow hair, with a black lightning bolt through it.

Chargebolt, he remembered.

Kaminari.

The face changed--shoulder-length black hair and a plain face--Sero, he knew. Then again, the hair forming a ponytail, the body type shifting faster and faster.

Yaoyorozu. Shouji. Tsuyu.

He didn't know why these extras' deaths hit him so hard, why he cared--

Hagakure. Jirou. Tokoyami.

The body fell to the floor, still shifting.

Ojiro. Aoyama. Koda. Satou.

Why did he care? Why did it matter to him, these deaths? They should mean nothing.

They had meant nothing. Should mean nothing. And then the thorns twisted around him again, and he could see the corpse of the snake in the corner. Why hadn't it decomposed yet, why wasn't it gone?

Because you loooovvvveee him, the snake's voice rang around his mind. You love him--what a tragedy, the killer loving the hero! And never able to admit it!

Why, you killed all his friends, killed everyone he knows, and expect him to still care about you?

Idiot. You fucking idiot. 

X_X                                                                                                                                                                                            

no art this chapter, my dude fishy has some other shit to get done/work through, so instead y'all get me rambling until i collect my thoughts back together :P

[they've been collected]

*disappears back to my throne in hell*