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“Let’s go, problem children.”
“Sensei, it’s not that big of a deal. We’re good. We can just go back to the dorms.”
“Tch. I can go back to the dorms - I rested most of yesterday. Deku though probably needs emergency surgery.”
“Shut up, Kacchan. Sensei, really. I feel fine!”
“When it’s about his health the nerd always lies. He’s too delicate - probably about to keel over.”
“Delicate? I’m not the one who fell in an icy lake Kacchan!”
“ENOUGH.”
Midoriya and Bakugo, the escalating argument bringing their faces within inches of each other, stopped their bickering to look over at the sound of their beleaguered teacher. There’s a moment of awkward silence as Midorya comes down off his tiptoes and Bakugo cracks his neck and takes a step back.
“I don’t particularly care if neither of you are lying to me and you’re both completely fine. I just got through telling you that minding your health is part of being a good hero - and that means taking precautions even when it seems silly. Understand?”
Both boys looked like they desperately wanted to keep arguing, but Aizawa made sure his face gave no leeway on the subject.
Katsuki scoffed, “Whatever.”
Izuku nodded, “Yes, sensei.”
Aizawa sighed, crooked his finger to get them to follow, and led them into the building and towards the infirmary.
They walked in almost complete silence. Just a cough or two permeating the air. Aizawa could tell it was Midoriya since every time a cough happened, a low growl followed. He could imagine Bakugo narrowing his eyes at his classmate, convinced that he was right, and that Midoriya was the sicker of the two.
Aizawa stopped at a sliding door, “In.”
The boys made their way inside and walked to the two beds that were properly made up, with folded pajamas on top of them.
“Go ahead and get changed, the nurse will come by with some food and medicine shortly.”
“Sensei? Do you have an extra phone charger? I think I must have lost mine in the facility.”
Aizawa patted his pockets automatically, even though he knew they were empty. “Sorry Midoriya, you’ll have to go without screentime tonight. I have to check on the others at the dorm, and spend some time with Eri, so you’re on your own for now. But I’ll be back to check on you both before I go to sleep so just... “ The man sighed and waved his hand in the air “Just try to not cause any real ruckus in here. I’ll know if you do.”
“Yes, sensei.”
“Tch.”
Aizawa walked out and closed the door behind him.
---
Katsuki was annoyed.
First, he’d fallen in an icy lake - that was fucking terrible. Real unpleasant. Then he got called out for being sick by stupid Deku of all people. Like, whatever, everyone gets sick, he’s human, it happens. But the fact that Deku was the one who noticed because Deku knew him far too well for his liking and then Deku had to go and be all noble and check up on him and then went and got himself sick to the point where Katsuki had to admit that he knew Deku just that well too. Unbelievable.
Not to mention his stupid subconcious was extra loud during the training exercise. Reminding him of all the times that he’d (ugh) overreacted to Deku because he was (christ) worried about him and it had come out as (fuck) anger and (why) self-hatred instead.
He was usually pretty good about ignoring that inner voice - but it had been getting louder and louder for the past few months. Around the time that he and Deku fought at Ground Beta was when he’d really noticed it. Then louder still the more he hung around with the nerd and All Might. Helping him train his new quirks. Talking about One for All. Interning at Endeavour’s - working in tandem with IcyHot and the nerd - made it often unbearably loud in his head.
But he had it under control. He buried it in training, in his studies, in the overly loud voices of the extras that hung around him all the time - laughing and yelling and just generally being annoying.
He’d learned how to deal.
But now his body was rebelling against him and the low-grade fever meant that he couldn’t do those things. His brain was slow to combat the thoughts. He couldn’t distract himself with physical activity cause he’d just get sicker. And he didn’t want his (eye-roll) friends to get sick too so he couldn’t even lean on their nonsense as a distraction. So the inner voice had been way way too loud earlier.
