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Midoriya was practically vibrating in his seat from excitement. His eyes glancing down and lingering on his hands and fingers every so often or glancing at the blond's face.
"I wanna tell them." He said, the words tumbling out of his mouth in a blur. Green hair bouncing as he shifted around.
"What? No. Not right now, nerd." The blond scowled, furrowing his eyebrows. "Can't you just sit still and enjoy the date, dumbass." Bakugou muttered.
Midoriya huffed, amused. "Fine. Tomorrow then." He responded happily.
He reached across the table for his—now—fiance's hand and interlaced their fingers together, a joyful smile on his face. He watched as Bakugou's fiery red eyes drifted down to their clasped hands. A pleased look took over his features as his gaze landed on the identical rings. The golden bands glittered softly in the light.
The corner of his lips tugged up faintly in a fond smile before it dropped into a scowl once again.
"Now eat before the food gets cold." He grumbled, though he made no move to remove his hand.
•••
Pro Heroes Deku and Ground Zero found dead after villain attack...
•••
Everything had been going great. The two of them had built an agency together and being able to work together and be in each other's presence was more than they could've asked for. They had lived happily together in their shared home.
Fascinating, isn't it? How something can be destroyed in only a mere instant.
The red-head could easily recall how they had been laughing and bickering on their days off, going on movie marathons with all their friends and shouting at each other over what they would have done in a horror movie that they had been watching. Little events that reminded them of their days back in the UA dorms.
That seemed so far away now.
After the ambush they were nowhere in sight. At first he hadn't given much thought about it. But something felt off, it felt wrong. So he had rallied up Kaminari and Ashido to go searching with him.
Pro hero Red Riot, no, Kirishima stood, frozen, as he took in the sight of their limp bodies on the ground a few feet away from where he stood. In that moment, nothing seemed real. Didn't matter that he had a wound on his arm or that his body was aching from his previous quirk use. He couldn't feel or hear anything. The world was quiet and muted, as though grieving with him for the loss of his comrades, his friends. His best friend. The world was still and despite all the debris and wreckage around him, he couldn't move or tear his gaze away.
Subconsciously he was aware of someone's broken cry. Kaminari, it seemed like. Distantly he heard Ashido's voice, seemingly calling for help. A thousand thoughts swarmed his brain and nothing made sense. He couldn't decipher anything that was happening around him.
Kirishima sank onto his knees heavily in disbelief. Never had he ever thought of something like this happening. Bakugou was always so strong and fierce, and Midoriya was more than capable of standing his own against anything.
So why. Why were they laying, so still on the ground.
He felt his gaze blurring as he stared, unblinking. He didn't want to believe, but he couldn't stop as he lost focus and tears spilled out of his eyes as other people suddenly surrounded them. Like that the spell was broken, everything rushed back to him. His blood roared deafeningly in his ears, his heart pounded in his throat. It hurt everywhere. Everything was too loud, too bright, too painful.
It was too much.
He felt a scream building up in his throat. He hadn't even realized that he had been sobbing.
He couldn't move as medical assistance was called, as people swarmed around them. As he could no longer focus his gaze on the dead bodies in front of him.
Only one thought could be heard in the chaos of his mind.
If only he had been there. If he had been quicker, stronger, more capable. More like them. Would he have been able to save them.
Would he still have his friends.
•••
Pro Heroes Ground Zero and Deku killed in the line of duty...
Fallen in battle protecting each other...
•••
The death of Ground Zero and Deku was all over the news. It was all anyone talked about. On the TV, the news, the radio, other heroes, the words lingering on the lips of strangers on the streets.
His thoughts.
The words floated heavily in the air for anyone to receive and hear them.
The image would likely haunt his mind for as long as he would let it. He couldn't bear looking back at it but he couldn't make himself forget, as it was one of the last times he would see them.
Kirishima could still recall them laying dead on the cold unforgiving battle ground.
He couldn't even remember the last things he had said to them.
