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When Katsuki accepted Todoroki’s invite to become interns for Endeavor alongside Deku, he was fired up and prepared to surpass his two greatest rivals in class 1-A. Everything at this internship was a competition between the three, a race to see who can reach the next level the fastest.
What he wasn’t prepared for, however, was to be the one losing the race.
It’s been around 2 weeks since the internship began. Katsuki never took his training lightly, never let his guard down. He knew Todoroki and Deku were strong, and the last thing he wanted was to fall behind and let them take over. Katsuki was going to be number one, and that’s how it’s supposed to be.
It didn’t take long for Katsuki to begin to feel the pressure and frustration of competing with Todoroki and Deku. Every day was an even greater challenge than the last, where the three of them would be neck and neck, ready to surpass the other. Katsuki was always determined to not let that happen, always pushing himself to be greater, to win.
Today was not looking to be a great day for Katsuki’s progress.
The day was spent training with Endeavor, doing multiple tasks like destroying objects, performing rescue operations, training for physical strength and improving on their quirks. Katsuki was feeling the effects of the day’s work. He was falling behind all day, falling behind Todoroki and Deku, and each time he felt himself slipping away from grasping that win, he would push himself harder and harder, forcing his body to cooperate how he wanted it to.
It was now evening, the time when they usually headed back, and Katsuki is preparing for what happens next.
Every single day, when training is done, the four of them must head back to the agency. Endeavor was training the trio to surpass him, to become faster than him. To achieve this, he makes Katsuki, Deku, and Todoroki race him back to the agency. The trio have yet to beat Endeavor to the agency, but that’s not what’s on Katsuki’s mind right now.
Katsuki is only thinking about being faster than Todoroki and Deku.
Endeavor and the interns were at an empty space by the beach, having just finished working on their quirks. Todoroki was sweating from the amount of fire usage he had gone through during his training, and Deku was covered in scrapes and bruises from throwing kicks and punches using One For All. Katsuki was sweating a lot more than he normally was, and he was sporting a massive headache which he assumed was from the extreme volume of his explosions. He scoffed. He can’t afford to be feeling weak right before their race back to the agency.
Katsuki can see Deku approaching Todoroki, rambling on about how he noticed Todoroki’s improvements and how cool he thought it was. Katsuki wasn’t in the mood to listen to Deku’s voice go on and on.
Katsuki pointedly looked away from the two, and as soon as he turned his head away, his vision started to swim, the world spinning around him. He made a mistake of attempting to drown out Deku’s voice, because Deku was currently speaking to him and he did not hear a single word of what he said.
“-chan… Kacchan, are you okay?”
Katsuki finally snapped out of whatever daze he was put in and saw Deku watching him with concern in his eyes, Todoroki observing curiously from behind Deku. Katsuki shook his head, attempting to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling roaming through his body.
“Shut up, worry about improving yourself, you nerd,” he snapped before walking away, following behind Endeavor who was starting to walk away, Deku and Todoroki slowly walking behind him. As they should.
The made it back onto the road, facing the direction of the agency. “As usual, meet me back at the agency. Your goal is to either make it back in 10 minutes, or to arrive at the agency before I do,” Endeavor instructed.
“Yes, sir!” Were the replies given.
Endeavor turned back around, facing away from the boys, preparing to take off. The 3 boys behind followed suit. Katsuki, Deku and Todoroki stood side by side, on equal foot, ready to take off at the same time on Endeavor’s signal. The three of them knew what the rules were, but they all had their own silent agreement, the unspoken rule where they weren’t just competing with Endeavor here, but with each other as well.
“Good. Your time starts now.” Endeavor instructed before whisking off, as soon as Endeavor took off, the trio in the back took off at the exact same time. Deku was moving around using One For All, zapping through the streets, using walls and objects to help control his movements. Todoroki was sliding through his ice to increase his speed, and Katsuki was using his explosions to project himself in the air. They were all neck and neck, plowing through at the same speed. If one of them slipped behind, they would quickly catch up. They never maintained a distance longer than 2 feet from each other.
Katsuki was beginning to feel that pounding in his head again, his body feeling more sweat than usual. Katsuki cursed under his breath. It felt as if his body was responding to his movements with weakness. Katsuki began to think, if his body can’t handle keeping up with the two insufferable idiots, he just has to push himself harder. So, everytime Katsuki’s body screamed in pain and discomfort, he would set off stronger explosions using his built up sweat, pushing himself harder to get rid of the weakness, get rid of the pain.