And now, here he was, trapped in an infirmary with stupid also sick Deku. No extras, no physical activity, no textbooks or notes to look over. His headphones all the way in Heights Alliance, doing no good to anyone there. And the damn nerd, the subject of his existential crisis, was muttering to himself.
So yeah. Katsuki was annoyed.
“DEKU.”
A wheezy “eep” sounded from his left. “Yes, Kacchan?”
“Your muttering has been going on for like a million minutes now and it’s making me insane. Fucking quit it.”
Deku didn’t respond immediately. Katsuki turned slightly to see him put a hand to his mouth as he smothered a cough before replying. “Sorry. I’m just a little bored.”
“You’re sick! We’re supposed to be sleeping!”
“Well I don’t fall asleep as easily as you, or as early! I usually read hero articles and boards before bed and my phone is dead so I can’t so now I’m just kind of staring at this ceiling and trying figure out how we could have handled that exercise more efficiently and I jus- OW WHAT THE HELL KACCHAN?!”
Katsuki, realizing he wouldn’t ever get to sleep between his inner monologue and Deku’s outer one, pitched his own phone to the bed next to his.
“Fucking I’m not using it so just take it and shut up.”
This time Deku couldn’t stifle the cough following his outburst. Katsuki tried not to notice how wet it sounded now because, gross, but also, worrisome.
Not that he was worried about the stupid nerd.
“Oh. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, just be quiet so I can sleep.” Katsuki grabbed the corner of his blanket and turned to face the opposite direction.
A mutter breaks through his bed rustling “It’s barely 8pm, grandma…”
Katsuki shot up straight, “WHAT WAS THAT?!”
Deku grinned. Katsuki knew that grin, even in the semi-dark. The nerd was BAITING him and he’d be damned if that little fucker got him out of bed while he still felt a bit sick. He laid back down.
“Whatever.”
“Cheers Kacchan - thanks for the phone!” Katsuki could see his shadow dance on the wall, as if Deku had actually raised the phone in a salute to his back. Katsuki closes his eyes and begins to fall asleep to the nightlight glow of his device, and the occasional rumblings in Deku’s chest.
Worrisome .
---
It was very dark when Katsuki came back to consciousness. Orienting himself took a moment - right. Infirmary. No wonder his sheets were scratchy. And… wet? Oh his fever must have broken over the past few hours - he’d sweat it all out finally. That was good.
Katsuki frowned for a moment. Something still wasn’t right. And then he heard it.
It seemed as though he’d woken up because Deku’s muttering was back, but it was nonsensical. Just sounds - and painful ones at that. Like the nerd was having a nightmare about how bad his chest congestion was.
“Deku.” Katsuki tried whispering, but the nonsense commentary continued.
“Oi nerd.” This time at full volume, but there was no response. Katsuki sighed dramatically and swung his feet out of the bed. Between the mumbling and the wheezing Katsuki knew sleep would evade him until he woke Deku up.
He grabbed Deku’s shoulder and shook him, probably harder than necessary but also very necessary. “Wake up stupid nerd, you’re dreaming out loud. Deku!”
Deku inhaled deeply as he came back to consciousness, which was a bad choice for his body to make because the nerd immediately started coughing, hard enough to shake the bed he was in. Katsuki took a step back and wished he had a mask, even if his immune system was pretty fortified at the moment.
“You awake now?”
Deku’s eyes fluttered in the dark and he wheezed out a “Mom?”
“Mom?! Are you sleeping with your eyes open?”
Deku wheezed again, “The cat is too loud, can we leave?”
“What the fuck are you-”
“All Might has the shopping carriage.”
Sufficiently done with this fucking conversation, and starting to feel a pit in his stomach, Katsuki stomped over to the light switch so he could better see. Walking back over to the nerd, he immediately realized the issue.
Deku wasn’t dreaming. He was hallucinating.
His face was much redder than it should have been - Katsuki could practically see the heat waves coming off of him. His eyes were open but absolutely unseeing.
Deku raised an arm in front of his face and moaned, “Why is the sun in the desert? It’s too hard to run.”
