A/N: hehe, nice.
Bakugo hadn't been to Yuki's room for a while. Yuki wasn't bothered, if not he was more annoyed. He'd even gone out of his way to try and talk to him in the common area but the blonde would ignore him and avoid him at every turn. Getting Bakugo's attention during school hours also seemed futile. Yuki might have to physically force the boy into a corner and apologize.
What's the point of getting mad at someone who pointed out the wrong answer?
Yuki huffed before looking into a microscope, analyzing the sample Dr. Nozawa had provided for him. The doctor's version of teaching was much more hands-on than the boy had given him credit for. If he wasn't able to get to the same conclusion as the doctor he would then be forced onto more studying of whatever he missed from the cells.
"Having trouble, Satori?" Dr. Nozawa chuckled while walking over.
Yuki looked away from the microscope and down at his notes, "I don't think so."
"You're sighing quite a lot more this week. Don't tell me you're regretting getting this much more work." the doctor jokingly asked.
"Sorry.... It's just--" Yuki racked through his head looking for the right word. "School." he decided to settle for.
"Ah, Yes. School. I quite understand that much." Dr. Nozawa sympathized. He glanced over to the clock across the room. "My! It's gotten quite late. You can go ahead and head back. Wouldn't want to face Recovery Girl's wrath now would we."
Yuki's face contorted, "But I haven't finished--"
"It's quite alright. I'll clean up your station. Just make sure you hurry back or else there won't be a next time. She's been breathing down my neck about making sure you leave at a certain time. Now hurry. Shoo. Shoo. Be on your way!"
Yuki begrudgingly moved away from his station, "Then... I'll be leaving now."
"Yes. Hurry up now!"
* * *
The poor boy didn't get back to school until the sun was just about to set. Yuki supposed the following day or the weekend would be filled in with detention. He sat at his desk, homework out and ready to be worked on but his mind kept wandering back to Bakugo.
Yuki heard the ding of the elevator echo outside his door. He froze and bit the inside of his cheek.
Was he finally coming over again?
There was a bit of shuffling before knocking. Yuki stared at the door fully anticipating them to storm in and lecturing a certain blonde about waiting for a response. When the door didn't burst open, more knocking followed. A defeated sigh left Yuki as he turned back to his homework, "Come in."
It wasn't him.
"Moshi Mosh~" it was Uraraka.
"Hey," Yuki smiled, "do you need something?"
Uraraka briefly scanned the room before focusing on Yuki, "I was just wondering if you were going to join the rest of us for dinner. I don't know what Kaminari and Sero said but apparently they had Bakugo cook dinner." she grinned with a sparkle of amusement.
"Did he?" Yuki chuckled.
"Yeah," she firmly nodded. "Iida and Deku-kun tried getting you a plate to bring it to you but Bakugo is holding it hostage saying how everyone needs to get one serving before any seconds."
"Oh." Yuki blinked at her. "Then, I guess I should head down. I'm sure the others are starving without their seconds." he smirked.
"OK!" Uraraka gave him a thumbs up before running out and taking the emergency stairs down.
Yuki groaned and reluctantly got up from his desk. He's eaten dinner already but Bakugo cooking dinner was something no one in the dorms could pass up on.
He took the elevator instead of the stairs and upon the doors opening he was pulled out and dragged to the kitchen where it looked like an old fashioned bidding stand, Bakugo holding a spatula and standing in front of the stove, his stance on guard.
"YUKI'S HERE!"
"I ASKED FOR SECONDS FIRST!"
"It is improper to be shoving each other over food--"
"Shut up!"
"You grew up with luxurious meals!"
"Yeah! Let us poor souls go first!"
"This is still unexpectable--"
"YUKI! HURRY UP!"
The healer stood there with a look of amusement. "Who? Me?"
"We're starving here!" Mina shouted at him.
"I had no idea." Yuki grinned, walking over to grab the spare plate. He went to hand it to Bakugo who somehow still hadn't acknowledged him, but gasped.
"Oh my." Yuki worriedly turned to his classmates. "There's a bit of dirt on it. Let me just give it a rinse."
"Yuki-kun!"
the healer grinned, "I should also wash my utensils first too, right?"
Yuki proceeded to wash his plate and utensils at an agonizing calm speed before he finally held it out to Bakugo.
