Work Text:
Katsuki woke up in the middle of the arena, the shouting all around him slowly coming to focus in his ears.
It took him a moment to figure out what was going on. It was just after the sports festival; he had won. And his anger picked right back up where it had left off before Midnight had forced him asleep.
Katsuki started yelling. The sounds, muffled by the mask over his mouth, echoed through the speakers of the large stadium, drowning out All Might's voice as he announced the end of the festival.
He was tied up pretty good; his hands were restrained in a big metal contraption that didn’t allow him to use his quirk, and he was tied to a concrete slab on his first-place spot on the podium. He was also chained to the floor.
Goddamn were they being hardcore about this.
When the announcements were done, and teachers started to surround him to figure out what to do next, he didn’t listen to their pleas for him to calm down. He glared Mr. Aizawa down and just continued on.
And then he was out again, with the same familiar tired feeling from Midnight’s quirk.
—
Katsuki had finally opened his eyes. He was extremely groggy from the quirk, but he looked around; it seemed that they had just left him in a random waiting room.
There was no one in the room with him, and in the few moments of complete silence he took while waking himself up, he could hear no one. Unless they had extensively soundproofed all of the waiting rooms in the time between when he fell asleep and now, there was no one around. No talking or footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Of course they would do that. Just fucking leave him here to wait for god knows how long, with no update on what was happening. What bullshit. And he was supposed to be happy he won?
Well, he wasn’t going to stay silent any longer. He was completely awake now and snapped out of his sleep-induced delirium. Now that he could think straight, he wasn’t just going to sit and take it. Even if no one was around to hear it, that didn’t matter. Anyone walking outside of the room, or, for that matter, in any of the adjacent hallways, was going to hear him. He would make them listen.
He couldn’t actually speak. He still had that metal muzzle strapped to his face. But that wouldn’t stop him.
He started making any sounds he could; grunting, clanging from his restraints, and banging the chains.
After a few seconds of this defiance, he jumped in surprise when he felt something like a jolt of electricity flow through his entire body in an instant.
The fuck?
He started clanging his restraints around again, seeing if maybe the teachers had unlocked them for when he woke up. Of course, they didn’t. Fucking idiots.
Why wasn’t anyone here? Did they severely overestimate how long he would be knocked out for? Or did they really not care? Maybe this was some form of punishment? If anyone was in the area they would have heard him, but no one had come yet. The teachers had to have been in a different part of the school.
He started grunting again, ready to make as much noise as possible until somebody heard him. Almost instantly, he felt another jolt.
He had a moment of realization after feeling the sensation again. Had they put a shock collar on him?
That was the only explanation he could think of. He didn’t get shocked when he made the clanging noises. It must be around his neck, registering the vibrations of his voice.
He made a humming sound. It happened again.
But the force of this shock hurt like hell. He yelped, which only caused another stab of pain to flow through him. He took a deep breath, which almost felt impossible within the confines of the stupid mask, and managed to stop himself from lashing out again.
Katsuki didn’t know what to do. His hands were being rubbed raw by the metal, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the clanging noise forever. But what if someone was passing by the room? He needed someone’s attention. He wasn’t just going to sit here for however long the heroes planned to torture him for. He needed out. Now. He was really starting to panic, and he felt his heart rate spike.
Whoever’s bright idea this was, Katsuki was going to find them and kill them. He could no longer rely on his hearing to tell if anyone was passing by, as his breathing was too intense. It was the only thing he could hear now. He focused on that sound instead of the pain.
Why the hell did they use a collar anyway? He could feel it now, poking into his skin. They had only put it on him once he was alone, of course, probably to not get in trouble for it. It must’ve been on a high setting too. They had done all this just to shut him up but were nowhere around to hear him anyway.
He started making the clattering noises again, over and over, until it hurt his wrists too bad to keep going. But it was the only noise he could make without getting shocked.
By the time he had finished, he was so worn out and tired from everything. He had already done all that work at the festival, and his arms just couldn’t keep up anymore. He dropped his arms down and his head leaned forward too. It was just too much. He was tired. He wanted to go home and sleep, or maybe eat something. That was all he wanted.
Katsuki was honestly starting to get worried. What was going to happen? Were they actually leaving him here all night? It had been far too long already, and he didn’t know how long he had been asleep for originally. Did his parents even know where he was?
He started hyperventilating. The mask didn’t allow for much air to get in, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe at all.
Everything was setting in. The humiliation of what happened, his so-called “victory,” and now this. Tears prickled in his eyes. He didn’t let them fall but basked in the embarrassment and shame of the day. All this for a first-place spot that he hadn’t even won properly.