Katsuki grabbed his arm, “Deku. Hey. Shitty nerd. Deku.”
“Kacchan ate all the curry.”
Katsuki snorted, “I mean I probably did but I also am the one who made it so fuck you.” Lowering Deku’s arm back to the bed, Katsuki used his other hand to check Deku’s temperature. He hissed. Way too hot. Like brain-melting hot.
“Stupid nerd, you don’t have enough brains to melt. Fuck. Ok. Ummm...” Katsuki scanned the room - he wasn’t sure what meds the nurse had given them or if it was too soon to take another dose - oh. The nurse.
Katsuki hustled to the door and opened it, his heart hammering a bit too fast for the 10 or so steps he had taken, and peered into the hallway. Pitch black.
“Fuck. Fuck shit. Dammit.” The nurse was probably on a break; two small colds not deemed worthy of a constant vigil. Unfortunately, the two small colds were now a past-tense cold and a fucking murder fever.
Katsuki started chewing on his bottom lip.
You know, if the shoe was on the other foot, Izuku wouldn’t be hesitating nearly this much. He’d have already called for backup.
“AGH! SHUT UP.” The inner-voice. Not only was it loud again, but it was fucking reading him. Absolutely uncalled for. Oh - called for backup. Maybe the voice wasn’t useless after all.
“Phone. Where’s my phone?” Right - he’d given it to Deku.
“Deku where’s- wait stupid. He’s definitely not gonna answer.” Katsuki cast his eyes around and spotted his phone immediately on the nightstand next to Deku. Perfect.
Grabbing it from its face down position, his hand certainly not shaking thank you very much, he turned it over and - dead. Perfect.
“FUCK. Deku, what the fuck?! Who kills another man’s battery reading stupid shit on the internet!”
Another cough and a groan, “I forgot my shoes in the North Pole.”
“Cause you’re an idiot.” Katsuki inhaled deeply and stopped himself from whining out loud - shut that shit down real quick. Not that it mattered because he was alone and had no idea what to do.
Ridiculous - there were a million things he could do. He was going to be the number one hero, and, in the meantime, he was a fairly self-sufficient teenager who knew how to combat a goddamned cold.
But what was the right next step? Try to cool Deku down? Bury him in more blankets to make him sweat? Force meds down his dumb throat? Go outside and just start making explosive noises until an adult showed up to reprimand him?
That last option is a great one if you want to be deemed an irresponsible idiot for the rest of your life.
He didn’t even respond to the voice that time - not worth the energy.
He spun in a circle again - his eyes definitely not lingering on Deku’s once again unconscious body as it mumbled its way through more bizarre scenarios - looking for something, anything to clue him in on the next best step.
And, wouldn’t you know it, he was just as dumb as the dumb nerd. There, sitting smack in the middle of the nurse’s desk was a phone. Because of course the infirmary had a landline.
Katsuki breathed out a “Holy shit, no one can ever know I did that,” and wrenched the phone’s receiver off its cradle.
He messed up dialing Aizawa’s number three times in his rush, begrudgingly grateful that their teacher had drilled it into them that one day they may not have access to their contact list, and that having numbers memorized could save someone’s life. Not that this was a life or death thing. It was fine. Not a big deal. His hands definitely weren’t shaking as he heard the line connect on the other end and recognized Aizawa’s voice as it asked, “Who is this?”
“Sensei.”
“Bakugo? This isn’t your number? What’s wrong, where are you?”
Katsuki took a moment to appreciate how it didn’t take much to crack his teacher’s “I care about none of you” bullshit exterior before answering.
“I’m calling from the phone in the infirmary - listen sensei. I… I mean maybe I’m overreacting but I just…
Gee Katsuki. Why don’t you take longer figuring out what you’re asking for? Not only are you wasting Izuku’s precious minutes, but a pro-hero’s as well.
“Bakugo. Calm down and tell-”
“I’M CALM! I’M FINE! It’s not me! It’s that stupid nerd. I think he’s really sick and I don’t know where the nurse is and I’m not… sure… Sensei, his fever.”
