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Bakugou is dying; he’s so sure of it.
Now, Bakugou Katsuki isn’t the kind of guy to feel physically weak towards anything. He’s always been the toughest around, roughin’ it up with his friends and always beckoning for more of a challenge. He’s never once gotten sick, nope, not even when he was very little, and he sure as hell won’t lose to just a couple of scratches from a villain attack.
Bakugou is the strongest guy he knows. It sounds narcissistic, and also really stupid, but it’s just the truth, and whoever disagrees can put a sock in it.
But right now, Bakugou is dying. His heart is pounding so hard and so fast, his stomach is twisting like he’s just been socked in the gut, and he’s lightheaded. He’s lightheaded.
It’s five minutes to class starting. Aizawa-sensei isn’t in the classroom yet, but every other student is. Bakugou’s casually sitting in his seat, but this inexplicably unsettling feeling inside him won’t cease.
It’s somehow the worst when he’s in the classroom. When he leaves it to go training or to rest up for the night, he’s... fine. But the moment he sits his ass down in his chair, suddenly he’s feeling more self-conscious than usual. And when he turns his head and that nerd is looking at him, expecting papers or a greeting or something, Bakugou’s throat suddenly feels very, very parched.
“Kirishima,” Bakugou says with the most sincerity he can muster, “I’m dying.”
“No Bakugou, you’re not dying,” Kirishima answers immediately.
So now Bakugou has to figure out why his body wants to kill him.
---
“That’s called having a crush, Bakugou. You’re not dying.”
It’s blunt and simple, honest and no-nonsense. It comes straight from Kirishima’s jagged-tooth mouth, and when Bakugou’s about to argue that concept, Kirishima shushes him with his finger to Bakugou’s lips.
“Shushuhshsuhsush, I’m the expert here,” Kirishima says. It sort of feels demeaning, but Bakugou kind of asked for it, since he was the one who asked Kirishima for help and everything. “Your body is so used to hating everything that even the idea of love is eating you from the inside.”
“That sounds so fucking gross in the most unnecessary way,” Bakugou says, his face wincing.
“Trust me, Bakugou. Just truuust me. I’ve had my fair share of crushes in middle school. Love is a battlefield, and you’re fighting yourself. You’re on both sides, and both want to win. It’s a manly crusade... A manly crusade indeed.”
“Okay, now I’m certain you’ve got no damn clue what you’re talking about.”
“I dunno. I heard Ashido say something like that before, so I wanted to try it out. Hey, maybe you should ask her for advice!”
---
“Bakugou has a crush?!” Ashido squeals excitedly, her body folding over the top of one of the lounge couches. “Oh my gosh that’s so cute! ”
“I do not, ” Bakugou argues, grabbing Ashido’s face with his hand and shoving her off the sofa. “I’m dying. ”
“No no, if you were dying you’d be yelling a lot more.”
“ Hah?! The hell do you know?! ” he roars, jumping on the couch and making a mad bee-line towards Ashido. If she’s not gonna be of any service to him, he’ll wipe her out personally.
She’s laughing and giggling at Bakugou’s explosive demeanor. Out of all the girls, Ashido’s the least fazed by Bakugou’s over-the-top behavior. “Look, Bakugou, just admit to yourself that you like someone! It’s not that bad, you know.”
“I don’t even know who it is, ” Bakugou growls.
“Then you should find out! It’s someone from 1-A, right? It has to be, or else you wouldn’t be feeling love this intense!”
“I’m not just gonna knock out every single extra in our class just to find out if I maybe like someone.”
“You could start with Sero!” Ashido offers with a grin against her comically pink skin. “He sounds like a safe bet! And he’s also our friend, so I doubt he’d judge you too much.”
Before Bakugou can object, Ashido’s already pushing him towards Sero’s dorm.
---
“You’re not dying,” is Sero’s lax conclusion.
“You’re useless! ” shouts Bakugou as he blows up one of Sero’s shirts.
As Sero mournfully runs his hands along his recently deceased t-shirt, he casts a resigned glance at his explody-explode friend. “Bakugou, having a crush isn’t the end of the world. It’s, like, normal. It’s what teenage boys do: they have crushes on other teenagers.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t have a--” Bakugou gags at the word he’s about to say-- “-- crush on anyone.”
“Well, you’re not dying. You look just fine.”
“I don’t feel just fine.”
“What are you even doing in my room?”
Bakugou clicks his tongue and kicks his feet up so they’re rudely rested on Sero’s low table. “Ashido said I should fuckin’ knock out every student in 1-A and she made me go to you first.”
“About whether or not you have a crush? ”
“Tch.”
“Wow, Bakugou. I’m flattered.” Sero’s cheshire grin forms on his face, and Bakugou immediately knows he’s in for some absolute bullshit. “To have the angry dandelion puff crush over me is such an honor. An honor I wouldn’t have even dreamt of!”