And then he saw it. Light underneath the doorway shifted slightly, like footsteps walking only a few feet away.
Impulsively, driven by his panic to get free, Katsuki made a noise in his throat, but it was hoarse, and not as loud as he’d hoped. But of course, it still hurt just as bad as the other times.
He sat, putting his head down again and closing his eyes, hoping that sound was enough because he didn’t have the strength to lift his hands or make any other noises. He was in too much pain and too sore for any of this bullshit.
He thought that was it, that the person had already moved on after a few moments of waiting. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter.
But they shot back open when he heard the door creak. He looked and saw it open only a crack.
“Kacchan? You in there?’
“Mmph!” He responded, making as much noise as possible in that moment.
He felt the shock vibrate through his bones. He could feel it everywhere, and there was no way he could have stifled the whimper that followed. And it just kept going. He continuously made strangled sounds from the back of his throat, perpetuating the cycle.
“I’ve been looking for you…” Izuku started as he walked in and watched in confused horror. He didn’t know what was going on but rushed over to Katsuki as his tears began to fall. It hurt so bad.
“What’s wrong Kacchan? Are you hurt?” Izuku listened to the other boys' pitiful whines, not knowing what they meant.
“Stop, stop, it’s alright…” he soothed, “I can help you, but I have to figure out what’s going on first.”
Katsuki listened as Izuku shushed him, and tried to steady his breathing. He managed to shut himself up, with the help of the other boy’s steady breaths near his ear.
He looked up at Izuku, who had been watching him. Their eyes met, and Katsuki could see the real concern in his eyes. Since he couldn’t talk, he tried conveying to him how he was feeling in that one look. Izuku got the message.
Something was really wrong. He could see his pain and knew that he had to fix this.
Izuku tried to come up with an idea of what could be happening but didn’t know where to start. “I don’t…” he stuttered for a moment. “Can’t you give me a clue, or do something that might help me understand?”
Then Katsuki started fidgeting.
If that was his clue, it was going to take Izuku a while to figure out.
“Uhm. Sorry. Just give me a minute.” Izuku started mumbling to himself in deep thought and looked to the floor.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. He kept on with the movement. Izuku was too oblivious now to see what he was trying to do. And then it worked; he had used the muzzle to slip the side of his uniform off of his shoulder.
When Izuku looked back, clearly out of ideas, he noticed immediately. “How did…?” he wondered, pausing for a moment in confusion.
“Is it uncomfortable? I’ll fix it for you,” Izuku said nervously, trying to cover all his bases so Katsuki wouldn’t get mad about what he was about to do. He reached over to his shoulder, looking apologetic at the close contact. But this is what Katsuki had wanted.
As Izuku brought the fabric closer to his neck, Katsuki made a humming noise. Tears shot out of his eyes at the hot burning sensation, but he was sure not to make another sound.
Izuku jolted upwards. He had felt it too, since he was touching his skin so close to the collar. He seemed confused for a moment before realizing what was going on. His eyes widened.
“Is this…?” he questioned, going to touch the collar. He fiddled with it for a moment, trying to fathom why it was on him in the first place. He knew the shocks had to hurt pretty bad if the thing was designed to restrain a hostile person. Katsuki had been angry, yes, but he wasn’t putting anyone in danger. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would do this. The restraints were enough, and he had even thought that was too harsh.
His number one priority now was to get the thing off of Katsuki, but one of his arms was in a sling. He ran his non-injured finger along the edges to find some sort of latch to take it off. He looked at Katsuki worriedly as he did this; seeing him so helpless with tears running down his face, it made him feel sick.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, not knowing what else to say. He didn’t know if he could do this by himself while injured. “Do you know where anyone went?”
Katsuki shook his head.
Izuku sighed and continued examining the collar while mumbling in thought. It was on pretty tight, so he tried not to move it around too much, worried it was hurting him. There was a small button on the side. He clicked it, hoping it would open.
But it didn’t. Instead, Izuku felt another shock in his fingertip, this time of his own doing.
Katsuki yelped, more tears springing from his eyes and he started fidgeting uncomfortably on the seat. It was all he could do to deal with the pain. He kept whining like that for a while as Izuku apologized profusely.
“I’m so sorry!” Izuku shouted, almost starting to cry himself. “I’ll get it off. I promise!”
