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Midoriya led the way on their practice patrol. As part of their hero class, class 2A was out patroling in groups of 5. Since he was from the area assigned, he led his group of Iida, Uraraka, Todoroki, and Tsuyu. They had only been out for an hour, Midoriya telling them about the area of the city he grew up in.
A few blocks, an explosion could be heard. The group immediately shifted, going from their lighthearted conversations to serious as they began to run in the direction of the blast.
Midoriya felt his stomach sink; things were getting more familiar the closer they got. He hoped one of his neighbors hadn't gotten hurt.
"It came from the house at the end." Iida said as they turned the corner onto Midoriya's street. He felt his blood practically freeze in his veins as he registered the address. Using his quirk, he rocketed ahead of his group, landing on his own doorstep in front of the destroyed door. He stepped inside just in time to see the villain holding his mom hostage.
Just in time to hear the sickening crack of her neck.
"Deku, what's—" Uraraka began as she caught up with him. Her eyes widened at the sight of Inko being held by the intruder. Her gasp made the man turn around, and with it Izuku could see the way his mother's neck was bent unnaturally. She fell from his grasp and slumped to the floor. Her eyes were open and glassy, and with the amount of blood in the room he knew.
"No!" Midoriya yelled, before his world went black.
~•~
He didn't remember anything else. Not the way he charged at the villain on pure muscle memory, slamming him against a wall of the house and destroying it. Not the way he continued to pummel the man until he was barely alive.
He didn't remember Todoroki pulling him off and trying to restrain him before Midoriya had the chance to kill the man, nor did he remember punching Todoroki in his attempts to get away.
He didn't remember Aizawa showing up, because Iida had called him right before they entered, and forcibly removing his quirk and restraining him with the scarves. The way Aizawa had barked orders into his communicator because the situation was fucked and he had to get Midoriya out of there before he did something worse.
He didn't remember being let go and slumping to the floor himself. Uraraka came up to give him a hug and he didn't react. His eyes stayed trained on Inko's corpse, though he couldn't remember that either.
…
How did he get in his dorm?
~•~
Katsuki walked back in with his group, already annoyed due to patrol being cut short. The class had been instructed to head to their homeroom, and he hadn't seen anybody else return yet.
"Bakugou," Todoroki called from his position waiting at the front gates. Ordinarily, Katsuki would ignore the boy; if it was really important Todoroki would talk anyway. This time, there was something in his voice that put him on edge, making him face the other immediately.
"What do you want?" He demanded. It was the nicest thing he could muster. Todoroki wasn't phased.
"It's Midoriya."
Of course he had to get himself hurt on patrol. Katsuki sighed. "Recovery Girl?"
"No, it's not that—" Todoroki hesitated, and that threw Katsuki for a loop, because Todoroki was almost as blunt as him. He noticed the fear in the other's dual-colored eyes.
Something was seriously wrong.
Katsuki immediately began to shrug off his gauntlets and mask. "Shitty hair, you get this in my dorm neatly I'll make you a meal of your choice." He didn't wait for a reply, immediately turning to Todoroki. "What the fuck happened?"
The reply didn't come until the two were away from their classmates. "He's not physically hurt. We don't think. Recovery Girl didn't see anything wrong on the initial assessment, but she couldn't get further than that. We got him back in his dorm, but he hasn't said a word—"
"I didn't ask for a fucking monologue, I asked what happened?" Katsuki cut him off, irritated.
Todoroki took a deep breath, stopping to face him. "A villain broke into Midoriya's house while we were patroling the area. He got there right as his mother was killed. There was nothing any of us could do by the time we got into the house."
And…fuck, that was worse than anything Katsuki thought would have happened. He cared about Inko too, but Izuku must be wrecked.
"Midoriya hasn't spoken since it happened. He hasn't reacted to anything since we forced him off the villain before he killed the bastard. Uraraka tried to get him to undress, drink water, anything, but he just stares through us." He continued.
"The fuck you think I could do about it?"
"You're his boyfriend. And you're the best at everything right?"
