It was all so fucking stupid.
Bakugou had been patrolling. It had been a normal day. He'd stopped some robbers, but nothing too much.
Then, out of nowhere, something hit him in the head.. His world went sideways. When he could see again, he could see, that all around him-
-Time had stopped.
"What the fuck-" Someone had grabbed ahold of Bakugou. It was a young women, with short blond hair and golden eyes, and her anger was directed at Bakugou with such an intensity it made his hair stand on end. He quickly reacted, by breaking out of her grasp and trying to land a roundhouse, but the minute he did, she vanished, appearing behind him and restraining his arms in a chicken-wing pin.
"If you try and escape, you'll just be frozen like everyone else." She growled. Bakugou's throat lurched.
"Come with me, and we won't need to take off any more limbs than are necessary, okay?"
He nodded. What could he do? If he tried to run, he'd just be caught. If he fought, she'd probably kill him.
For the first time in his life, Ground Zero was trapped.
The blonde took him down the sewer, keeping a firm hand on his arm, her nails biting into sensitive skin. His eyes watered with pain, but he held it in.
Dammit.
Damn it all!
Then, the blonde tapped on a particularly large-covered brick, and it slowly slid into the wall, followed by a moe bricks. She yanked Bakugou roughly through.
The minute she did, time unfroze. The bluish tint surrounding everything had vanished, and Bakugou could see four figures sitting in the room, all pretty normal looking, save for the kabuki masks they were wearing.
Bakugou reared up to attack, but the minute he did, the slim figure on the end snapped his fingers. At once, Bakugou's entire body went stiff, everything locking in place. He was kept upright by the scarred man, who's scars were evident on his arms, legs, and-
-wait.
Bakugou knew this guy.
"O-oh no." He couldn't keep the tremor from his voice. He knew, he knew, deep in his fucking guts, that some of the League members had escaped justice.
But not him. Anyone but-
"Bakugou Katsuki." Dabi's deep, smooth voice said from under the mask. "We meet again. It's been, what, five years now?"
Bakugou couldn't answer. His mouth wasn't frozen, but he literally couldn't form a response because it was all rushing back-
-and he's back in the bar and nothings changed no one's come to get him and they're all still there with their guns and knives and claws and he's there the faceless one who forced him to say things he didn't want to say to see things he didn't want to see to relive Deku's death over and over and over and-
"God, he may be a pro hero, but to me, he still looks like a terrified child." The familiar voice of another League member comes back to him, and he turns just in time to see Mr Compress peer out from behind his mask. "Hello again, Bakugou." He stretches out his name in long, disgustingly sweet syllables, and Bakugou wants to rip his tongue out for saying his name like that-
-and he can see Deku chasing him around the halls like some ghost he knows it's just another hallucination but he won't go away and he asks why why did you do it you did this to me Kacchan y̴̡̹̽̊̀̈́͝ǫ̷͕̯̌͒́ụ̴̬̗̺̀̋̌̏̀ ̵̛̞̹̪̙͇͒ḋ̴̯̯̻͓͗͊̒̏̅i̶̡̱͔̼̎d̶͍͎̪̟̼́͑̐̚ ̵̧̪̪̗̹͍̾́t̸̨̬̜͇͆̉͋͝h̵̰̽i̴̪͇̲̇̇̀̌͝ṡ̷̝͍͓͛͒ ̴̢̻͛̂̓̊̑͘t̸̮͒̃̈́̃̕ȯ̸̪̠̬̖̭̰́̾͠͝ ̷̧̝̠͉͕͕͆̆m̸͖͂ḝ̵̖̜̅̍̔
Bakugou doesn't realize he's heaving before it's too late, and he's already thrown up all over Dabi.
Bitch deserved it.
They're all laughing at him now. He wants to scream and cry and shout but he can't, all he can do is watch and feel angry tears drip, hot and silent down his face, and oh god it's just like when All For One showed up he never stopped he didn't give him any space or time he just kept looking into his mind going deeper and deeper and-
Someone slaps him back to reality.
His face stung. The blond bitch had slapped him, box cutter in hand. "If you don't stop sniveling, I'm going to cut your throat." She growled.
Bakugou can't nod, so he moved his eyes in a gesture of finality.
"Dabi, Sako, stop messing with him. We came here to find the leader of the League, not mind rape the bastard."
Dabi and Mr. Compress got their act together. The lone figure in the corner snapped his fingers again, and Bakugou collapsed onto the floor, dizzy, mind reeling with all of the awful events coming back to him and-
Deku.
Deku is alive.
He's safe.
You didn't come this far for him only to get killed by these has-beens. So man up.
Bakugou took a deep breath. He'd heard the blonde correctly. They wanted to find Deku, right?
Well, he wouldn't let them.
"So-uh-" Bakugou's voice was gravely from being put in a chokehold.
"You-What should I call you anyway?" He realized he needed time. He needed to stall. It was a cliche plan but it might work just as long as he doesn't give it away.
"My name is Korijikan." She snaps. "And stop stalling. I know that's what you're doing, so let's get to the point."
