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Turns out, getting shot is a pain in the ass.
That’s the only thing Katsuki can think of as he feels the sharp pain spreading all through his chest. Fuck, this shit hurts. The things he’ll do for a mission.
He grunts, sits up slowly and glances down at his blood-stained costume.
Great.
“Aw,” a nearby voice murmurs sympathetically. Katsuki glances up. It’s the villain, Sneak, with a very punchable smile playing on her lips.
“Did the poor hero get an ouchie?” she asks jeeringly as she approaches him. She still has the bag full of items she stole. “Want me to put a Band-Aid on it? Kiss it better?"
He bares his teeth.
“Fuck you.”
The villain raises a brow.
“Oh wow,” she says, crouching down. Katsuki wants to headbutt her so bad. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Shut up,” he hisses out.
He pushes his hand upward to aim at her stupid face for making this whole mission a pain in the ass.
She tuts.
“That’s not gonna work buddy. You seem kind of hurt. I mean, aren’t you tired? Of this world? ” she props. “ Of all the lies this society tells us?”
You have got to be kidding me.
“Sorry, lady, but you’re crazy if you think your improvised speech is gonna change my mind.” Katsuki spits out. “Even less when it’s coming from you, after you’ve shot me.” There’s no way he would ever help a villain. Like, ever. ”I'm a hero.”
She stands up.
“Fine, have it your way.”
Then he feels a searing pain in his head. A sudden wave of light-headedness.
The last thing he hears before he loses consciousness is Izuku screaming his name in the background.
***
Waking up in hospitals isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world.
Waking up to the sight of his homeroom teacher, Aizawa, leaning against the wall and reading the local newspaper can only mean two things; either the bullet nicked something important or he’s going to die.
Katsuki hopes it’s the first option.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” his teacher says, turning a page of the local newspaper. The villain’s face along with Katsuki’s are on the front cover.
His stomach twists.
“How bad is it?” He croaks, his throat dry and his tongue weak from whatever Recovery Girl did to him. Whatever drug they must have pumped into him must be the good stuff.
Hell, he can’t even feel his goddamn tongue.
“Is it bad? And, ow!” he yells, rubbing his head. “Why did you hit me?”
“For being stupid,” Aizawa replies.
He points at the newspaper, where the villain’s face was printed. “She was one of the thirty most wanted villains of the country.” Then he points at him. “And you’re still a hero in training, not to mention a kid.”
His eyes narrow. “Who was stupid enough to provoke her.”
Katsuki lets out a wince.
“I remember getting hit with something.”
“You mean the villain? Ah yes, she hit you,” his teacher replies good naturally, taking a seat right beside his bed. “It’s part of her quirk.”
“And its...?”
“How are you feeling?” Aizawa asks him. Katsuki frowns, and opens his mouth, ready to tell him 'don’t avoid the question, old man.'
“Like shit,” he blurts out instead. He frowns, seconds later, at his own words. “Heads hurt. Feels like it’s being split in half. I’m tired.”
“The bullet didn’t tear anything important and you did get a concussion, but Recovery Girl healed that up,” Aizawa says, bored. “That explains the tiredness.”
“The f-”
“What did the doctor say about your hearing in the last check-up?”
“He suggested hearing aids,” Katsuki replies immediately. He cut himself off, completely baffled. He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about this. Except his mouth moves on its own.
Aizawa raises a brow.
“I’m losing thirty percent of my hearing. They believe it could be a side effect of my quirk, and-” he splutters. “What the heck?”
“It’s the villain’s quirk. Forces the victim to tell the truth no matter what.” Aizawa explains, his tired black eyes boring into Bakugou’s skull. He shrugs. “We don’t know when it will wear off.”
“Sensei, I can’t go to school like this.”
Aizawa sends him a lazy smile.
“I’m sure you’ll manage. Your classmates are probably worried about you,” he says and gives Katsuki a consoling pat, folds up the newspaper, and puts it underneath his armpit.
“You have to be kidding me, what about-”
“I’m not. Recovery Girl’s order and all that,” he tells him and starts walking out of the room. “It could always be worse.”
He closes his eyes.
“Oh, and Katsuki? You have two weeks to get hearing aids” a pause. “Else, I’m ratting you to your mom.”
Shit.
***
Katsuki doesn't get to open the goddamn door without seeing half of the class in the common room waiting for his return.
“Bakugou!”
“Dude!”
“Kacchan!”
“Welcome back!”
"Oh fuck off," Katsuki flips them off, wishing to be anywhere else but here.
He ignores the stupefied faces of his classmates and starts walking straight to his room. He doesn’t know how long this so-called quirk is going to last but damn if Katsuki isn’t going to try secluding himself.
The less interaction he has with people, the better. He doesn’t want to risk saying something he will regret later. Sadly, it seems his classmates haven't gotten the memo.
Like that Uraraka chick, for example.
“Bakugou.”
“Not in the mood, Round Face. Move it.” He says when he sees her blocking the exit, holding a plate with a piece of cake in her hands. Her face signals just the exact thing Katsuki was fearing. He’s not in the mood to talk.
