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“Ground Zero? GROUND ZERO?”, someone keeps calling him in the distance, voice almost impossible to hear. “Bakugou, for the love of God, answer me!”, the person pleads and Bakugou blinks his eyes open.
Everything is pitch black and he can’t see a thing.
Slowly, he becomes aware of his surroundings. The hellish heat of the fire burning down the building. The sounds of explosions and escaping gas. He can’t hear people talking, but he’s sure that he can hear them running on the floor above him. But nothing explains why he can’t see shit.
“Ground Zero!”, the voice says again, and Bakugou finally recognizes as Todoroki.
“I’m here.”, Bakugou says, coughing because of the smoke.
“Fucking finally.”, Todoroki breathes out, relief clear in his voice.
“I don’t know exactly where I am. Everything is dark.”, Bakugou says, holding his hands up as he gives a temptive step forward.
“Shit, he got your too.”, Todoroki groans.
“What?”
“There’s a villain with a blinding quirk, he got some of ours.”, Todoroki explains and Bakugou widens his eyes.
“Fuckin shit, motherfucker piece of shit.”
“Listen. I need you to blast something so we can find you with the thermal vision lenses.”, Todoroki says in a rush.
“The building is in fucking fire, Shouto.”, Bakugou bites out.
“I’m sure you can do something flashy enough.”, Todoroki says. “Now.”
“Fuck.”, Bakugou groans, looking around and trying to think about what he should do.
It takes him a little bit to finally become fully aware of the room he is, forcing himself to use his other senses. A soft and almost nonexistent breeze ruffles the hairs of Bakugou’s nape and he realizes that there’s a window there. Remembering the layout of the building, bakugou gives three more steps towards the window.
“I’m on the east side of the building.”, Bakugou lets Todoroki knows. “I’m gonna blow up a window.”
“There are several windows being blown up, Zero.”, Todoroki says and Bakugou can hear the roll of his eyes.
“Oh, believe me, you gonna know where I am.”, Bakugou says before positioning himself. He blasts his AP Shot, the explosion beam passing easily through the glass.
“Ah! That’s what you mean.”, Todoroki says, a little bit of amusement in his voice. “You’re on the sixth floor. We’ll get you out of there.”
“No.”, Bakugou shakes his head to the empty room.
“What do you mean ‘no’?!”
“Where are the villains? I’m gonna get them down.”, Bakugou says, already walking to where he believes it is the door.
“You can’t get them down! You’re alone and temporarily blind!”, Todoroki says, his voice louder than normal.
“We can’t let them escape!”, Bakugou spats. “I’m here and I can blow them up.”
“You can’t see!!”, Todoroki gets really close to yell and part of Bakugou is extremely endeared by it.
“But you can!”
“W-What…?”
“You can see and you have the thermal vision. Guide me.”, Bakugou says, patting his own body to be sure that all his gears are in place.
“Are you insane?!”
“Yes.”, Bakugou barks out. “Now shut up and listen to me. I can’t see shit, but I can fight. I still have three grenades left and my bracers are full. Guide me.”
“I can’t guide you! Are you out of your mind?!”, Todoroki asks, sounding really desperate.
“Shouto.”, Bakugou calls, his voice extremely calm. “We can’t let them escape, they have been terrorizing the city it has three months already. We need to do this.”
“How?”, Todoroki asks, almost in pain, and Bakugou knew he had won this fight.
“You can see them, right?”
“Yeah. They are some floors above you.”, Todoroki says and Bakugou looks up.
“Alright. There’s a building on the other side of the street, I need you to be on the same level as the fight.”, Bakugou says, and he knows he’s being completely insane and that there’s a high chance of getting killed, but there’s no way he gonna go away and let a group of serial killers get away.
“Shit, I can’t believe I’m really agreeing with this.”, Todoroki mumbles before raising his voice. “Ingenium! I need you to get me to the ninth floor of that building. Fast.”
“Roger that!”, Iida’s voice can be heard and Bakugou takes the few seconds he has to prepare himself for this pretty much suicidal mission.
“I’m here.”, Todoroki says, sounding a bit out of air. “What’s your plan?”
“You have a clear vision from where you are, right?”, Bakugou asks.
“Yes.”
“Great. You gonna be my eyes.”, Bakugou says without hesitating, walking to where he had figured out the door is.
“How?!”, Todoroki asks and Bakugou decides that he’ll take Todoroki to eat cold soba after this as a way to apologize.
“Well… I’m gonna explode whatever you tell me to.”, Bakugou simply says.
“To the left.”, Todoroki says as Bakugou walks out of the room and he follows. “No one can trust someone that much.”
“Well… There’s a first time for everything.”
“Shit… Katsuki, don’t you dare to die, alright?”
“That’s up to you, icy-hot. Completely up to you.”, Bakugou says and Todoroki sighs heavily.
“Alright.”, Todoroki says, now sounding determined. “Let’s get over with it before the whole building collapse.”, he says and Bakugou closes his eyes.
Todoroki starts to guide Bakugou through the building using the the advanced technology he has in hands. It’s a really difficult to Bakugou to blindly trust on someone, but he knows that it’s necessary and also that Todoroki would never put him in danger.