"Back up you extras!" Bakugo shouted, retracting the spatula with intent to strike whomever neared the stove. He cautiously turned his back to serve Yuki his serving of the meal and handed it back to Yuki.
"Are you gonna want seconds?"
Yuki's eyes widened a bit. This was the first time Bakugo had spoken to him in little over a week. But he kept his composure. Turning to the nearly rabid class he shook his head, "I'm fine with one plate. Thanks though." and smiled at the blonde before quickly leaving the kitchen area less he wanted a stampede of teens to crush him.
Dinner, was to say the least, pretty good. Yuki didn't eat much spicy foods but he did enjoy the way the spices added to the dish enhanced the flavoring. The spicy level was pretty low on the mild spectrum but his classmates begged to differ as he watched them chug water and eventually pull out the rest of the milk from the fridge and even take Iida's orange juice.
Yuki didn't bother going up to trying to converse with the others. He silently finished his meal, washed his dishes and thanked them for the meal.
He wondered if Bakugo was just trying to figure something out on his own without his help. Since the beginning when Bakugo had asked for his 'therapy' sessions, Yuki had been pretty good at listening and putting into words what Bakugo struggled with.
Returning back to his room with a more than full stomach, he resumed his homework. Yuki had come to terms with the fact Bakugo might not be talking to him for quiet some time, and he respected that he needed space. However, needing space for such a childish reason wasn't enough to keep the healer from growing agitated. If Bakugo was going to continue to ignore him, he would too. He was getting tired trying to catch his attention. Yuki didn't know what he did to warnet getting ignored but after the second day of being avoided he decided he wasn't going to apologize for whatever it is he did.
* * *
"We have quite a bit of work to do today." Dr. Nozawa told Yuki upon entering the laboratory. "You'll need to make sure you're extra careful this time around. We're working on quite few and important samples."
"Yes, sir." Yuki replied. Dr. Nozawa had been tense when he first saw him that morning.
"This'll take quite a bit longer than usual so I made sure to let your school know ahead of time." the doctor informed him.
"What are we working on?" Yuki frowned, finding the doctor's demeanor out of character.
Dr. Nozawa handed Yuki a file, "I went ahead and ran some tests on the samples but I want you to come to a conclusion first before I tell you anything."
Yuki took the file and flipped it open. "Blood samples from four people and a test for a drug...?"
"Yes. I'll go ahead and deal with the blood samples but for now could you focus on the drug?" Dr. Nozawa walked him over to an opened box with a small vile carefully placed within.
"Isn't this too little? To run any tests we would need--"
"More, I know. But this was all that was given to us. Use your quirk if you have to."
Yuki's frown deepened. "Yes. I'll do my best."
"Good."
Yuki made sure to be as careful and focused as he could, analyzing the drug. It was a liquid, every drop counted towards the testing. He made sure not a single drop went to waste. Testing it and then transferring it under the microscope, he did this five times. And five times the results were consistent.
The testing was abnormal and even the glimpses he'd taken a look at of the blood tests were odd. Both Dr. Nozawa and Yuki were unsure of how to approach the small dose of the liquid drug they'd been given without having risked it going to waste. But for the most part, whatever kind of drug it was, it was temporary and dangerous.
"Dr. Nozawa!" Yuki called out to his mentor. "This- This isn't--" his insides felt twisted and the onigiri he had for lunch threatened to come back up.
"There are cells in there!" Yuki stressed, his face tense. "There are human cells in the drug..."
Dr. Nozawa didn't look up from his Microscope as he added a drop of his drug sample to the blood samples they were also provided with.
Yuki waited for the doctor to say something. He grew even more anxious watching the doctor's contort as well. Dr. Nozawa finally looked away from the microscope and wrote something down on his clipboard.
"Is this why you told me to use my quirk?" Yuki asked.
Dr. Nozawa's lip thinned. "Yes." he looked over to Yuki, "Tell me what it is..."
"I- I ran it through tests over and over..." Yuki's bottom lip trembled. He then asked, "What does the drug do?"
"Satori--"
"Please. Tell me what it does." The healer stressed.
Dr. Nozawa contemplated it for a bit and realized even if he were to lie to the boy, he would just gain access to the files and his notes.