Bakugou's heart sank. Scratch that from the list.
"We know you've seen the League's leader. We know you know him. Who is he?"
Bakugou started to sweat.
"I-I don't-"
A pain flares up in his back and it hurts, oh god it hurts it feels like when Dabi kept burning him and, god, he can't think about that right now!
"Lie, and Dabi will burn you." Korijikan said. She yanked Bakugou up by his collar and looked him in the face. "Who. Is he."
"I'm not telling." Bakugou grunts. And for good measure, he spits in her face.
She dropped him, and kicked his ribcage. As she was wiping off her face, he curled into a ball and growled, the pain in his ribs making it very hard for him to concentrate.
"Bitch." She chuckled. "I heard you were feisty but wow. That's cold." She grabbed him by the throat and started to squeeze.
And suddenly it's not Korijikan anymore it's Toga and she's laughing and he's naked and he can't feel anything but the cuts in his chest and her repeatedly pounding into him and his hallucinations of Deku laugh and he's going to die he's going to die-
But then one of the Dekus kick Toga in the face-
And it's not Toga anymore, it's Korijikan, and she was wrestling with a familiar looking figure but he couldn't see anymore because his vision is tunneling and it's all going black-
"We have got to stop meeting each other like this Kacchan."
Slowly, Bakugou opened his eyes.
He was back in Deku's small, cluttered office. Deku was sitting in front of him looking worse for the wear. He had a bad cut on his cheek, and he looked tired, but he wasn't super hurt, so that's what was okay-
"Kacchan?"
Bakugou didn't realize he was crying until the first tear dribbled into his lap. Hot, wet, and angry tears dripped down his face, and he looked Deku right in the face. All he saw was a green, watery blurry.
His fist hits the table.
"I'm-" He choked. Izuku scooched around the desk and threw his arms around him, the familiarity of it choked him, suffocated him.
"Sorry-I tried to stop them and then you were there and you died!" He was not used to crying. He probably won't ever be. The tears aren't just tears of sadness. They were of anger, fear, joy, and shame, the bitter feeling rising in his gut.
"I thought I killed you- and the old League members were there- and I thought-I was over it-but-" Then, he just accepted the hug, and leaned into it, Izuku's warm, familiar arms only made him cry more, because he was okay, and God Izuku I'm so sorry-
"Stop." Izuku sounded more commanding then Bakugou had ever heard him before. "It's okay. I'm here-You're here-neither of us have died yet-it's okay-"
Bakugou started to laugh, a hollow, broken sound, and then he was crying again. He let it all out and Izuku held him through all of this, murmuring that it was going to be okay.
Maybe it wouldn't.
But maybe Bakugou could also live with that.
When he was done, and the awkward silence had abaded, Deku pulled out a first aid kit.
"You're going to need stitches on one of the cuts that those bastards did to you." Izuku said. "I put a bandage on it, and the bleeding sorta stopped, but still. Just for precautions."
Bakugou nodded. The cut was on his ribcage, where Korijikan had kicked him. Her boots apparently had some spikes in them or something. Whatever the case was, it fucking sucked.
"I-" Izuku choked a little bit for some reason, his face flushed. "I'm gonna need you to take off your shirt for a minute."
Ah.
Hopefully, his face wasn't as red as it felt, right?
Bakugou slowly slipped off the top of his hero uniform, the back of it burnt clean off by Dabi. The could see the bandages that Izuku had applied, with precision, but Bakugou knew from his hero training that it wouldn't be enough.
"This is going to sting." Izuku took off the bandages and plunged the needle into the cut. Bakugou flinched, and almost punched Deku in the arm, but resisted the urge.
Soon, they were done. The stitches were green.
For some reason, Izuku's hands had not yet left Bakugou's waist. They stayed, warm and solid, calloused from their many years of hard labor.
Then, Izuku started tracing circles on his hipline, a slow, rolling gait that left Bakugou shuddering.
"Kacchan..." Izuku murmured softly into his right ear, breath hot on the nape of his neck. Bakugou wanted to know what the hell this was about, he wanted to pull Izuku into a dark corner and ravage-
-No, not ravage! Talk, talk to him.
"W-what." He mumbled, feeling dreamy, riding the surreal high of the moment.
Izuku's hands left his waist. The hot, steaming breath by his ear was gone.
Midoriya's face was red. "I-I'll take you to the exit."
Bakugou nodded, still a little dazed that that just happened holy FUCK-
The two of them walked down the hall in complete silence, neither saying a word, fingertips brushing. Bakugou didn't want to ruin the tranquility of the moment, but all too soon, they were at the door.
The familiar white abyss loomed over Bakugou, the gravity threatening to drag him in. But there was one thing he wanted to do first.
"Izuku?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah?" Izuku turned, face searching Bakugou's.
He wanted to kiss him. He really, really wanted to kiss him-
But he also didn't want to ruin the tenuous friendship they had built.
"N-Never mind." He turned towards the portal, feeling heavy with disappointment.
But as he was falling down into the abyss, he swore, to this day, he swore, he heard Izuku say;
"Love you."