When Bakugou finally gets to the floor where the villains are, Todoroki’s directions gets shorter and more precise. It’s a mix of military time with distance, quick and firm in a way that doesn’t give Bakugou enough time to think. He starts to answer to Todoroki’s commands by sheer instinct. It’s weird how he will do what Todoroki says without sparing a second to think about it, blasting people or objects while jumping from place to place. Todoroki’s tone never changes, always icy cold and precise.
It takes them more than usual to subdue the villains and Bakugou’s mind is already quite fuzzy because of all the smoke he’s inhaling. The fire had taken almost the whole building and more than once Bakugou had rasped his body against the flames. But the pain is forgotten on the back of his mind in the heat of the battle as Bakugou completely focuses in trusting and obeying Todoroki’s commands.
“Zero! There’s a window three meters to your right, jump through it.”, Todoroki orders and now Bakugou stops.
“What?!”, he asks, confused, stopping right where he is.
“I’m gonna catch you.”, Todoroki says and Bakugou can hear him moving. “Jump. NOW!”
Bakugou’s body reacts out of instinct and he runs towards the window, jumping right through the glass. As soon as he jumps the window, the freezing night air hits his face like a breath of life and he starts to fall. But before Bakugou could blast an explosion to the ground to cushion his fall, he hears the crackling sound of ice and strong arms catching him.
“Got you.”, Todoroki says, firmly holding Bakugou against his body as the ice platform under them starts to melt and the building starts to crash.
-
After being examined by the doctors and got his more serious wounds patched up, Bakugou stis alone on the back of one of the ambulances. His vision is still completely black and he’s trying to not freak out about it too much, knowing that the quirk effect will fade with time.
“Hey.”, Todoroki greets, placing a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. “Calm down, it’s just me.”, he says as he grabs Bakugou’s other hand that flies to his face.
“I can’t fuckin see you. Don’t go touch me out of nowhere, idiot.”, Bakugou complains, too tired to growl.
“Sorry, I forgot.”, Todoroki sighs. “What the doctor said about your eyes?”
“The quirk will last for the next eight hours or so.”
“Shit…”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Well… I’ll take you home then.”, Todoroki says, sliding his hand down on Bakugou’s arm and holding his hand.
“You ain’t taking me anywhere!”, Bakugou says, snapping his hand away from Todoroki’s hold.
“You trust me to guide you in a fight but not to take you home? Are you serious?”, Todoroki rolls his eyes in annoyance, but he doesn’t touch Bakugou again.
“I don’t need help to get home, that’s all.”, Bakugou says, jumping from the ambulance and starting walking to where he supposes it is his way home.
“Katsuki.”, Todoroki groans, walking by Bakugou’s side.
“Go away.”, Bakugou says, but he stumbles against the curb a second later, his hand flying quickly to his side and Todoroki holding his hand and arm to avoid him to fall.
“Let me take you home.”, Todoroki asks, softer this time.
“Fuckin stupid quirk…”, Bakugou complains, but he does hold onto Todoroki’s arm.
They walk together to a taxi stand and Todoroki helps Bakugou, as discreetly as he can manage, to get into the car. Their ride home is made in silence, with Bakugou staring blankly at the window while Todoroki texts someone on his phone. When they finally arrive at the building, Todoroki helps Bakugou to gets to his apartment.
“Midoriya said that you can’t tell him that he’s a stupid reckless nerd anymore.”, Todoroki says once Bakugou finally opens the door and they can get inside.
“Midoriya can go fuck himself.”, Bakugou grumbles, now easily moving around since he knows his own house.
“Thirty years and you two still act like children.”, Todoroki sighs, walking to the kitchen.
“He’s a fuckin moron, not my fault.”, Bakugou grumbles, opening the bathroom door. “You gonna stay?”
“You want me to?”
“Not if you gonna keep talking about Midoriya.”
Todoroki chuckles, opening the refrigerator to search for the leftovers he knows that Bakugou has. “I promise I won’t talk about him tonight.”
“Good.”
-
It’s two in the morning when they finally settle down on Bakugou’s bed, both sweaty and still sensible for their recent orgasms. Bakugou sighs heavily, leaning against Todoroki’s warm side and closing his eyes, feeling Todoroki’s long fingers intertwining to his messy hair.
“You almost made me have a cardiac arrest today…”, Todoroki says, his voice calm and soft, his lips pressed against the top of Bakugou’s head.
“We’ve fighting together for seventeen years, Shouto…”, Bakugou sighs, drawing imaginary patterns on Todoroki’s chest with his fingertips. “I trust you.”
“You could’ve died.”
“But I didn’t.”
“But almost.”
“Shhh.”, Bakugou shushes him. “We have been sharing not only battles but also bed for almost twenty years. I’m not trusting you out of nowhere. I’m trusting you because you’ve earned it.”
“I know...But it was a lot… You know, being responsible for you life.”
Bakugou sighs ever so softly, lifting up his face even though he still can’t see. “I’m sorry for that…”
“It’s ok… Just… Try to not do this again.”, Todoroki sighs, leaning down and stealing a peck from Bakugou’s unwarned lips.
“Can’t promise anything…”, he mumbles, closing his eyes and chasing after Todoroki for another kiss.
They stay quiet on bed for a bit, exchanging light and sleepy kisses because now everything is fine.
“Katsuki…”, Todoroki calls when they are almost sleeping.
“Hm…?”
“Thank you… For trusting me.”