Speaking his concern out loud was doing absolute wonders to his anxiety. As if it gained power the more he spoke it into existence. The stinging at his eyes as his frustration with himself grew was A. NOT HAPPENING and B. really not making it any easier to explain himself calmly. He could suddenly hear motion on the other end of the line.
“Bakugo it’s fine - it’s all going to be perfectly fine.”
“I KNOW-”
“Don’t get frustrated kid, and definitely not with me. The nurse left because I was planning on staying with you both for the rest of the night - I just was finishing up here first but I’m leaving now and can be there in 10 minutes, ok?”
“Sure.”
“Bakugo you did the right thing calling, yeah? Remember what I said earlier - even if it seems silly-”
“Yeah, sensei. I heard you.”
“Ok sit tight and I’ll be there before you know it.” The line went dead. Bakugou kept the receiver to his ear for an extra moment, definitely not wishing that his teacher had stayed on the line. Not wishing that Aizawa’s voice was available to drown out Deku’s dumb shitty breathing.
Is he breathing?
Is he… “Oh shit.” His inner voice wasn’t loud that last time - but it was sneaky. Got right up under his skin. He walked back to Deku’s bed and yes of course he was still breathing. Katsuki let out his own breath slowly. Stupid fucking Deku. Stupid shitty nerd, never paying attention to his own well-being. Stupid inner voice. Stupid-
Another coughing fit began and Katsuki winced. 10 minutes was no time to wait, really, but he knew it was going to feel like an eternity.
You should do something…
“Can it.” But Katsuki glanced again at Deku, muttering nonsense, and decided that any action had to be better than nothing. He grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser on the desk and took them outside. He walked to the drinking fountain he’d spotted earlier (and if he was walking extra fast, there was no one to see him do it) and ran them under the water until they were saturated, then rung them out a bit.
He walked back into the room and hesitated for a moment. What was he doing? Was he really going to mother hen fucking Deku ? Wipe his brow?
He’d do it for yo-
“I KNOW!” Katsuki yelled out loud. His voice echoed back at him for just a moment, long enough for him to hear just how torn he sounded.
Quieter this time, “I know . Even if I didn’t want him to, he would. Cause he’s annoying like that and I hate him for it.”
You don’t though.
Done listening to the voice chastising him, and certainly done holding wet paper in his hand, he set his shoulders back, and walked with purpose over to Deku. And dropped the paper towels down onto his dumb freckled face.
Katsuki snorted at the wet sound it made on impact. “Stupid. Didn’t even feel it.” He bent slightly to adjust them - if Aizawa walked in now he’d probably assume Bakugo was trying to waterboard the nerd.
Feeling slightly accomplished, he pulled away and made to go sit on his bed, but before he could, a too warm hand grabbed his own.
“Kacchan?”
“Deku - what the hell. Let go.”
Izuku’s eyes were open, just barely, and he seemed to be trying to focus on Katsuki.
“Kacchan, where did you go?”
Katsuki put a growl into his voice - he could not handle Deku being this clingy right now. “I was in the hallway, dumbass.”
“You’ve been gone so long.”
“Ha? I was gone for like 60 seconds, nerd. Now let go of me.” Katsuki didn’t want to be too forceful; Deku was sick and he shouldn’t be too rough. But for someone so out of it, his grip was pretty dang tight.
“Why did they take you, Kacchan?”
“Take… wait hold on.”
“I’m sorry.” Deku’s voice was starting to break a little and Katsuki really didn’t like the sound of it. “I’m sorry I came. You told me not to come but I did and you hate me but they took you and you were gone.”
He thinks you told him not to follow you because you hate him
“Whoa. Hey Deku, quit it.” Katsuki got it now. Deku wasn’t talking to him , he was still hallucinating from the fever. And apparently it was manifesting an overly emotional conversation about guilt and that time the fucking League of Villains thought Katsuki would make a fun addition to their menagerie. Because they’re morons.
