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Lights and colours blurred Bakugo’s vision moving too fast for his eyes to even comprehend. The ringing in his ears from overusing his quirk was so loud it felt like his brain was bleeding.
All of the civilians were out of the building, Eijirou was outside with them, all he needed to do now was worry about himself.
The ground shifted under his feet, the walls swaying like he was on a boat. The building was collapsing.
He wasn’t even on the ground floor yet.
Something fell, a small slab of concrete or something from one of the many stories above.
It hit him with enough force to throw off his balance atleast.
He felt himself stumble going down the abandoned metallic stairwell, Bakugo thought the repetitive banging noise had just been rubble but now the ringing was wearing off he could finally hear it properly... Someone was coming up the stairs.
He tried to stand, to scream at whoever was enough of a dumbass to come back into a collapsing skyscraper during an earthquake, but his legs gave out and he barely even felt the pain of rolling down a floor of stairs.
He was so close but he couldn’t go any further.
The world spun even after he’d stopped rolling, he made out a flash of red that hadn’t been there before.
It was so bright the colour felt unnatural in the dull, grey stairwell.
“Katsuki!” A familiar voice somewhere in the distance yelled.
Of course, he’s the dumbass.
“Eijirou!” He called back, not knowing his voice was barely more than a whisper.
He wasn’t sure if it was the concussion but he felt someone lift him and then suddenly he was flying through the air.
The world went black before he landed.
-
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Bakugo woke up to the sensation of something wet running down his forehead, sticking his eyelids shut.
He still felt like he was spinning but there was a different, more familiar ringing in his head now. His left hearing aid was damaged.
He tried to move to take it out but the left side of his body was pinned. He hadn’t noticed before but to his terror he came to the realisation he couldn’t even feel his arm.
That’s when he fully came back around.
And his right ear picked up a sound he hadn’t expected to heard.
Grinding rock against rock, but also something else. Panting, heavy human breath, someone in pain or stress.
The voice sounded familiar but his brain was still too fuzzy to come to an obvious conclusion.
He just needed to see, he’d understand better once he could see.
Bringing up his free hand he scratched at his eyelids until he could open them.
It was still to dark to see.
He found a small gap and let sparks fly.
Illuminating a horror he wished he’d never seen.
“Kat- Thank god you’re ok.”
Eijirou Kirishima, No.7 pro hero in Japan, and the love of his life.
Crimson blood painting his face the same colour as his hair and dripping steadily onto his own.
It was hard to see where the cuts where when his quirk was activated but Katsuki didn’t have to be a genius to know that the blood covering his boyfriend was more than the safe amount outside the body.
Another thing that became terrifyingly obvious was their situation.
Eijirou’s skin was rock solid for a reason. The concrete roof had collapsed in on them, he was holding tonnes of debris off Bakugo, creating an air bubble to keep him safe.
The blond tried to move, but a sudden shot of pain spread though his trapped arm.
“Eijiro... You dumbass! You were safe!”
“But you weren’t.” His boyfriend chuckled but it sounded strained.
“And anyways if I hadn’t been here you would be as flat as a pancake right now.”
“I would’ve been fine Shitty Hair.”
Eijirou raised an eyebrow.
“You sure you’re not even slightly grateful for your super sexy, tall, buff, hero boyfriend who saved your life?”
“Who’s that? I don’t see him.”
“Fine. I guess you won’t mind if I let go then.”
“Do it, Pussy.”
Eijirou’s joyous chuckle was strained and raspy. The dust caught in his throat and he started choking. Katsuki tried to move forward and comfort him on instinct and this time despite the blinding pain he felt the rock over his arm loosen.
“KATSUKI STOP!” His boyfriend yelled in a panic through deep coughs, freezing the blond in his tracks.
Eijirou was his big, soft, teddy bear, he didn’t have it in him to yell like that, at least not at Katsuki himself.
But when he looked up in surprise is when he saw their dilemma.
The rock on his arm was supporting the roof, if Katsuki moved his arm then Eijirou couldn’t hold the weight and it would all cave in.
“...Fuck.”
“Yeah. We’re just going to have to wait it out, Mina saw me go in after you so I’m sure they’ll look for us once the civilians are safe.”
