Work Text:
Izuku jolted awake, the sound of a ring tone coming from his phone on the nightstand. He groaned, reaching over to try and turn off the offending sound. He didn't remember setting an alarm at......TWO THIRTY IN THE MORNING!
Knowing that he didn't set an alarm that early, Izuku quickly grabbed his phone and hit the button to answer the call.
"Mom?! What's wrong? Are you ok, do you need me to come over?" Izuku had pulled back the covers on his bed by now, moving to get up from the bed. Only hearing heavy breathing from the other side of the call, Izuku panicked and started rushing around his room, looking for his keys. "Mom, just give me a few minutes and I will- "
"Deku."
Izuku paused in his search for his wallet, having finally found his keys, and pulled the phone from his ear to look at the caller ID.
UNKNOWN CALLER
But Izuku knew who was on the other end of the call. They haven't spoken in over ten years, not since his mother moved them out to America to live with his father. Izuku honestly thought his old bully had deleted his phone number a long time ago.
He took a deep breath and walked back to his bed, sitting down heavily. "Hello Bakugo."
Izuku heard a gasp and then a shaky laugh over the line. "I deserve that."
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, an annoyed look fell over his expression, "How can I help you tonight, Bakugo?"
It was silent for the next few minutes, the only thing Izuku could hear was Bakugo breathing on the other end of the line, raspy and labored.
"Why did you call me?" Crawling back into bed, Izuku relaxed against his pillows and pulled his blanket around himself. He had an idea what this conversation was going to be about, but he didn't want to have it.
After the slime villain incident, he had finally broken down to his mother about everything he had kept from her, the bullying and the abuse from his school. His mother had admitted that she knew something was wrong, but not to the extent that Izuku described. She had been furious and horribly upset with herself for not doing more to protect Izuku. Later that night, after the two Midoriya's had cried themselves out, they had called his father and had a very long discussion on what the next step would be. His mother had been adamant that he would not be returning to school. A month later, both Inko and Izuku moved to live with his father in America.
It took Izuku a long time, a lot of therapy, and the support of his parents to realize that his life wasn't worthless, that he was a person too. That he was not useless. He was allowed to be happy.
"I can't save you."
A chuckle could be heard on the other end of the line, "I know. I still want to say it though."
Izuku hugged the blankets closer, "What's stopping you?"
"Pride, mostly. And guilt. I know what I was back in middle school and that what I did you was not and should never have been okay," Katsuki sighed as he looked at the phone on the ground. He couldn't hold the phone anymore. His arms wouldn't move.
"I'm sorry, Izuku."
Izuku sniffed softly, as his tears fell. He had waited a long time for those words to be said to him. He thought he would never hear them.
Izuku pulled the phone closer as he curled up underneath the blankets on his bed. "What do we do now?"
Katsuki coughed wetly, blood trickling from his mouth as he looked away from his phone and at the collapsed building in front of him. "Can we stay on the phone, just a little bit longer?"
Sniffling loudly, Izuku nodded his head, forgetting that Bakugo could not see him. "Okay."
Katsuki smiled as he closed his eyes, his breathing starting to slow. The pool of blood underneath him grew just a little bit bigger. "What are you thinking about?"
Izuku smiled softly, "Just how nice things could have been, if middle school had been different."
Katsuki laughed breathlessly, listening to Izuku ramble about the life he had while in America and what brought him back to Japan.
Izuku finally drifted off to sleep after a while, breathing deep and even could be heard over the phone.
The phone call had lasted until the very end, as Katsuki faded away listening to the sound proving that his shitty nerd is alive.
Izuku woke up later that morning with a headache he usually got after he had been crying. Thinking he must have cried from his dream last night, Izuku headed for the bathroom hoping a hot shower would make the headache go away. He thought about his dream while turning on the water. It was a strange dream, his bully/crush from middle school had called him and apologized. Izuku knew that would never have happened though. Getting in the shower, Izuku closed his eyes and let the lingering feeling from late night fade away.
Back in the bedroom lying underneath the bed, his phone lights up from a notification of a news article.
Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight succumbs to his injuries from a collapsed building.