"Damn straight but…shit." Katsuki had no idea how he was supposed to even begin trying to help fix this.
Todoroki only nodded as they finally made it to Izuku's door. Iida and Tsuyu were standing outside like guards.
"Good, you found him." Tsuyu said, relaxing.
"What do you need from us?" Iida asked immediately.
Katsuki wanted to reply dismissively, but he knew that he shouldn't. "I'll text you if, and only if, we need something. Other than that, keep yourselves and everyone else scarce."
His words sounded agressive, but there was no bite in his tone. Everyone nodded, and Katsuki went to open the door. Uraraka looked up.
"Oh thank god, I didn't know what to do." She jumped up from her position sitting next to Izuku, rubbing his shoulder before leaving the room at Tsuyu's call.
Katsuki kneeled in front of his boyfriend, who didn't even register he was there. Izuku stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused. He was dissasociating hard.
"Izuku. Hey," he tried, rubbing the boy's knees to try and get his attention. Nothing. "'Zuku, come on, look at me."
Izuku hadn't even blinked. "Baby, please." That seemed to finally do it. Green eyes locked onto his, but their color was dulled in a way Katsuki hated.
"Kacchan?" Izuku asked, hands grasping onto his. Katsuki could feel them trembling slightly.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Kacchan, my mom. It's my mom she—" His breathing immediately picked up.
"I know 'Zuku. I'm sorry."
Green hair shook violently in front of his face. "No, no, I killed her. I got her killed I—"
"No." Katsuki knew exactly where that train of thought was going, and it was nowhere good. He squeezed Izuku's hands, trying to get the message across to him via eye contact only. Izuku's shoulders slumped.
"What do I do?" He tearfully asked.
Katsuki had no answer. Which pissed him off, almost as much as everything else about this day had. There was nothing he could do to fix any of this. So, he improvised.
"All you have to think about is today. I'm sure our teachers can figure out the rest."
Izuku's gaze hadn't left his, and his eyes were so sad Katsuki wanted to finish Izuku's work in killing whichever fucking d-list villain had done this. He continued. "Right now, let's take a shower."
He began to stand, when the grip on his hands tightened.
"Please don't leave." Izuku practically whispered.
"…That's what I meant by lets. You and I." Katsuki almost smirked. Almost.
Izuku shook his head. Katsuki realized he couldn't even let the other go right now. He sighed, before nodding and pulling his boyfriend up to make their way to the bathroom. Izuku moved slowly, almost still in a daze. As soon as they made it to the bathroom, Katsuki pulled out his phone to text Izuku's friends.
'Someone go to my room and grab two sets of clothes. Bring them to the second floor bathroom'
The message was liked, which was all he needed to throw his phone back down and focus entirely on his boyfriend. He began to slowly strip Izuku's hero suit off, laying all the pieces down on the bench softly.
Todoroki appeared as soon as he finished with the sets of clothes. He put them next to Katsuki, which got a head nod in response.
"I'll take these to the wash for you." Todoroki said, beginning to gather up the hero costume.
The second he grabbed his cape, Izuku came back to life.
"No—!" He yelled, reaching out. Katsuki put a hand on his shoulder.
"He's going to wash it and bring it back 'Zuku."
"Not my cape!"
Katsuki glanced up at Todoroki, before looking back down at the cape. It was covered in blood.
Inko's blood.
"Leave it." Katsuki said, turning back to Izuku. That was a battle for a different day.
"It's filthy." Todoroki said. Izuku made a choked off sound, and Katsuki wanted to murder him. He knew Todoroki was just trying to help, in really the only way he knew how. It wouldn't stop him from throttling the boy if he didn't shut up and leave, though.
"Leave the fucking cape. We can get him another one."
Todoroki nodded, eyes widening in understanding, before he dropped the cape and swiftly left the room. Katsuki laid it back on the bench, and Izuku's eyes drifted towards it. All of the energy he seemed to have had was gone.