Katsuki didn’t like to dwell on that incident. It sucked. It sucked in so many ways. From the actual kidnapping itself, to the fact that Sensei had to apologize on his behalf, and that everyone thought that just cause he was angry he was a fucking villain . It was all so embarassing - a state of being that Katsuki hated more than most things. He was strong. He was smart. He was driven and admired and he loved his quirk. There should be nothing that embarrassed him.
And yet.
Being reminded of not just his age and inexperience, but his many faults stung. And then, to top it all off, fucking Deku had been part of the group that came and rescued him. Deku helped rescue him . Fucking again.
And then All Might fought so hard he was forced to retire and… yeah. Those couple of days were ones that Katsuki was working hard to no longer dwell too hard on. It was too easy to spiral into the guilt of it all, and Bakugo fucking Katsuki didn’t do guilt.
You sure about that, bud? Feels pretty guilty up in here right now.
“Kacchan, don’t be mad at me anymore. I won’t do it again.”
And wasn’t that just the kicker? Because here he was, listening to the fevered ramblings of this stupid nerd, and overthinking all of his words. He should just pay it no mind. Try to keep Deku calm until Aizawa arrives. Deku couldn’t be held responsible for what his too-hot brain was seeing.
But, man, Katsuki just couldn’t get over how wrong the nerd was.
Because of course Deku would do it again. Hell, he did it today! Ignoring signs from his own body to slow down to protect Katsuki. Pretending like he wasn’t worried about a Yeti picking off his classmates one by one. Deku couldn’t help himself when it came to helping others. It was scary how far his self-sacrificing went - how his body apparently just reacted before his brain could think about it. It was definitely going to get him killed.
Which is why you didn’t want him to follow you too closely.
Which is why you told him not to come.
The other part of Deku’s statement was wrong too. Katsuki wasn’t mad at him, not for following. Not really. It was the embarrassment. It was the guilt.
It was the worry.
It was the fear that one day, the first person to look at Katsuki like he was a hero was going to get himself killed and there was nothing he’d be able to do about it when the time came.
“Fuck me.” Katsuki whispered to himself. He took a moment to stare up at the ceiling, as if some easy answer would appear to him. And when it didn’t, he looked back down at Izuku, and used his free hand to grab Deku’s arm back.
“Hey. Dumb nerd. I’m not mad, ok? It’s fine. I’m right here and I’m not mad and you’re still a fucking idiot but we’re good. You and I. We’re… good.” He squeezed Deku’s arm, hoping to get his message through the haze.
Deku’s grip on his wrist finally loosened slightly. “Kacchan’s ok?”
“Yeah, dumbass. Kacchan’s ok.”
“Good.” Deku sighed contentedly; which was too much air for his overworked lungs and he started coughing again.
“Fucking gross, Deku.”
“Nice to see that your bedside matter is exactly what I assumed it’d be, Bakugo.”
Katsuki whipped around at the sound of his teacher’s voice - when the fuck did he get here?
“It’s not like I can hurt his feelings - he’s all out of it!”
Aizawa walked over to where Katsuki was standing, his brow furrowed. “How out of it?”
“Pretty. He’s been saying some wild shit. Think the fever made him hallucinate,” Katsuki explained as he watched his teacher lean down to better inspect his classmate.
---
Aizawa took a moment to move the paper towels and check Midoriya’s temperature without them in the way. Definitely high. Too high. Not emergency high yet but…
“Bakugo. We’re going to cool him down a little first, and then get more meds into him. I’ll keep an eye on him after that but- “
“What are you telling me for?”
Aizawa side-eyed his student through his hair hanging in front of his face. The kid was wrecked, and clearly was in denial about it. Probably a bit of an adrenaline crash on the way now that Aizawa was here to take the responsibility of action off of him. Plus, his body was also still recovering from illness; he had to be beat.