“Move out of the way.”
She remains there, rooted on the spot.
He narrows his eyes at Todoroki, who’s at her side.
“You too Icy-Hot.”
“Mina made a cake.” Todoroki replies, without an ounce of fear. He offers him a plate. “It’s chocolate cake.”
He snorts.
“It’s store-bought, dumbass. Mina can’t bake a damned thing to save her own life.” The last time she tried to bake something, she almost burned the oven. They had to replace it and Aizawa was pissed.
“You’re not hungry?”
“I’m not...” he grits his teeth. Fuck, he can’t lie. “Nevermind. Excuse me.”
“Wait, dude!” Kirishima appears a second later, grabbing him by the wrists. Katsuki curses under his breath. “Are you in a hurry or something?”
Katsuki glares.
“No, I’m not,” he says through clenched teeth. “Stop asking me questions.”
Wrong answer, apparently, because then everyone hovers over him as if he’s going to break. He can even see four-eyes from afar, debating whether to talk or not.
“Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why?”
“Did something happen?”
“I got hit with a truth Quirk,” he bites his tongue hard to stop him from speaking. It doesn’t work. “It was the villain,” he musters. “I can’t lie.”
“How long is it going to last?” Someone, who he thinks is Momo, asks.“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” he replies and squeezes his eyes shut. “Can you stop-”
“Do you need help?”
“No. It will go away on its own.”
“What-”
“Guys, please stop,” Deku starts, looking conflicted. “I don’t think this is alright. He’s under the influence of a quirk. It’s not fair.”
”How come you’re sure-”
“I don’t know-”
“Are you alright?”
“Of course I’m not!” He snarls. The rest seems taken aback by his honesty but Katsuki can’t stop speaking.
“I’m scared because I can’t control this shit. I don’t know when it’ll wear and for fuc-stop asking me questions! I don’t want to talk!”
The rest of the room remains silent at his outburst.
“Just leave me alone.”
***
Three hours later, he hears someone knocking on his door.
He runs his hand through his blonde hair, groans, then slowly detaches from his bed.
It’s probably Kirishima, wanting to apologize again. This is all so stupid. He’s not even mad anymore.
“Shitty hair, I swear to god,“ Katsuki starts, putting on a sweatshirt over his bare chest. “If you don’t leave me alone, I will pulverize your ass. For the fifth time, I’m fine-”
“I’m not,” an anxious voice that’s definitely not Kirishima, speaks from the other side of the door. “Kirishima. That is. Which is cool, if you wanted him to knock on your door instead. You’re best friends with him, but I got worried for a second because you’ve been holed up in your room and everyone’s worried apparently, so I volunteer and I-”
He opens the door, and there he is. An anxious looking Izuku Midoriya standing in the hallway.
“Deku,” Katsuki says tiredly. “Stop with the mumbling thing. It’s giving me a fucking headache. You have five seconds. So, speak.”
“I wanted to check up on you after everything…,” he says, in that awkward way that for some reason and much to his displeasure, he finds it endearing.
“And apologize on behalf of the class because we made you uncomfortable and it wasn't, um, fair. And well, I wanted to talk to you about something…? Only if you want to! Of course. Or I can talk to you later if you want to. You’re probably tired and-"
He sighs.
“Just spit it out, nerd.”
“When we were fighting against that villain the other day,” says Izuku, slowly and tentatively like he's afraid any words he says will make Katsuki mad. “You took a hit for me. I mean, the shot she threw was meant for me, not you.”
He holds his gaze with Katsuki momentarily, and swallows.
“We’d parted ways, remember? You were on the other side of the street looking for her. I was close to her, right next to the shop you mentioned there…”
“Izuku,” Katsuki interrupts, unkindly. “Focus.”
“Ah right! Well anyway. When she aimed at me, you… ran up, and pushed me away. So I don’t understand? Because I know we used to be friends but we aren’t close anymore, and I’mprettysureyouhateme,” comes the last part, rushed.
“So I’m wondering… why? Because you know I could have taken the hit just fine. I’m used to it so-” Izuku promptly shuts up as horror fills his face. “Oh, gosh. I asked you a question, didn't I?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, gosh. Kacchan, I’m so sorry. Please don’t answer that. It’s not intention-
“I didn’t want you to get hurt. Because I like you. A lot,” says Katsuki, without skipping a bit. “I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt.”
They both freeze.
“Wait… what?” says Izuku, confused.
“I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt,” Katsuki repeats through clenched teeth, because you know what? Fuck it. Mind as well say everything he’s got holed up for some time. “It makes me mad. I don’t like it...because… I like you.“
He swallows.
“A lot.”
“Huh?”
Katsuki groans, and covers his face.
“For fuck sakes Izuku, I like you, nerd. Like, like you, okay?” Katsuki replies, flustered. “And don’t fucking tell anyone because, you hear me-mph!”
Unexpectedly, Izuku kisses him on the lips.
Once, twice and by the third Katsuki kisses him back, cupping the back of his head to pull him closer.
“Good,” Izuku whispers, his cheeks flushed as his lips were red from the kiss. “Because, I like you too, Kacchan.”