Chapter Text
Midoriya hadn’t slept.
Classes had been canceled, so he’s been either laying down or working out on his floor.
Midoriya couldn’t believe he hadn’t been there. Hadn’t been there to help Bakugou.
Actually he doesn’t even know what Bakugou went through. No one will tell him. Everybody just stares at him like he’s seconds away from freaking out.
Which only makes Midoriya want to freak out more. He doesn't know if it was an attack, I mean Bakugou’s room was trashed. It could’ve been a panic attack, or a quirk accident.
Midoriya clawed at his face. Getting up for the fifteenth time to work out his worry away.
Midoriya counted his push-ups slowly. Trying to calm his breathing.
One. The first time people think Midoriya is crazy.
Two. The second time he was late, and couldn’t save Bakugou.
Three. Three times that Midoriya messed up.
Four. Four times Midoriya messed up.
Five. Five mess ups.
Six. I messed up.
Seven. I could’ve been here
Midoriya was no longer doing push-ups. He pulled his knees up and clutched his shirt tightly. His other hand was scratching at the floor.
Midoriya’s breathing was erratic, it wasn’t listening to him. His body locked in place.
He hasn’t had a panic attack since middle school. Midoriya had forgotten how horrible they were. Midoriya huffed and puffed before falling to his back.
Midoriya was there for minutes until his breathing calmed.
He closed his eyes, a strained tear trailed down his cheek.
He wiped it away.
He has to get out of this room.
Midoriya changed his clothes and walked to the kitchen to get some water.
Mumbled voices behind him peaked his interest. It was Kirishima and Mina. He stared back at the fridge, not actually looking at the contents in it.
“Aizawa-Sensei said we can go visit, but it’s not recommended.” Mina whispered.
Kirishima’s voice disappeared before fading back in. “…not yet. Also I’m worried Midoriya might see us.” he dryly laughed.
Mina hummed, “Yeah, those two are always crazy about each other, sometimes it’s worrying.”
Kirishima yawned, he hadn’t gotten much sleep either. “Which reminds me, did Denki ever update you on Jirou…”
Midoriya had already checked out from that conversation. Ignoring the crazy part and sticking to the visit.
He popped the top off his water bottle and made his way to the door.
“Hey Deku!” Mina exclaimed. “Where you
going?”
Midoriya craned his head towards her. “Uh—to the store.”
“Oh, well could you get me s—.”
“Sorry, in a hurry!” And with that, Midoriya sped out the door, straight to Bakugou.
-
“Kacchan?” Midoriya cracked open the door, hoping no one was on the other side.
“Wow, it’s cold here.” Midoriya’s arms flared with goosebumps. A trait that he kept when he was quirkless, people with natural quirks don't get those.
Midoriya’s eyes locked on Bakugou’s unconscious body. He was peacefully sleeping.Bakugou didn’t look hurt, or sad. Why wouldn’t anyone tell him what happened, it couldn’t have been that bad.
Midoriya realized the temperature was below freezing and flipped the heat up. before turning around to make direct eye contact with Bakugou, who was now sitting straight.
“Kacchan!” He yelped. Midoriya went to sit next to him.
“It’s too hot,”Bakugou announced. His eyes darkened with a deep brown.
“Wha—?” Midoriya stopped in his tracks. He glimpsed at the thermostat, it was only 41°F (5°C). “It’s too col—.”
“Turn it down or I will stab you.” Bakugou’s voice was different, abnormal even.
Midoriya’s mouth went slack, he didn’t know what to say.
“Wha…”
Bakugou just stared. A look Midoriya had never seen before. One that made Midoriya shiver with fear and not the temperature.
Why would Bakugou say that? And why was Midoriya scared?
A stillness enveloped the room.
Midoriya put the heat back down.
He spinned back slowly as he bit his nails. “Are you okay, Kacchan?” Midoriya sat next to his bed. “Why’d you say that?”
Bakugou just stared at his hands on his lap. “Kacchan?”
