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Bakugo knows he will never be the same again, not after what happened at the war.
He died. His heart exploded, yet he survived—he was saved. But such an injury wouldn’t have let him walk away unscathed. He knows that…of course, he knows that. Even when he woke up and the doctors told me the reality of things, he knew what awaited him.
He can’t soar—fight like he used to.
After all the work he had done to make his power bigger and better. After everything he had done to surpass Izuku and after unlocking such an amazing part of himself, he loses it.
Now he has to be careful, listen when his phone beeps, alerting him that his heart is acting up and his pacemaker is working too much to compensate for the abnormality. It’s a constant ache—a reminder that he is no longer who he used to be.
He’s in the top 5. He should be happy, elated, but he is crippled now, a burden now. He could be more if this wasn’t plaguing him.
Yet, he still shows up. He needs to; he is running his own agency. When a call comes, he shows up and saves like he always has, maybe not at his full strength, but he is there. His friends—Kirishima mostly—constantly urges to tag along, but he always refuses. He can do it on his own.
But Izuku.
Well, he is persistent. For some reason, he got permission to tag along on this mission he has today. Not sure how, but he did it. Of course, he knows that the only way to keep an eye on him is to find a way where he can’t say no.
And now he is stuck with him. Great.
More eyes looking at him like he is a burden. Like he is about to collapse at any second.
No matter how many times he tells him—that he is fine—he will just stick beside him like a fly that simply won’t leave him alone.
“I’m just here to support you, Kacchan. Pro heroes do that all the time—team up!” Izuku says as they make their way to the location after commenting about him being there with him.
He knows what Izuku was getting at, but he knows what he truly meant.
“He thinks you can’t handle it.”
They all think that, and he knows Izuku is thinking that too.
“Okay, whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”
They arrive, and immediately, there is a fight. They are split up. Izuku takes on a group on one side of the large warehouse while he fights the group on the opposite side.
It’s long. Brutal. And the phone…the dam phone keeps beeping.
“Shut up!!” He bellows out as he sends a cluster of explosions onto the villains.
The attack hits them. They are stunned. Good. Quickly, he silences the phone; he’ll deal with that later.
He peeks over at Izuku and sees that he is handling himself well—that suit really is something. Even quirkless, he is still a far better person than he was back in high school.
Better than him…
He tries to go and help him, but again, he is ambushed and pushed back, and at the perfect time, his chest pangs.
“Ugh!”
He folds onto himself.
“Stop! Not now!” He curses at himself.
He hears the villains approaching. They notice the opening, laughing and mocking him.
“Crap!”
He needs to stand up, but he’s dizzy, everything is moving, and he can’t breathe—why does it feel like he is breathing through a straw? Every time he tries to put weight onto his numbed legs, he falls again, and the laughs get louder.
“Shut up!”
It’s the same. Every single time.
The looks. The mumbles. The laughs.
“You’re weak. Useless.”
“Shut the hell up…” He mumbles in irritated anger.
They get closer. He can feel their quirk. Their shadows loom, and he can’t do anything, so he braces.
Braces for the hit.
“Get away from him!!”
There is a flash of green and then screams. Shocked, Bakugo looks up and…they are gone, flung away from him.
“Kacchan!!”
Oh, it’s Izuku. He is running towards him. He is so blurry.
He shakes his head.
No. He can’t pass out. This is nothing. Why the hell would he pass out from something so feeble?!
“Are you okay?!”
Izuku is facing him, kneeling beside him.
“I—ugh!”
The pain. It hurts so much.
“Oh god, it’s your heart, isn’t it?” He watches him as he stands up. Bakugo can tell he is worried, even if he is trying to remain calm. He can see through that nerd’s acting. “Okay. The villains have been neutralized; I’ll call for backup. I need to get you to the hospital! Come on!”
He extends his hand, urging him to accept.
“Izuku…stop it.” Bakugo voices through shallow gasps, not even daring to look at his outstretched hand.
“What?! Kacchan! No—you need help! Let me help you!” Izuku insists. “I know how stubborn you are, but Kacchan…I know I—I get it. You're annoyed, you're angry. You told yourself you could do this on your own, and it didn’t go as planned. I get it…I went through that! After the war, when I only had my embers and when I became fully quirkless. But you helped me! You helped me not spiral as much as I would.”
Bakugo listens, astonished. That nerd listened to those bash words he said? He really was just saying nonsense so Izuku would shut up. How did it help him?
“You may think it didn’t, but it really did. When you forced me out of my dorm to get food, and when you texted me urging me to get down and join movie night. It helped…so much. So Kacchan, let me help you. Let me reach a hand to you as you did for me.”
Bakugo looks at those annoying green eyes, not daring to leave him, and then at his hand, which have not left its position.
He really wasn’t giving up, and well, he is kind of struggling. Maybe some help wouldn’t hurt.
“Alright, nerd.” He let out a small chuckle and grabbed Izuku's hands. Gently, he pulled him, and Izuku wrapped a hand around his waist, keeping him from falling back down. “You can help. But only…this time, okay?”
Izuku laughed. “Sure. If you promise not to throw away your health.”
“Shut the hell up or…I will blast you…once I can breathe!” He tried to yell but came out as a wheezed set of rambles.
Did he mean it? Maybe.
But Izuku had a point.
Izuku didn’t stop laughing as they began walking, “Also, Kacchan. You’re not weak; I hope you see that. You told me that, and I am telling you that too. I won’t shut up about it. You are still an amazing hero.” He smiles.
Bakugo could feel a lump forming; quickly, he swallowed it.
“Whatever…you say.”
He’ll never stop being annoying, but maybe…a helping hand is not bad once in a while.