So while Aizawa could have been honest and explained that he was being over-communicative in order to help stabilize Bakugo’s anxiety, he knew that would embarrass him. And an embarrassed Bakugo was an absurdly revved up and angry Bakugo. And no one in the infirmary tonight needed him to make an appearance.
So instead, “Because you’re training to be a hero and I figured it might make sense to let you know the steps to take in a situation like this, should you ever need them again.” He nodded to a small fridge in the corner of the room, “Go in there. I bet there’s a cold compress we can use.”
Bakugo’s face was screaming that he wanted to bite back at his teacher but, instead, he nodded once and followed the order.
Bakugo handed him the compress that was, indeed, in the fridge, and stepped back towards his own bed. Thank god for small favors , Aizawa thought to himself as he placed it on Midoriya’s forehead, the boy whimpering slightly as the cold made contact with his fevered skin. Poor kid must have been really sick underneath all that post-fight bravado.
“Bakugo, see if there’s some Esutakku in that cabinet, right there.” When he realized he heard no movement, Aizawa turned around. “Bakugo?”
The blonde was sitting on his bed and was definitely about to crash, “What?”
Aizawa walked over to him and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Bakugo. Don’t worry - Midoriya will be fine.” Aizawa waited for his student to snap back with a Who’s worried about that dumb nerd?
But instead, “I know, Sensei.”
Aizawa blinked slowly. Giving himself a moment to catch up to the reality of Bakugo Katsuki behaving like a rational individual. If only there were cameras in this room; he desperately wanted to keep a recording of this moment for posterity. He’d play it at Bakugo’s wedding one day. As a gift.
He placed his hand on Bakugo’s forehead and smirked. “So polite. Are you sure you don’t still have a fever?”
That got a reaction. Red eyes narrowed and his hand was lightly batted away. “I’m fine! Compared to Deku, I’m the healthiest teenager in the world.”
“You know you don’t have to compare yourself to Midoriya, kid. Someone else being sicker than you doesn’t mean you can’t still feel bad.”
“You sound like my old man, Sensei. Don’t you have a reputation to maintain?”
“I could easily put you on chore duty for the sass, problem child. Don’t tempt me.”
Bakugo snorted and smirked. Much more at ease than earlier, which was Aizawa’s intention. He stared up at his teacher, “What did you want me to get again? I wasn’t really listening.”
Aizawa shook his head, “Never mind I can handle it. Why don’t you try and lie down, make sure that your fever doesn’t come back?”
“Sensei, I’m not a fucking baby, I can help you!”
Aizawa held up a hand. “Language. And I know you’re not a baby, even though you often act like one. The best way to help me right now is to make sure that you don’t get sicker.” Bakugo’s mouth opened to argue but Aizawa cut him off. “That sounds like platitude, Bakugo, I can promise you it isn’t. Not only do I not traffic in them, but also I really don’t want to have to closely monitor two teenagers tonight. Not having to worry about you would make my night a lot easier.”
“Tch. Whatever.”
Ah. Back to normal.
“I guess if you need a hand just ask. I doubt I’ll be able to fall asleep with mumbles over there.” Bakugo gestures at Midoriya, who is, indeed, muttering nonsense under his breath once more.
Aizawa nods at Bakugo’s surprisingly genuine offer of help, and returns to his other student. His number one problem child, and is pleased to see him slightly shivering. Good - that means his brow will cool while hopefully the rest of his body gets hot enough to sweat it out. Now to find the fever-reducer…
---
Bakugo stared at the ceiling above his bed and listened as his teacher moved around, gathering whatever he needed for Deku.
You know he’d be over the moon to know you helped. But for some reason you can’t let him have that. Why not?
Katsuki can’t yell back at the voice, not with Aizawa in the room. But it’s futile anyways. Because he already knows the answer to the question - he’s already thinking about it.
Because you’re afraid of what happens if you let him in.
Katsuki throws his arm over his eyes, blocking out the light as best he can and sighs quietly to himself.
“...I hate being sick.”