“I was joking.” Bakugou’s voice completely changed. The demanding powerful sound was completely gone. “Why are you here?”
He was surprised Bakugou wasn’t really telling him to go away. Midoriya just wanted to check on him.
“I wanted to check on you, I wasn’t there when…what happened Kacchan?” Midoriya blurted out.
“I don’t know.” Bakugou grabbed his forearm. “They said I had an episode.”
Midoriya winced, “I’m sorry.” Seeing the bandages wrapped around Bakugou’s arms.
A pause.
“Kacchan.” He hummed in response. “Do you remember when you said you saw something before—before your argument with Denki.”
Bakugou's body went stiff.
Bakugou's body jerked forward as he put his head in his hands. Midoriya shot up, his hands hovering over Bakugou on what to do. Bakugou groaned and seethed in pain.
“Kacchan!?”
Bakugou just grunted loudly in response. His head fell to his pillow and his body balled up to the side.
Bakugou reached out and gripped onto Midoriya’s sleeve.
Bakugou bit his lip till it turned red, holding in a scream.
“Kacchan? What’s happening? Did I do something?!” Midoriya panicked on what to do.
He wouldn’t let go of his sleeve. Midoriya reached over and hugged Bakugou, sitting next to him on the bed.
Bakugou stopped and gripped Midoriya’s shivering shoulders.
“I saw someone.” Bakugou’s shakily voiced. “Someone dead.”
Midoriya listened closely.
“With no fingers.” It sounded like he forced it out, like something was stopping him. “I was the first to see him! I couldn’t look away!” He shrieked, he held on to Midoriya like he was his life line.
Midoriya let go of the hug to look Bakugou in the eye. The fear in his gaze told him enough.
“There’s som—it’s ther—don’t let me—.” Bakugou shuddered as he hugged him again.
“You don’t have to tell me, but at least you’re all right.”
“I’m not.” Bakugou whispered. “I can feel it…”
He trailed off. Like the words were taken straight from himself. But Bakugou’s words left an uneasiness in the air.
Midoriya could hear the defeat and anguish in his sound.
Midoriya didn’t know what he meant, only that he needed to be there. He had no words so they hugged quietly in the cold comfortable silence.
Midoriya was still a bit confused on how his mannerisms changed so fast. On what Bakugou could’ve seen to make him freak out like this. Midoriya wondered if it was a quirk.
That only made him squeeze Bakugou tighter until he stopped whining in pain.
“Midoriya?” A deep voice made Midoriya jump out of their hug. “What are you doing here?” Aizawa grumbled, more to himself than anything.
He stood at the door, his eye bags darker than usual. Which is hard to see since they were always dark.
“I—I heard it was—can’t we visit?” Midoriya was so screwed.
Aizawa sighed, running a hand down his face. “Of course you found out.” He walked over to the dresser and set down his laptop. “You would be here even if you couldn’t visit.”
Midoriya laughed nervously, looking back at Bakugou. Who was staring at his lap again. His face was not visible, just his ha—.
Now that Midoriya was really looking, there were some brown-spots. They were tiny but surely there. Midoriya squinted closer.
“Midoriya.” Aizawa’s stern voice got his attention. Midoriya, startled, switched his gaze to Aizawa’s. Which did not match his voice at all. His glare was weak, and his face held this look that something was wrong.
Aizawa opened his laptop, which had papers in it. “Is something wrong?” Midoriya inquired. His question went ignored.
“What happened before I came in?” Aizawa quizzed.
Midoriya thought out his words closely, peeking at the now resting Bakugou.
“Well, I came in and turned the temperature higher but—Kacchan kept telling me to put it down and…he uh…said he would…” Midoriya faltered.
“He would stab you?” Aizawa finished it for him.
“Yeah…How did you know tha—?”
“Continue.” Aizawa demanded.