After a few minutes of doing that, Katsuki felt his body start to give out. His mind kept screaming at him, ‘Move faster, get stronger! Win!’ but his body was completely rejecting the idea, starting to form a mind of its own as Katsuki’s vision started swimming again. Suddenly he felt a wave of extreme heat, coming from his own body. His vision began to darken, black spots taking over his sight. His headache was unbearable at this point, and he no longer had control of his body.
Katsuki stopped. He stopped and gripped his head, before finally, he dropped to his knees and fell onto his side, lying limp on the ground.
Just before Katsuki lost consciousness, he heard Todoroki’s voice calling out to Deku, followed by a terrified, “Kacchan!”
Then Katsuki’s mind and body shut off completely.
Blinding lights were the first thing that Katsuki saw through his half-lidded eyes. He struggled to open them fully, his body opting to just keep them closed. Was he awake? Where was he? There’s voices…
“... spiked to about 40 degrees celsius. He must be kept in bed and rested for at least a full day, no training and especially no quirks,” a young woman’s voice was heard.
Katsuki’s mind was still hazy, bordering on the edge of consciousness and sleep. Another deeper voice piped in, “I’m assigning you both to take care of him during the night. Take him back to your room and put him in bed, I need him recovered as soon as possible.” It was Endeavor.
“Yes sir!” Was the response from Todoroki and Deku. Katsuki slowly began to lose the battle between being awake and asleep as his body unwillingly fell back into a deep slumber.
For the second time that day, Katsuki wakes up dazed. His eyelids slowly open, this time, not blinded by any lights. He’s in a dark room, the room being illuminated by the light coming from the breezy night sky through the open window. Katsuki puts a hand on his head and sits up, groaning. His eyes dart over to where he hears gasps. Sitting on the floor on two futons are Todoroki and Deku.
“Kacchan, you’re awake!”
“How do you feel?”
Katsuki’s still looking at the two, confused about what happened. Then he processes the question he was just asked. How does he feel? Just as he starts to think about it, Katsuki is hit by a wave of nausea, his stomach desperate to get rid of it’s contents.
“I-I’m gonna-” Katsuki didn’t even finish his sentence before a bucket was pushed onto his lap and Katsuki buried his face in the bucket, emptying his stomach out.
As Katsuki threw up into the bucket, he started to remember the events that occurred right before he passed out. That’s right, he passed out while they were supposed to be racing. Fucking lame, Katsuki thought.
Once he finished, he looked back up to see it was Todoroki who was holding the bucket, Deku having just walked back into the room with a bottle of water.
“Here, drink.” He said, handing him the water. Katsuki didn’t even have the energy to make a snarky comment at Deku before taking the water bottle and hydrating himself while Todoroki left to put the bucket outside of the room.
Katsuki sighed, laying his head against the headboard of the bed and looking up at the ceiling. “What the fuck happened?” was all he asked.
Deku and Todoroki sat on the bed near his legs, Katsuki having no energy to push them off, despite wanting to. “We were racing Endeavor back to the agency like usual,” Todoroki began, “And I heard your explosions stop, so I looked back at you and saw you had stopped moving, and started to pass out.”
Deku nodded, “When Todoroki-kun noticed, he called out to me and I stopped too. Endeavor was already far gone, so I carried you back to the agency, and Todoroki-kun took us to the agency’s infirmary. Endeavor met up with us there after we called him.”
“The nurse told us that you had a fever from overworking yourself, and you just need a full day of rest and no using your quirk. Endeavor put Midoriya and I in charge of you, so this time I carried you back here and now we have to make sure you stay here.” Todoroki finished.
Katsuki's face blanked. No quirks? No training for a day? Bullshit. That was only going to cause him to fall behind even farther.
Katsuki glared down at his lap. “I’ll be fucking fine by tomorrow morning, there’s no need to keep me here for a whole damn day and miss-”
“Bakugou.” Todoroki’s voice boomed over Katsuki’s, Katsuki looking up in surprise. Todoroki’s face remained expressionless as he spoke, “That exact mentality is what caused you to be sick in the first place.”
“Hah?! What the fuck are you talking about, half-n-half?” Katsuki growled.
“Ah, what he means is that your fever was caused by burnout. You were pushing yourself too hard these past few days, and you overworked yourself to the point of exhaustion,” Deku pointed out.
Todoroki is nodding along. “You cannot keep thinking that you’re invincible. Keep thinking that way and you’re not going to improve. Pushing yourself harder than what you can take won’t make you stronger, it’ll make you weaker,” Todoroki’s icy voice sent shivers down Katsuki’s spine.
Deku’s hands flailed in panic, “Todoroki-kun, that might be a bit harsh…”
“Ah, sorry…” Todoroki apologized, icy demeanor gone.
Katsuki grit his teeth, refusing to look at any of the two boys. Todoroki had a point, but that didn’t make his situation any less frustrating. “I can’t let you fucking idiots surpass me…” Katsuki mumbled.