“You’re absolutely fuckin’ useless! ” Bakugou explodes another one of Sero’s clothing items, though this time he’s not in the mood to check which one it is.
He can confidently cross Sero off his mental list. The world would end sooner than him having some dinky feelings for a guy with tape dispensers on his elbows.
---
Kaminari doesn’t even wait for Bakugou to finish his explanation before he bursts out laughing.
“Take this seriously, goddammit!” Bakugou clamors, yanking Kaminari’s blond hair so hard, clumps might actually rip off his skull.
“Ow! Ow ow ow!” Kaminari cries. “Okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Bakugou please stop pulling this is conditioned hair-- ”
Bakugou lets go and Kaminari slumps forward, head throbbing. Bakugou can tell by the way Kaminari’s patting his hair like a fuckin’ artisan that Kaminari’s gonna suffer some sort of hair loss in one way or another. Whoops.
“So you’re stuck between dying and liking someone?” Kaminari asks and Bakugou’s glad he summarizes so easily. He’d rather die than go through that whole embarrassing thing all over again. “Who do you like?”
“I don’t fuckin’ like anyone. ”
“And how do you know that, eligible bachelor?”
“Because I don’t even know who it fuckin’ is!” Bakugou yells, slamming his fist onto Kaminari’s table. “So clearly I’m dying but Kirishima and raccoon eyes and soy sauce face all said I’m not. ”
“Do you have any candidates?” Kaminari asks with a sly smile. Looks like he’s over his whole hair debacle that didn’t even last two minutes.
“I tried soy sauce face, but that’s not happening. And I guess I’m trying you now, but there’s no way I’ve got feelings for a dunce like you. ”
“Ouch, Bakugou. My feelings.”
“Suck it up, twerp.”
“Well, do you feel like you’re dying at this very moment?” Kaminari asks.
Bakugou opens his mouth to say why the hell do you think I’m even here if I don’t feel like I’m dying, but then he stops and seriously reflects how he’s feeling. He puts a hesitant heart over his chest, right where his heart is, and...
...It’s quiet. There’s no thumping there, nor is there the sudden and abrupt urge to throw up from his stomach, either. His head feels fine; actually, it feels much clearer than it has been feeling for the last couple days. He stands up and his knees aren’t shaky, and his fingers aren’t trembling either.
“So I’m not dying right now.”
“Then you don’t like me,” Kaminari says with a shrug. “But there’s gotta be someone in our class who does make you feel that way, right?”
“No,” Bakugou retorts aggressively. “For the last fuckin’ time, I don’t like anyone.”
“Uh huh, sure. And denial isn’t a river in Egypt.”
---
Bakugou’s next stop is supposed to be Yaoyorozu, since she’s apparently the “prettiest girl in the class” and she “makes Kaminari’s heart flutter” or whatever stupid bullshit he’s pulled out of his ass. He’s in front of the elevator doors on his way to the fifth floor -- Yaoyorozu’s floor -- before he bumps into someone as the doors open.
“Sorry,” says the other voice, and Bakugou can recognize it from a mile away.
“Watch where you’re going, Deku,” Bakugou says before he feels that death-like feeling again. He’s got one hand on the opened doors, but his legs refuse to move, cemented on the UA floors like he’s trapped in Midoriya’s presence.
The hell is this? Bakugou thinks. He tries moving away from Midoriya, but he’s afraid if he does, his head will explode. And it won’t be because of his own quirk, it’ll be because he’s dying.
“Kacchan?” Midoriya says, and he’s technically already out of Bakugou’s way, since he’s sidestepped his frozen body, but for some (stupid, idiotic, disgusting, absolutely rancid) reason, he’s hanging around still.
“The fuck are you doing on the third floor?” Bakugou asks.
His heart is beating so loud, he can hear it in his ears. He feels like his face is going to melt off, the burning sensation on his cheeks radiating like a space heater. His hands are shaking, and when he breathes it’s shaky too, hitched at the throat and...
...He’s dying.
In front of Midoriya.
“Oh, Iida-kun let me borrow a book for something, so I’m returning it to him,” Midoriya says, but his face shows signs of worry. “Are you okay, Kacchan? You look like you’re running a fever.”
This can’t be happening. Bakugou can’t be having a “crush” on Midoriya, but when Midoriya takes a step closer and presses the back of his hand against Bakugou’s forehead, as if to take his temperature, Bakugou can’t take it any longer.
He gulps, hoping that it’s not too loud for Midoriya to hear. And when Midoriya removes his hand and says in that hushed thinking voice, “your face is really hot”...
“I have a crush on you.”
Midoriya leans back. “What?”
“What?”
“You said--”
Bakugou turns on his heel and bolts.
---
“Iida-kun, I think I’m dying...”
“ Midoriya-kun?! ”