Midoriya gulped, and continued. “He, like, turned back to normal after I turned it down. Then, I asked him about something we talked about earlier. Kacchan said he saw a dead body, with no fingers…” Midoriya inhaled, trying to not let his voice crack. “That he couldn’t look away. He said more about something being there, and didn't let him go probably.”
Midoriya gasped for air. “He kept cutting himself off so I really don’t know what’s happening, and I’m really worried because his head started hurting, and he kept pulling his hair—like he was in horrible pain. And he looked scared—and Kacchan is never scared—.”
“Midoriya.” Aizawa raised his voice. Midoriya shot his head up to see worry in his eyes.
“Sorry.” Midoriya wiped a tear that he didn’t know he had.
“Don’t be.” Aizawa sat at the chair next to the bed. “But since you saw all that, I need to tell you something our teachers have been discussing.”
Midoriya widened his eyes, anticipating the absolute worst.
“Now, when I tell you, you have to wait till I’m finished. You can’t freak out on me half way through.” Aizawa warned.
All Midoriya could do was breathe, and try not to freak out just by Aizawa’s warning.
“Bakugou has this curse.” Aizawa studied Midoriya closely as he spoke, like he would pop. When really he was holding his questions until the end. “There was this case of a little boy who was put in a psychiatric hospital due to crude jokes, like the ones Bakugou says.”
Midoriya couldn’t guess where this was headed.
“He was kidnapped by someone named Tsubasa.” Bakugou rolled over in his bed. Midoriya was extremely confused.
“The boy had been tortured and was found dead years later.” Aizawa observed Bakugou slightly, a waiting look in his eye.
“The Detective who found him was cursed. She would say crude comments, have breakdowns, and react badly in warmer conditions. Like Bakugou.” Aizawa took a breath.
“She would copy things the boy did. Hug her and use her quirk on her arms, but she didn’t have a healing quirk like the boy, she had an electricity quirk.” Midoriya eyed Bakugou’s arm, hoping this wouldn’t go where he thinks this story is leading.
“Her eyesight started to decline like her memory, her hair started to turn brown, she began attempting to cut her fingers off.” Midoriya held his breath.
“Since she saw the body, after the symptoms appeared, she only survived for 13 days.” Aizawa paused, as if he wasn’t ready to say it. “Her personality changed, her physical appearance changed until she…”
Aizawa hesitated. Watching Midoriya closely. He knew Midoriya wouldn’t connect the dots himself, he didn’t want to.
“She died of eternal bleeding. Passing it on to someone else.”
Midoriya’s breath hitched.
“We think Bakugou has caught whatever curse this is.”
Midoriya’s eyes glossed over, blurring his vision.
“And that Bakugou only has 7 days left to live if we don’t figure out a way to end it.”
Midoriya looked at the ground. Paralyzed in his seat.
Kacchan has 7 days left to live.
His mind wouldn’t stop racing. Racing to find a solution, a loophole somehow.
“Midoriya. I know this is a lot to take in but… We have been searching for a cure from this since the morning.” Aizawa reassured Midoriya whilst observing Bakugou twist and turn.
“W–W—A curse? How—When did—We already w-wasted a day.” Tears flowed down Midoriya’s face.
“Midori–”
“How do we stop this!?” Midoriya screamed, standing up from the bed. “Are you even sure this is what it is?” Midoriya accused…but he knew it was a curse.
“Yes, but you need to calm down.” Aizawa was worried.
Midoriya was mad.
Mad that there was almost nothing they could do.
Nothing to fix this.
“I’m sorry.” Midoriya sobbed. “I don’t know…”
“Deku?”
Midoriya twisted his neck to Bakugou.
“What?” Bakugou was puzzled.
There was no answer. Midoriya just hurried to hug Bakugou whilst he cried into his shirt.
Bakugou hugged back, more reluctantly than before.
Aizawa watched from a distance. He realized he can not let this happen to Bakugou, it could absolutely be heartbreaking to Midoriya and his classmates. He needed to fix this.
He grabbed his laptop and exited quietly. Leaving the two boys to embrace each other in this time of despair.