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Chasing after Shigaraki had been a mistake. Although it wasn’t Katsuki’s mistake, he still went along with it.
Heroes were down left and right, but Shigaraki was deeply injured and his healing factor wasn’t working, so they thought they had a chance. When Todoroki shouted that they should help tend to the wounded, Katsuki’s instincts told him to listen, but Deku had already run off after the retreating villain.
That huge villain—Gigantomachia—had taken Shigaraki and promptly ran off with the rest of the League in his hands. It wasn’t hard to follow him considering his size.
Just as they thought they were close enough to jump on, to do something , Gigantomachia turned back and smashed through the building closest to them. Everything went dark.
Katsuki wheezed and tried to take in his surroundings, but it was pitch black. The sound of rumbling reverberated around him and his ears rang. Chunks of rubble plopped down onto him every time he moved.
Disorientation and confusion from the change in settings dazed him. A liquid which he assumed was blood dripped down from his forehead. He tried to struggle onto his feet, but his back hit something hard above him, limiting how much he could stand. He fell back onto his knees.
What was happening?
A cough sounded from his left and he remembered what he had been doing.
Shigaraki. The villains. Deku .
He sparked his quirk in his palm to create light and crawled over to the source of noise. All he could see was an arm that stuck out from under a pile of rubble.
“Deku!”
The pile shifted minutely and part of his head popped out from under the debris. “Kacchan?” His voice was weak and pained.
“Hold on, I’m going to dig you out of there.”
He tried to push the rubble off, but a cracking sound came from above him and he stopped. He lit his hand again and looked up.
The first thing he realized was that they were under a building.
The next thing he realized was that within the heap covering Deku, there was a large metal beam holding the enclosure up. He’d need to help him without moving the beam somehow.
This was going to be tricky. He couldn’t do anything without light, but he needed both hands to dig Deku out. Even if he managed to get Deku out from under there, how would they escape?
Breathe. Focus on one thing at a time.
“Deku, are you injured anywhere?”
“My arm is still hurt from the fight,” he wheezed, “and I can’t breathe under here.” He coughed up some dust. “Are you hurt, Kacchan?”
He was the one being buried alive, and he was asking if Katsuki was okay?
“Nothing serious. Anyways, how long do you think you can last under there? I need to be careful trying to dig you out, so it might take a while.” He tried to steady his voice despite his nerves.
“Not long.” His voice barely came out. “It hurts.”
Katsuki’s pulse sped up. How could he be fast and careful at the same time?
He couldn’t blast their way out; he had no idea how many layers of wreckage were above them.
“Is there any way you could use blackwhip to move this safely?”
“I can’t. Sorry.”
If he could just move the support beam so it was balanced somewhere else… but how the hell could he do that?
Katsuki chewed on his lip and with his free hand, he tugged on his hair. “Fuck!”
No, he needed to calm down. Freaking out wouldn’t help Deku.
More blood gushed out from his head and drizzled down his face. His head was light.
Breathe.
He needed to start moving now .
“I’m going to start moving as much shit off your chest as I can first to buy us some more time. Do you have any ideas from that big brain of yours on how to get the fuck out of this nightmare?”
With one hand, he began to pick off pieces that didn’t look essential to holding up the rest of the structure. He wasn’t going to get very far at this rate. Think . But with the pressure building up in his head and the stress from the constantly shifting weight of the building, his mind couldn’t come up with anything.
“You’re thinking up some stupidly crazy plan right now, aren’t you Deku?”
He always had a billion different ideas racing through his head during a crisis. Surely now wasn’t any different. He kept one-handedly scooping away what he could of the heap. He heard no sounds other than the building continuing to shift above them and the sound of his pulse drumming in his ears.
“Deku?”
Katsuki brought the light closer to him when he didn’t respond.
Deku wasn’t breathing.
Deku wasn’t breathing .
Panic coursed through him. If he waited any longer, he was going to die.