Katsuki looked at the blood that pooled beside him from his boyfriend. He’d moved over slightly towards the rock, not only because the blood was hitting him in the face but because it gave him a notion of how much time they had left.
Like a sand timer from hell, the blood on the ground indicated how much time they had before Eijirou passes out and they both die.
The timer was running out.
Not wanting to panic his boyfriend who was too busy using all of his brain and muscle capacity to stop when both from being crushed, he decided to play into his competitive side instead.
“I bet we can find a way out faster than those losers can finish up outside.”
“Ha, of course we can we’re the dream team.”
Eijirou’s face was red and even behind his hardening Katsuki could see his veins popping out from strain.
‘Hang on.’
They sat for five minutes, coming up with solutions. They’d quickly devolved into ludicrous ideas from training a swarm of seagulls to lift the debris, to summoning a helpful demon.
Neither of them wanted to admit they couldn’t think of a serious plan.
Eijirou looked down at his boyfriend through the blurry spots that danced in his line of sight.
He looked paler than usual, his blood red eyes dull, he wasn’t sure if Katsuki could see it but his arm was a purplish black nearest the rock, even if they made it out alive it might be unsalvageable.
He hated this, he hated not being strong enough to help, if only he could lift the stuff a few centimetres higher Bakugo could probably pull it out.
...Maybe if I just position it–
“GUYS! GUYS ARE YOU THERE?!”
Mina’s voice crackled through the static as someone’s radio sprang to life.
Katsuki struggled with his free hand and fished it out of his garter belt pocket, relief visible on his face.
“Oi Raccoon Eyes took ya long enough!”
He couldn’t help but smile.
“Bakubabe! Thank god, is Kiri with you?”
“Yep Mina I’m here!” Eijirou shouted, not sure if she could hear him from the distance despite it only being a few feet.
“Are you okay? The civilians are all safe but the whole building’s been pancaked.”
Are you okay?
Between his trapped arm, Eijirou’s struggle for breath, his loss of one hearing aid and the other probably not far behind, the blood that was still dripping consistently from god-knows-where, the fact if either of them moved they’d both die.
“I’m gonna be honest for once, we’re pretty fucked up. We need help as soon as you can, is the GPS still working in this thing?”
“Yeah, we might have to dig you out from the side rather than the top because my acid’s probably the quickest option but I don’t want it to drip down on you guys.
Just hang on and you should be out in the next half hour.”
“Thanks Mina, love you!” Eijirou tried to sound carefree and it seemed to work.
“Love you too now I’ve gotta go save you lovesick idiots... Again.”
She ended the call.
“Eijirou-“
“I know.”
“But-“
“Can we just talk about something else? Please?”
He didn’t want to think about the fact that with the rate that pool of blood was growing there was no chance he’d survive half an hour.
Honestly, it was a miracle he’s still awake at this stage.
“Okay. Tell me about those dogs you like. Like the one you saw at the shelter we visited.”
“Pit bulls! You know they’re illegal in a whole load of different countries which is really sad because they’re just big muscly balls of joy. They smile as well and it’s so cute. They sometimes get breed for illegal fighting rings which is why they have a bad reputation it’s actually really sad because they’re super friendly dogs naturally. The only problem with them is that if they bite something they don’t let go but I sort of think that just adds to their character, they’re stubborn.”
A grin lit up on Eijirou’s face as he spoke and Katsuki blushed. It was embarrassing his boyfriend’s smile still had that effect on him, they where both twenty three now, their six year anniversary close on the horizon.
“They remind of someone else I know.” Katsuki said softly.
Now it was Eijirou’s turn to blush.
There was a moment of silence as they thought about what else they could talk about to take their minds of their seemingly inevitable demise.
Then Eijirou said something completely unexpected.
“I was supposed to ask you to marry me tonight.”
“WHAT?!” Sparks actually flew in surprise, shaking the whole fragile structure.
“Katsuki...” Eijirou groaned out in pain a he steadied himself again. The sound of rock on rock heightening.
“Sorry, sorry. But what the fuck Eijirou?!” He repeated quietly this time.
“Yeah I have a ring in my bedside cabinet and everything, I thought date night tonight was the perfect time, I had a whole plan and everything.”