"The drug was extracted from bullets." Dr. Nozawa stood from his chair and walked over to the rest of the completed test samples. "Four blood samples. Two quite normal and nothing out of the ordinary. One, seemed tampered with. At first I thought it was infected with a virus but that didn't turn out to be the case when. The last one, its cells seemed damaged. Only certain ones looked as though they had been under attack."
"So there's two then." Yuki stated. "Two side effects of the drug..."
"No." Dr. Nozawa shook his head. "I only gave you one drug to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything. The second drug I worked on. It's something I'm quite familiar with and have noticed it growing." he handed Yuki a microscope slide
Yuki went to place it in and took a look. "It's a drug that enhances one's quirk. I've heard of this before but I didn't know it was this big in the country..."
"I was informed it's gotten quite big in the black market." Dr. Nozawa sighed. "However, the drug I had you test repeatedly is still something new. It's obviously in its later stages of development- or at least this one we have it."
Yuki looked away from the scope. "If this drug is meant to enhance one's quirk... then the other is meant to diminish--"
"More like completely erase." Dr. Nozawa told Yuki.
"But it's effects were temporary." Yuki scowled.
"There are still small but visible signs that the drug is still being worked on. But I'm sure it's nearing its final stages of development. If it hasn't already."
Yuki found it hard to swallow. His mouth dry and lips thinned.
"It's as you said." Yuki began. "It's a drug that attacks only certain cells and stops the users quirk for a while. Estimated to be roughly 24 hours."
"What else..." Dr. Nozawa looked away from Yuki, returning to his station and beginning to clean up.
"I ran it through the database to see if there were any similar connections. Nothing popped up."
Dr. Nozawa nodded in agreement. "What else."
Yuki didn't want to say it. He knew what his mentor was asking for but saying it out loud would only make it more real.
"Was it requested for me to find out?" Yuki questioned.
"No. Nor was it my intention to have you figure it out. But with your quirk I would have thought it would have been possible to speed up the process. Time is of the essence to the ones who gave us this task." Dr. Nozawa grimaced.
"So it's still an ongoing investigation..." the boy whispered. His heart dropped. Yuki hadn't hoped to say anything. He'd gone through a terrible upbringing for years and he wondered just how long this investigation had gone for compared to his.
"The sooner we give them the results the sooner something can be done about it. Satori, tell me now so that I can finish the paperwork." Dr. Nozawa softly asked.
Yuki stared down at the floor. He removed his gloves and turned to throw them against the wall. With a shaky breath he replied, "The blood I was able to extract from the drug... I ran the test used for determining age but because it's probably more than a couple days old it came back with a wide range."
"And then?"
Yuki's figure began to shake, nails digging into his palm. "I brought along my costume as you asked, and tried testing it on my support item. Inconclusive."
Dr. Nozawa wrote on his clipboard and waited for Yuki to continue.
"Dr. Nozawa," Yuki slowly stood to his height. "If I tell you my findings, will you remove me from the work study?"
"No." the old man quickly replied. "But I will grant you some time off since I know of your history and how this can impact one psychologically."
"Will I have to take the time off?"
"Only your school has a say in such things. But if they allow you to continue, you'll just be returning to doing mundane tasks."
With a deep breath, Yuki closed his eyes. As thought that would minimize any impact he'd already suffered upon finding out-- "It was the blood of a child."
The doctor looked over to him, "Any age estimation?"
Yuki struggled to keep himself calm. "5 to 7 years of age..."
"I see."
* * *
Yuki was sent back to school early in a cab. Dr. Nozawa wasn't about to let the boy drive his scooter with the mindset the boy had at the moment. He made sure to go check in with Aizawa. And now that he was actually coming back at the assigned time he'd originally been meant to, his detention would be held some other time during the week. It was still intense training as detention but Yuki suspected Aizawa had wanted to make sure he was still keeping up with training on his own and probably track his progress as he had with Hitoshi.
"Ah, I can't even think properly now." Yuki grumbled, dragging his feet up the dorm's stairs.
The car ride had allowed him to go into deep thought and calm down with a mental breakdown ready to happen. But he wasn't about to let the poor cab driver go through that.
"Oh! Yuki's Back!" Kirishima shouted from the kitchen upon seeing the healer close the door behind him.
"Yeah..." Yuki sighed, taking off his shoes and slipping into his indoor footwear.
"YUKI!" Mina cried out, rushing over to him with a look of despair.
"Hey Mina."