But Katsuki couldn’t stifle the moans of pain escaping his lips. Izuku tried to get him to stop, but he couldn’t. Izuku reached for his neck, ignoring the shocks he could now feel slightly through his hand, and found the correct latch. He took it off as quickly as he could.
Katsuki continued to whimper slightly, the pain lingering in his bones. Still, he felt a big wave of relief as the excruciating pangs no longer followed every sound of his voice.
“I should get this muzzle off next,” Deku thought aloud, reaching behind Katsuki’s head. There were latches on the back that were pretty tight, like a belt. He was worried that he was hurting Katsuki and wondered if he should just find a pair of scissors, but he didn’t want to leave the blond alone.
He thought it was impossible with only one arm, but after a moment of tugging and pulling, one came undone. The rest were easier after that.
He pulled the mask off of Katsuki and stared at him concerned, just watching the other boy’s relief. Meanwhile, Katsuki got the first real deep breath into his lungs since he had woken up. He breathed deeply like that for a while, his head bowed, feeling Izuku watching him intently.
“Are you alright now?”
Katsuki only nodded in response. He was too scared to hear how his voice would come out, probably cracked and hoarse from his yelling and crying. Izuku wasn’t supposed to see him like this, not while he was so weak. He tried to wipe his tears but they kept coming.
“I can’t unlock the cuffs. Maybe someone left the key somewhere,” Izuku thought, looking around. He searched the tables around the room as Katsuki watched from his seat. The restraints were too heavy for him right now, and he just sat and breathed, unable to stand with so much weight.
Izuku walked over to a table next to the door he had come in through, and to his luck, there the key was. He managed to unlock the cuffs after a lot of work; they were quite complex, and Izuku wondered why they had them at the school in the first place.
Then he noticed Katsuki’s hands, rubbed raw from trying to escape the cuffs and from shaking them so much earlier.
He noticed the marks on his neck too, almost like burns where the collar had been. Mixed in with the injuries from the festival, and the exhaustion worn on his face, he looked pretty bad.
“Kacchan, I need to take you to Recovery Girl.”
Katsuki’s head shot up. “No!” He blurted, and he had been right earlier. His voice was raspy and sore, and it hurt to talk. “They’re the ones that did this to me in the first place!”
Izuku’s eyes softened. “Alright. But if you don’t get treated, then you’ll have to let me do it.”
Katsuki looked opposed to the idea, but he was still crying, and shaking a little too, and there was no way Izuku was going to let him go without getting some help.
“Just go away,” Katsuki sighed. He felt so humiliated. He just wanted to go home and be in his room, alone.
But Izuku had vowed to himself that he would stay with Kacchan until he was back to his normal temperamental self and yelled at him to go away instead of just asking.
He grabbed a few bandages out of his pocket. They were meant for his own injuries since Izuku never even thought the other boy would need them. When he had come looking for Katsuki he assumed that he would have already been patched up.
“Sit down, Kacchan.”
He had nowhere else to go and was so lost at what else he could do that he just complied.
Izuku took everything he had been meaning to take home with him out of his pockets and got to work.
Meanwhile, Katsuki just sat and watched Izuku work diligently on him for what seemed like forever. In all the time Izuku took, not a single teacher had walked in to check on him. He wondered what he would have done if Izuku had not been there looking for him. He watched the boy clean him up, and be so gentle with him. No one was ever gentle with him, not like Izuku was.
And his tears that continued to fall were more for that reason than anything. How could Izuku be so soft with him? He didn’t understand. But for once, he wasn’t going to complain about it.
His exhaustion was also helping to cause the onslaught of tears, and the only thing that silenced them was when he eventually fell asleep, with Izuku still putting on his bandages. He had noticed immediately, as the only noise in the room was Katsuki’s silent sobs, and he stopped to stare for a moment when they finally silenced.
—
When Katsuki opened his eyes for the third time that afternoon, he was being shaken awake. He grew panicked for a moment until his eyes met the soft green ones watching over him.
“Come on, Kacchan. I’ll take you home.”
Izuku took his hand and helped him stand up from out of his chair. He was wobbly, but Izuku supported his weight. Katsuki could barely comprehend what was going on, otherwise, he probably would’ve stopped this. But that didn’t matter right now.
He would yell at Izuku to keep his mouth shut about this later. At that moment, he just needed this.
And it’s not like Izuku would have stopped anyway. He couldn’t explain the deep feeling of protectiveness that he felt for the other boy at that moment, and he knew that he could never tell Kacchan about these feelings anyway. But he was content to feel them. He was going to continue to care for his Kacchan, now and forever, no matter what Kacchan had to say about it.