Bakugou and Midoriya. The two lovers laid side by side, facing each other, blood streaked across their skin and hero costume. With their eyes closed they looked peaceful. Content. Like they were merely asleep. If only it was just that.
The thing that stood out most to him wasn't the fact that the two of them had their hands locked together, fingers intertwined tightly as they lay in their own blood. Not even the faintest curl of their lips, making it seem like they had been smiling in their last moments together.
It was the identical golden bands encircled around both their fingers. Rings. They were wearing identical rings. That knowledge engrained itself into Kirishima's head. The more he tried to forget, the more it came back to nag at him.
His friends had been engaged. To each other. They had proposed.
He remembered how happy Midoriya had been that morning, how even Bakugou had been in a good mood. He felt another wave of grief crash into him.
They were dead now. They couldn't even tell them that they were engaged. They couldn't even live to experience their own wedding.
A quiet sob escaped his throat.
•••
The only thing that could be heard in the silence was their shallow breathing.
His blood was rushing so loudly in his ears he wasn't even sure he could hear himself speak. Everything part of him was in pain. The sharp scent of copper rested heavily in the air. He was already so, so tired.
He lifted his gaze and met the dark red eyes of his partner. His chest heaved with every breath.
Midoriya's eyelids drooped with exhaustion, too aware of how much blood he's already lost. He couldn't find any energy to speak, a faint sense of fear creeping at the back of his mind.
Faint movement caught his attention and his eyes snapped open once more. Bakugou was crawling closer towards him, his movements slow.
He carefully raised his hand to his neck, fishing out the necklace from under his costume. He yanked it off with a wince and pulled the golden band from the chain. Slipping it onto his finger, he admired it briefly. He glanced up and maintained eye contact as he reached over and pulled the necklace from around his fiance's neck. Unstringing the complementary ring.
The blond lifted his own hand quietly and allowed him to slip the ring onto his finger.
Midoriya felt himself let out a faint smile as the other clasped their hands together, interlocking their fingers. He gripped on tightly, like it was his lifeline.
Bakugou reciprocated the smile.
They didn't need any words. Their silent vow was enough.
•••
Kirishima stepped foot into the hollow house for the first time in a month. Though it felt like forever.
It had only been a month but it seemed any trace of Ground Zero and Deku had disappeared. Making it seem as if they never existed.
The news of their death had somewhat died down, though it was still occasionally brought up every now and then. To fake sad smiles and teary eyes, strangers grieving the loss of people they never knew. Ground Zero and Deku were only names afterall, the two people it belonged to were only known by their friends and former classmates.
The interior of their house still showed the individual touches of the two who once lived there. A faint layer of dust collected on most of the surfaces. The quiet of the place was almost haunting.
The red-head walked around the house, taking everything in as the world no longer had much presence of his two friends anymore.
Kirishima missed them.
As he walked around the rooms, a pile of books caught his eye. Dust had gathered on pretty much everything and this stack of books was no exception. He reached out and wiped the layer of dust off.
The book at the top was Midoriya's journal. Midoriya still wrote notes on everything he could and had taken up writing a journal; things about his day.
He stared at the cover for a few moments. He opened the book and flipped through the pages carefully.
He stopped at a random page and scanned the paragraphs of writing. He paused near the end of the entry:
We invited Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ashido over for a small movie marathon today. They almost broke the table arguing again >:(
A smile crossed Kirishima's face as a pang of grief squeezed his heart. He slowly went through the rest of the journal, smiling softly at some of the written events. He faltered at the last page.
Kacchan proposed!!!! We're engaged now, he's my fiance! I really wanted to tell the others, but Kacchan didn't want me to :(
I think he wanted to surprise them tomorrow. We had an arranged dinner with our friends tomorrow, we all had the day off. He probably wanted to tell them over the dinner. I can't wait to tell them!
I'm so happy right now it's like nothing else matters!...
Kirishima closed the book gently, a bittersweet smile tugged at his lips as he set the book back onto the table.
Reality is hard to please.
But at least they had been happy.