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As Izuku stood barefoot on the roof of Aldera Junior High, reality crashed around him. Katsuki, the boy he had loved for years, told him to kill himself. His life had been miserable since that fateful day ten years ago, and the pain was finally going to end for good. He remembered all of the pretty red spider lilies that his classmates left on his desk, he remembered the burns, he remembered being dragged into the sky, and dropped. Most of all though, he remembered the time his math teacher lured him into an empty classroom with the promise of help. He remembered being backed into a corner and pressed against the wall, and then being bent over a desk, forced to take what he did not want.
He remembered every detail of that ordeal, his brain refusing to tap out and spare him the memory. Now though, as he stood on the roof of his personal hell, he didn’t cry like he had then. All he felt was relief. Joy, even. Izuku knew his mother would never miss him, so he felt no remorse for what he was about to do. As the wind whipped around his thin body, he took a deep breath, and stepped off the ledge.
Izuku’s body landed in the koi pond. His lower back hit the edge, shattering on impact and filling the water with blood. All he felt was pain, and then the world went black.
______
Katsuki grumbled in annoyance as he left the school an hour late. Detention was a pain, even if it was a simple formality. Some extra had heard what he said, and told a teacher, probably not knowing that Deku was quirkless.
“No!” He backed into the nearest wall, and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “No, no, no! It doesn't matter and you know it! Why can’t they see I'm trying to protect him?”
Katsuki felt something in the air shift. Something was wrong, and his place at the wall gave him the perfect view of the shadow that passed over him. He watched, as the one person he cared about plummeted into the koi pond. He heard the sickening crack of Izuku’s spine shattering and dying the shimmering water red.
The world went fuzzy as Katsuki rushed forward, and he vaguely registered someone screaming. He pulled the body of his friend from the water, and sank to his knees, cradling Izuku’s head in his arms. He didn't know how much time passed before he heard the sirens, but it felt like years.
He felt numb. He couldn't move when the paramedics pried Izuku from him, and all he heard was the ringing in his ears as he watched them load him into the ambulance. There was no use taking him to a hospital though; Katsuki had felt the green haired boy’s life slip away in his arms. Izuku was already dead.
_______
In the two weeks leading up to the funeral, Katsuki didn't speak. He refused to leave his room, because when he did, he saw Izuku around every corner. During the night, his brain would torture him with the sick sound of Izuku’s spine being reduced to dust, and the image of him sprawled out, half submerged in the pond that would be forever stained red. Even waking granted him no reprieve, because the second he opened his eyes he would come face to face with Izuku, the boy he loved. The boy he killed.
On the day of the funeral, it was raining. As Katsuki cried, the sky cried with him. It was a small affair, just him, his parents, Aunty Inko, and a few of Inko’s relatives, but Katsuki still felt suffocated. He wanted nothing more than to be alone with Izuku.
The moment he dropped the spider lily into the grave, he crashed. He had been living the last few weeks in denial, but this made it more final. All he ever wanted was to protect Izuku so they could be happy together one day, and he couldn't even do that right. He sank to his knees in front of the open grave, and screamed. It was a gut wrenching sound, full of pain and sorrow, and he could feel himself drowning as his mother’s hands pulled him into her chest.
In the end, Katsuki was dragged away from the funeral, but not without a fight. He kicked and scratched and screamed at his parents in a desperate attempt to return to Izuku’s side.
______
Katsuki had stayed home for another week after the funeral, for ‘mental health’, his parents told him. When he finally did return to Aldera, he stayed silent, despite the questions about where he had been. For once in his life, he listened to what they said about Izuku.
“I guess he finally did it.
“It's not like anyone will miss him.”
“Now we have one less useless bitch to worry about.”
“He really did it, huh Bakugou? Honestly I thought he was too scared.”
Eventually Katsuki managed to tune out the horrid words, but when he did, his mind wandered up to that God-forsaken roof. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it out of his mind. He wondered if it really helped. Was Izuku happy where he was? He was brought out of his musings by the lunch bell, but instead of going to the cafeteria, his feet took him to the roof.
Katsuki stood in the same place that Izuku had, feeling the breeze curl comfortingly around him. He looked at the clear blue sky and gave a sad smile. Was the afterlife really a better place? There’s only one way to find out.
With that, he stepped off the ledge, and the students of Aldera Junior High watched through the windows as Bakugou Katsuki, the strongest among them, plummeted to his death.