"Yuki! You were gone the whole day!" Mina whined, hugging the boy.
"Yeah." Yuki awkwardly patted her head, "I had work study today... is something wrong?"
Mina nodded against Yuki's chest, "We had hero training today and Bakugo sent all of his sparring partners to the infirmary!"
"I- I see..." Yuki chuckled, prying her arms off of him. "He does take training seriously--"
"NO! Not like this!"
"Yuki-kun! He's been acting weird lately." Uraraka chimed in from the dinner tables.
"Yeah! I noticed that too!" Sero added from the couches.
"Yuki-kun!" Iida sped walked up to him. "Could you perhaps try to talk to him?"
Yuki slouched a bit and sighed, "He's been avoiding me lately for some reason--"
"But he's always hanging out with you!" Kaminari complained. "Did something happen?"
"I wouldn't say he's always with me--"
"Bakugo is rarely ever in his room from the amount of times I've checked." Kirishima told him.
Yuki scowled and walked over to the elevator. "Like I said, he's been avoiding me. Doubt I'll be able to even get a sentence in."
"Yuki-kun!" Ojiro popped out of the laundry room. "You're here!"
"Why is everyone suddenly happy I'm back?!" Yuki exclaimed.
"Because we've all tried to stop him!" Mina cried out.
"None of what you're saying is making sense!"
-.-.-
The balls of his feet hit the concrete as he ran. His hospital name tag being pulled to the back with the gusts of wind.
In the morning, it had come to everyone's attention how quiet the day was. Bakugo wasn't shouting, yelling at their stupid jokes, or even talking for that matter. When training came around, the boy had simply unleashed whatever pent up frustration he'd been holding back. He'd sent Iida to the infirmary for a busted jaw, Shoji for some light cuts from the debris of his explosions, and even Kirishima for a broken arm.
Yuki was on his way to the training grounds where Bakugo had been training for hours after school. His initial thought was to yell at him for being stupid and pushing himself without rest when they had clearly talked about why he felt too tired and sore. But then he thought back on how he wouldn't react to that well.
As he neared the training grounds he could hear the faint explosions grow louder. The sun had set. Yuki was tired. Mentally and Physically. He was tired of Bakugo's behavior. He was tired of being ignored and being avoided. He was tired of not being able to focus on his homework or work study because he had been worried about Bakugo. Now he had more on his plate and it felt as thought he was just about ready to combust.
"OI!" Yuki shouted once Bakugo had come into view, "You muscle head!"
Bakugo stopped and turned to see Yuki going into a light jog as he neared him. "What the hell do you want?"
"Everyone told me you've been acting weird. Actually, weirder than usual. So I came here to see for myself." Yuki replied between huffs.
"Yeah, well you can tell them I'm perfectly fine!" Bakugo set off another round of explosions.
Yuki leaned over gasping for air. "I shouldn't even have bothered to run here."
"No one told you to run here!" Bakugo shouted at him.
Yuki scowled and looked over to him, "Well excuse me for worrying about you!"
Bakugo scoffed, "You have nothing to worry about! Worry about yourself!"
"How can I not worry?!" Yuki snapped back, "You're the one who left my room mad about correcting your math homework and proceeded to ignore and go out of your way to avoid me!"
"I wasn't mad about homework!" Bakugo shouted, turning to look at Yuki.
"Then why were you avoiding me?! Are you mad about something else I did?!" Yuki screamed.
"YES-- NO!" Bakugo groaned in frustration, running his hands through his hair. "I'm not looking for a stupid apology!"
"Then why?!" Yuki shouted, exasperated. All of his stress and exhaustion were finally coming out.
"I don't fucking know!" Bakugo screamed.
"I gave you more than enough days-- it's been almost 2 weeks- for you to think about it!" Yuki could feel his eyes begin to tear up.
Bakugo walked right up to Yuki, glaring up at him."I don't think anyone can fucking process emotions in 2 weeks! What the fuck is that gonna do?!"
"I don't know?! I would have thought you'd talk about it with someone at least!" Yuki sarcastically stated.
Bakugo gripped onto the front of his shirt, pulling him down closer to him and shouted,
"Well how the fuck am I suppose to know what to do! It's not like I've ever liked someone or expected to end up liking you!"
And just like that, both came to a stop. Eyes wide and air sucked right out of them.
Happy Holidays~ ;)