Katsuki began to wash him, never leaving his side. He took his time, wiping away all of the blood that had soaked through his suit, then scrubbing some more because he wanted Izuku to feel clean. Izuku barely moved throughout the entire ordeal.
When they were finished, towelled off, and dressed, Katsuki turned to him.
"Do you want to eat something?" He asked. Izuku shook his head minutely.
"Want to lay down?" Izuku nodded, and Katsuki knew better than to ask him which room they wanted to go to. Izuku always complained that it wasn't fair that Katsuki's bed was more comfortable than his.
When they made it to Katsuki's bedroom, he brought Izuku to lay down on the bed before climbing in next to him. Izuku moved pliantly, allowing himself to be manhandled until Katsuki got them into a comfortable position.
When he wrapped his arms entirely around Izuku, he began to cry. Loud, harsh sobs ripped from his throat as he gripped Katsuki's shirt. Quiet mutters of "mom..." could be heard in between. Katsuki just let him, monitoring his breathing for signs of a worse panic attack. Nothing he said was going to help Izuku anyway.
"Kacchan?" Izuku whispered after a while. He hummed in response, and Izuku continued. "I don't know what to do."
Katsuki felt his heart break. Izuku hadn't sounded that small since…
ever.
Even when Katsuki was bullying him, and even when he fought villains and ended up hospitalized Izuku never sounded that defeated.
"I know 'Zuku. It's okay."
"No it's not." He sobbed out. "My mom is dead, and I couldn't save her."
"You did everything you could."
"I failed her."
"No you didn't. Auntie Inko is—" Katsuki started getting choked up, and he was about ready to rip his tearducts out. "Was so proud of you. You couldn't fail her if you tried."
Izuku leaned back to meet his eyes. "But—"
"No." He silenced Izuku with a kiss. "You didn't fail her. This is not your fault. And I'll keep saying it until you believe me."
Katsuki was not a words person. He was so far out of his depth here, but Izuku needed him, and he'd make damn sure he was there for his boyfriend. He had no idea if any of this was comforting to him, or if he was making it worse.
He felt three taps on his chest, their sign for 'I love you' when they couldn't speak with each other.
"I love you too, 'Zuku." Katsuki pulled Izuku in tighter as the tears started up again. Izuku clung to him just as tightly. "I know, I know, but we'll figure it out. I promise. We will figure it out." He felt Izuku nod into his chest, and stopped talking for now.
~•~
Izuku had long since fallen asleep, and Katsuki was almost about to join him when he hears a knock at the door. "I told you nosy assholes to stay away!" Katsuki yelled.
"Bakugou." The voice said from outside, and shit, it was his teacher. He extracted himself from Izuku as softly as possible and went to answer the door.
"How is he?" Aizawa asked as soon as it was cracked behind him.
"How the fuck do you think he is?" Katsuki snapped. Aizawa, to his credit, only stared blankly at the boy. Katsuki sighed, he hated this whole day.
"He's doing shitty. He won't eat. Barely talks. I don't know if he's really even here right now."
Aizawa nodded. "That makes sense. You got him for the night?"
"Obviously." Katsuki fired back immediately. "You deal with the bullshit?"
"Language." Aizawa said tiredly. He continued before Bakugou had a chance to correct. "For the most part, yes. He shouldn't get in any trouble, but I can't get him out of meeting with the commission."
"Bunch of stuck up assholes."
"Yes. I'll delay it as much as I can. He will need to visit the counselor as soon as he's able." His tone indicated nothing was up for negotiation.
"I'll do what I can."
Aizawa seemed like he was about to say something else, but a cry from behind the door cut him off. Katsuki re-entered the room quickly, not sparing Aizawa a second glance or closing the door.
"'Zuku?" He asked quietly as he sat down on the bed. Izuku was shaking, hard, and looked like he was about to start sobbing again.
"Kacchan…" Izuku pitched forward into his arms, sniffling. "You were gone."
"I know, I'm sorry." Katsuki pulled him in closer, rubbing his hands up and down Izuku's back.
"You were gone and—"
"I'm not going anywhere Izuku."
The door was shut quietly behind them.