He raised his palms to the debris. Avoiding the beam as best as he could, he fired.
Stone and metal and glass crumbled around them. Dust filled the air and his lungs. He shielded himself and Deku with his arms as he watched everything fall apart. It was a miracle that the building stabilized and that nothing major fell on them.
Or so he thought.
A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. Deku was awake again.
And the metal beam was embedded in his stomach.
A fist balled around the fabric of Katsuki’s shirt as Deku flailed and shrieked.
“Deku..!”
He couldn’t let himself panic. Not now, when Deku needed him.
He took a breath and spoke over the screaming. “Deku, can you hear me?”
Deku bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood to hold back his voice. Looking up to Katsuki with tears in his eyes, he nodded.
“I have to stop the bleeding. I’m sorry, this is going to hurt like a bitch.”
The light from his quirk flickered out momentarily while he shrugged off his gauntlets and tore his shirt off. He bunched it up into a ball.
“I—” Deku choked out, still trying not to scream. “I have... a fucking metal beam in my abdomen.”
Katsuki didn’t need to see to know tears were flowing in waves as he began to hyperventilate. He shoved the fabric of his shirt around the wound and held it down hard.
Deku held down another wail.
Within thirty seconds, Katsuki felt the blood soak completely through the fabric and coat his hands.
“Kacchan,” he cried out through the darkness, “I’m dying, aren’t I?”
He swallowed around the tightness in his throat. “I’m not going to let you.”
Blood pooled on the ground and dampened Katsuki’s pants where he was kneeled next to him.
Trying to stop the bleeding was pointless, and he had no way of calling for help.
“Fuck!”
He frantically pressed his bare hands over the wound despite its futility. Tears sprung up in his eyes.
“Kacchan… Sorry.” Deku draped his hand over Katsuki’s. It was cold. “You’ll have to go on without me.”
“ Fuck that! No way in hell, you goddamned fucking moron!”
“I’m sure that… that you’ll have enough time for someone to find you before too much of this air is carbon dioxide. Or you could tunnel your way out somehow…” He took in rapid breaths between words but his voice tapered off.
“Stop that! Don’t leave me, you piece of shit!”
“Light…” he rasped, his hand trailing up Katsuki’s arm, “I want to see your face…”
Immediately, sparks lit up between them. “I’m here! I’m not going anywhere, so don’t you dare go kicking the fucking bucket!”
Deku gave a pained laugh. “I never thought I’d see you cry over me.”
“Izuku..!”
“You called me by my name.” Tears rolled over his smile. “I’m so happy.”
“I’ll say your name from now on, so please stay with me.”
Izuku cupped Katsuki’s face in his hand. He smeared blood across his cheek as he brushed away tears with his thumb.
“I’m sorry. For everything. I’m so fucking sorry! ” Katsuki bawled. “You can’t leave, you have a fuck ton of shit left to do, remember? You’re All Might’s successor and my friend and—and I fucking love you, you bastard .”
Izuku moved his hand to the back of his neck and pulled him in. For what little strength he had left, the kiss was surprisingly strong, lips locked harshly together. The iron taste of blood seeped onto his tongue.
Alarm flooded his veins. By the time Katsuki pushed himself off, it was too late.
“No, no, no, no . Don’t…”
“Hehe… you saw through that?”
“You stupid fucking bastard it’s yours not mine, take it back .”
Katsuki went to join their lips together again, but Izuku put a hand over his mouth.
“Kacchan, be realistic.” Grief pulled the corners of Izuku’s lips down into a grimace, his voice breaking. “I’m already dead.”
Everything he had been denying collapsed onto him all at once. His shoulders slumped as he cried.
“I know.”
Katsuki let the light go out and gingerly stroked his fingers through messy curls. He took Izuku’s hand into his own and held it in the darkness, squeezing it to tell him ‘I’m here’ until his heartbeat flickered out.