Chapter Text
It was his birthday. It was his birthday and it was supposed to be a good birthday. Birthdays are good. They should be good. They're meant to be good… so why…. why is it dark? Why can't he think straight? Why is there the smell of iron and rotting flesh?
As he sat up, because apparently he was laying down, his head buzzed and spiked with pain. "What the hell?" he groaned.
"Shut up and stay down. You got hit in the head pretty hard and have been out for a while. Do you remember anything?" The voice seemed to struggle with pain and it kept being interrupted by grunts.
"I- I remember it was my birthday… that's… that's pretty much it…" He sighed in confusion. Wasn't it still his birthday? If it wasn't, how long had he been here? Where even is he? He started to get lightheaded and reached for his head. That's when he felt the wet and sticky substance dripping from his head.
"Lay back down. Trying to sit up is pointless in your condition. I'll tell you everything, just lay down before you pass out again." The man grunted. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain- Katsuki is a hero… he should be helping…
"I said to lay down… please just stay down. It's hard enough keeping this place from crumpling down Kacchan, please just listen for once." Izuku??? Grunted out.
He layed down and closed his eyes because, god, his head hurt like hell. So… is the nerd going to tell him what happened? Did he lie? That goddamn stupid nerd always doing whatever he wants just to get ahead of him! He doesn't need to lay down! When he opened his eyes he was more coherent. He heard a low rumble and felt the uncomfortable dirt and rock under his skin.
"You awake? Good. I thought you started to go out on me," He chuckled."So, you wanted to know what happened…"
Katsuki slowly sat up and looked around. It was dark, but not too dark to where he couldn't see anything. There was rubble and debris everywhere. A thick pile of dust had set around the place, and he could tell that they were going to run out of air soon. He heard coughing and some rubble fall, so he looked up to find a radiant, greenish teal light buzzing all over the place. It wasn't bright enough to see a lot, but he could see Izuku, he could see the thick creases in his face lined and covered in dust, making him look older than he was. He could see bloody sweat running down his face. And he could see him holding up a large ass boulder that acted as a ceiling for the both of them.
"It was your birthday and I decided to take you mountain climbing since it was always your favorite and… well, now you rarely have time to go. So, I got permission from Aizawa-sensei for Twenty-four hours of climbing up a mountain, camping at the top, and then making it back down. And then, half way there you decided to explore a small cave you found. I told you it was a bad idea! The rocks were barely holding on, and it looked like it would fall any moment. But, being you, you went in anyways, and being me, I couldn't say no. I mean, what kind of idiot says no to someone on their birthday?"
"You don't, that's for sure." he scoffed.
Izuku chuckled, "You're right. Anyways, when you went in it ended up collapsing. A big piece of rock hit your head and knocked you out, and basically the whole ceiling is on top of the rock I'm holding now. I'm the reason we're both still alive right now."
"How… how long has it been? Since, y'know, the cave collapsed?" If Katsuki had been out for a while, and Izuku had been holding the whole cave in his hands this whole time, then the Nerd couldn't hold it much longer. The more time it took to get rescue, the harder and more tired Izuku would become. If Izuku let go….no. Izuku wouldn't let go… he's not like that. He… he's not like that meaning the nerd wouldn't give up no matter what even if that meant killing himself in the process. Katsuki looked up. Just as he suspected, the lightning and teal power around the greenette had dimmed more. Izuku wasn't just holding the ceiling of the cave, he was holding the whole goddamn mountain!
"It's been roughly around twelve hours… I lost track around hour six, though with you being unconcious, it helped. You've woken back up five times now. First three you were delirious and most likely don't remember anything. And then you woke up last time, stayed up for about ten minutes before you fell back asleep for two hours. Now we're here."
With that information Katsuki had to stop and think. Izuku, using his normal amount of power which is about fifty precent, could most likely hold up this much rubble for about 5 hours. And that was stretching it. So at 100% he could last probably around 10 hours. If he's using 100% now, then that means any moment he could fail out and everything would come crashing down.
The spiky blonde looked up again. The teal light was dimming, there was dark ooze falling every second, not to mention the deep grunts every few minutes. If Izuku was already failing and they still had twelve hours till people realize they need help…. Then this was going to be the longest twelve hours of his and Izuku's life.
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Katsuki had been awake for around an hour…. he thought… It was very hard to keep track of time when you were in a dark room, that was very uncomfortable mind you, while you slowly died from suffocation, blood loss, and/or being crushed to death. Honestly it depended on what finished him off first. Currently, he thought the suffocation was winning. It was getting harder to breathe every few minutes and he kept getting the urge to sneeze, but he had to hold it in. If he sneezed right now the whole mountain would crush them.
To pass time he had decided to patch up what he could. Izuku had the smart idea to bring a first aid kit and though it didn't have much, it was enough for his palms and head. During the hour he had also decided to investigate a bit while figuring out the terrain they'd been stuck in. For starters, he estimated that the ceiling was about four feet high in the middle, but was two to three feet towards the floor. The ceiling was also slanting due to Izuku only holding one side up, so space was more crammed where Katsuki was. The rubble made a dome-like shape, so him and Izuku were stuck with no way out unless they risked a collapse.
As for the nerd, Izuku was stuck in a little separate area. There was rubble that surrounded him and as far as Katsuki could tell, there was some sharp rocks behind the greenette. If Katsuki were to bet money on it, he'd say that at least one of the rocks have impaled his friend.
The explosive blonde decided to shift his spot around to where he was sitting up. There was a piece of rubble beside him that he could prop up on, so very carefully as to not reopen any wounds, he scooted over and placed his back against it. Now he could get a better look at Izuku. The greenet was sweating profusely, sweat and tear tracks visible through the layers of dust and blood coating his face. His bangs were clumped together covering the heavy creases lining his nose and forehead. One For All was helping him hold the slab of mountain, barely glowing the teal-green it always shines. What had it been now? Thirteen? Fourteen hours? The way Izuku was shaking and panting screamed signs of quirk overuse.
"Izuku,"he coughed. "Let me help…"
"N-no…. I can't. If I let go this whole thing will come crashing down, as much as I want to say you're strong enough, you aren't, Kacchan. You aren't strong enough for this." The greenette was interrupted by hacking cough.
"Izuku. Izuku, look at me."
Pained emerald green eyes stared into crimson ones. "You're sick, I can tell. You're overusing your quirk and it's harming you in the process. Is there a way you could balance the slab on some other rocks? Sure, we might loose more air and the space will definitely be smaller- But we can make it work! We have to make it work!" He agresively whispered. Honestly, Katsuki wanted to scream it, he wanted to yell and beg for Izuku to take a break.
"Kacchan, it won't work…" Izuku sounded breathless. "It… it won't work…. I'm sorry."
Just as Izuku said that, the collapsed cave shook and the slab covering them both collapsed, ripping gut wrenching screams from both boys.