Deku’s eyes widened, “Kacchan, that won’t happen! We’re all working together right now, our training is basically the same aside from the quirk stuff. The three of us are in this together…” he replied, Deku’s voice laced with concern.
Katsuki was growing increasingly frustrated, “You don’t fucking get it, Deku!” He ran his hands through his hair, struggling to keep the emotions at bay. “I came here to make sure you idiots don’t pass me! How am I supposed to not push myself when everyday feels like a fucking battle to keep my head above the water?!”
Deku’s eyes contorted into one of realization, finally understanding what Katsuki was feeling. Todoroki was quiet, contemplating the right words to say.
“I think Midoriya has a point.” Katsuki lowered his hands from his head, looking up at Todoroki’s firm stare. “We’re all working together now. We do the same stuff, so we should technically be on the same level. The only way we wouldn’t be on the same level is if we’re getting sick and neglecting our health.” Katsuki grumbled in response to Todoroki’s indirect jab, but Todoroki ignored him and continued, “As a wise but idiotic friend of mine once said, if your opponent isn’t giving their full power, it’s not a fair fight. You can’t give your full power if you’re going to get sick, Bakugou.”
God he’s so fucking irritating , Katsuki thought as he gripped his bedsheets, forcing himself to keep his quirk down. Damn Half-n-Half and his stupidly correct words. Katsuki just glared back at Todoroki and didn’t say anything. The two waited for a response from him, which irritated Katsuki even more knowing Todoroki was right. Katsuki looked away, a red flush growing on his face that wasn’t from the fever. “Tch. Whatever. Just know that after this I will not be holding back on you two even if you beg me for mercy.”
Deku and Todoroki smiled, knowing that Katsuki was finally convinced. “We wouldn’t expect anything less!” Deku replied in his annoyingly confident voice.
Katsuki finally realized the situation they were currently in. “Oi. Why am I on the fucking bed? I thought we agreed that none of us get the bed.”
Deku chuckled, “You’re the one who’s sick, Kacchan. We just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable.”
“I’m not gonna be the loser who takes the bed! Give me my fucking futon, I can handle the damn floor!” Katsuki barked back, starting to sit up so he could stand.
Todoroki pushed him back down. “Just stay here, you’re already tucked in anyways.” Katsuki looked down to see he was definitely tucked under the covers. From what he could feel, the idiots had changed him out of his hero costume and put him into a T-shirt. For some reason, that just slightly irritated him even more.
Katsuki didn’t try to get up anymore, so Todoroki and Deku took that as a sign that he was staying. “Do you still feel sick, Kacchan?” Deku asked, observing his face for any signs of discomfort.
Katsuki huffed, “Feels too hot. And I have a killer headache.” he shifted in his spot uncomfortably.
Todoroki reached his right hand out towards Katsuki’s forehead, but Katsuki caught it before he touched him, “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, cautiously.
Todoroki didn’t even blink as he replied, “Cooling you with my hand.”
“What the fuck?”
“It’ll make your fever go down much quicker,” Deku insisted, “Let Todoroki-kun do it.”
Katsuki wanted to crawl into a hole. As if passing out, being carried twice, having the nerds change him out of his clothes and throwing up into a bucket wasn’t embarrassing enough.
But the offer was tempting. A cool hand might be just what he needs to feel better. The faster I get healed, the faster I’ll leave these idiots in my tracks, Katsuki thought.
“Tch. Fucking whatever then.” Katsuki grumbled.
Todoroki took that as his sign to continue. He turned his hand cold and laid it on Katsuki’s forehead. Katsuki’s eyelids closed upon contact, his brows and face relaxing into a calm expression. The hand was cold, but not cold enough to freeze his face off. It was just right. Katsuki immediately felt the tension leave his body, and fell asleep just a couple minutes later, surprisingly quick.
Deku giggled, “He looks so calm.”
Todoroki smiled, dragging his hand down to cool Katsuki’s cheeks. “Yeah.”
Katsuki will never admit to being thankful for the two idiots for taking care of him. He’ll never admit to feeling better because of them. He’ll never admit to having woken up in the middle of the night while Deku and Todoroki were sleeping to grab his futon and sleep on the floor with them. He’ll never admit to having chosen to lay his futon on Todoroki’s right side instead of Deku’s left like usual, because he wanted to feel the cold radiating off of Todoroki’s right side. He’ll never admit to having slept through his fever all day while Deku and Todoroki trained the next morning. He’ll never admit to his rest day actually helping him feel better later that day. Nope. He refuses to admit any of it.
But Katsuki doesn’t have to say anything. Deku and Todoroki already know.