Eijirou didn’t know what he wanted to gain by telling Katsuki that, but he hadn’t anticipated they’d both just sit there crying.
“We’re going to die here aren’t we.” Katsuki’s voice was hollow, unfeeling.
“I won’t let you, I promise.” The redhead grinned his signature shark tooth grin that always made Katsuki feel better.
He could hold onto the memory of that smile forever.
There was something so bittersweet about it all.
“Tell me about your plan. Then I’ll tell you if I’d say ‘yes’.”
Eijirou nodded.
“We’d go to that local sushi place you love because I know their spicy tuna rolls are unmatched...”
Katsuki nodded, so far off to a good start.
“We’d go and get dango...”
Another great idea, it was actually starting to make him hungry. How long had they been down here for?
“Then I’d park at the bottom of the mountain and we’d hike up to our little clearing and standing above everyone in the world I’d look you in your eyes, I’d pull out the ring, and I’d say ‘Katsuki Bakugo, you are the biggest jackass I know. But because you’re a persistent jackass I’ve now realized that I can’t live without you. I know this isn’t the title you’re working for but you’re already my number one hero and I’d like to make sure it stays that way forever. Will you please marry me?”
Dead silence filled the gap between them.
Broken by a sniffle.
“That’s so cheesy...
I would’ve said yes to you a thousand times.”
Eijirou picked up on a very faint sound of rocks moving somewhere in the background of their conversation.
It got louder quickly, and Eijirou was starting to feel the rocks shift on his back.
“Do you hear that?!”
Eijirou shouted in his pain.
“No I think my other hearing aid’s starting to cut out.”
Another huge shift made the whole space around them move.
It swayed dangerously and sprinkles of dust coated their wounds and skin.
Katsuki’s hearing aid died and as he threw it out if his ear he realised something.
It was his dominant hand that was trapped, he didn’t now how to do one-handed signing with only his left. Eijirou couldn’t exactly use sign in his position obviously.
He was voiceless.
“Eijirou,” He hated that he could barely hear himself talk anymore.
At this point he’ll be retired by thirty. He’d have to be a fucking teacher or some boring shit like that.
“I can’t hear.”
He nodded. Katsuki smiled, he really had found an angel.
The sensation of a breeze isn’t something Katsuki thought he’d miss until it hit him like a tonne of bricks as a small hole had melted through one of the thicker concrete blocks. Mina had found them.
She peaked her head in with a torch assessing the gravity of the situation.
The boys knew they where close to death but they didn’t fully comprehend how close, they both looked post mortem and the blood...
The blood was everywhere.
Katsuki couldn’t hear them but he was pretty good at reading lips.
Mina seemed horrified as Eijirou spoke, tears ran down her face.
Eijirou responded to her with something about how
“A jack wouldn’t be able to hold up so many pieces.”
Mina was begging now, because of the way she spoke it was hard to read her lips, but with the amount of time he’d spent with Eijirou, it was as natural as hearing.
“On my signal pull him out. This is the only shot he’s got. Please Mina.”
What did he mean by that?
“Eiji what are you doing?”
“I love you.” His lips read as he pushed himself up further.
Too far.
Katsuki felt himself get dragged through the hole as he screamed.
Screamed in all the pain his numb arm could suddenly feel, screamed in the pain of his heart being crushed under tonnes of concrete.
He screamed because for once he didn’t care who heard.
...
Two photos sat on a teacher’s desk at UA. One was a blond man and a muscular looking dog standing on a small cliff overlooking Musutafu.
And the other was older, the blond man a lot younger and hugging him from behind was another boy his age with spiky red hair and a shark tooth grin.
“Mr Dynamight?” One of his most promising students asked.
“Who’s the guy in the picture? Is he your partner?”
A thirty year old Katsuki Bakugo smiled softly as he played with the ring that swung around his neck on a gold chain.
Eijirou hadn’t wanted it to get blow up by accident.
“He was.”
Most of the students caught on and dropped the subject but one got up close to the photo with scrutiny.
“Holy shit that’s Red Riot! He was one of the best! You two must’ve been the ultimate power couple!”
That was what caused uproar in class. His class couldn’t believe that his “hardass” would date someone as cool as Red Riot.
Katsuki had never been prouder.