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Waking up dead as a ghost was not something Midoriya expected or particularly wanted. He died to finally get some peace away from the hellish life he lived, not to come back to the same place, hovering over his body that lies broken on the cement, blood pooling around it, and lifeless eyes wide open as they stare resolutely towards the grey sky. Midoriya wanted heaven or hell or purgatory, wherever he could swim calmly through an abyss or afterlife that didn't have bullies, quirks, or the endless depression, anxiety, and pain Midoriya felt on a daily basis. Not this.
However, this upset was two minutes before Midoriya accidentally phased through a wall and five minutes before he flew over a building. Now, Midoriya is pretty excited about being a ghost. He finally, practically, got a quirk! It only took fourteen years.
Flying through the city, Midoriya basked in the freedom of flight and not being constrained to the ground. This is what heroes like Hawks and All Might must feel when they soar through the air— although All Might just jumps, according to Midoriya's notes, the number one hero can't fly. Midoriya smiles, his green hair swaying independently from the wind as he levels himself with a flapping flock of geese. None of the birds sees him, and when Midoriya reaches out and pets one atop the head, all the goose does is shiver slightly.
Grinning, Midoriya reaches out again to pet the goose, even though his fingers sank through the bird's head the first time, and Midoriya is apparently unable to feel their wind-swept feathers, only to be violently yanked backwards. The tension in Midoriya's chest is so strong that he gasps for air despite his body no longer relying on oxygen. Panicked, Midoriya floats backwards a little and sighs in relief as the force tugging him back eases slightly. Looking around, Midoriya sees nothing attached to him, but he does spy a large river below him. There are no rivers in the city that are so wide and rapid. The geese, now in the distance, honk as if mourning Midoriya's invisible presence and head pats.
So Midoriya must only be able to fly so far, although he didn't even realize the distance he was traveling, so lost in the exhilaration of being high with the cloud and birds. Midoriya gives a small smile. Limits are okay, he's not even sure what he'd be able to do if he left the region, let alone the country. What if he never found his way back? Can ghosts get lost?
"Izuku?"
The voice is whispered, sounding as if it's spoken directly into his right ear. Midoriya whips around, green eyes blown wide as he searches for the source of the eerily familiar voice. But there's no one there. Of course, there isn't. Midoriya is high above the ground right now, floating over skyscrapers and houses, fields and streets. Plus, he's a ghost. No one can see him.
Driven by instinct, Midoriya flies slowly back to where his body lies, no longer fueled by a supernatural rush of adrenaline but rather a morbid and dreadful sense of curiosity. Finding his way is easy enough, since he practically only flew in a straight line, and within minutes, Midoriya flies over his junior high. His final resting place.
A crowd has gathered around Midoriya's body, whispering to one another and eyeing it hesitantly before turning away in horror. Occasionally, there's a high-pitched squeal or a brief fit of laughter. None of the students runs to get a teacher, and Midoriya wonders if someone already has or if anyone actually cares at all.
Midoriya floats through the crowd, his body sliding through theirs as if he's a breeze they all brush off, no different from when he was alive. In the middle of the circle that the students create, the boy once again sees his body. The green hair is now a deeper shade, soaked with crimson, and someone closed his eyes. His limbs are still displayed at odd angles, snapped out of their sockets and cracked against the pavement.
What stops Midoriya at the edge of the inner circle, though, at least a few feet from his body that everyone kindly decidedly to space between them and a corpse, is the person he sees crouching over his body. Spiky blonde hair, fiery eyes, and permanent scowl, it's none other than the very boy that led Midoriya to the edge he jumped from.
Kacchan.
"You damn idiot," Bakugo mumbles under his breath. "You really always do everything I say, huh?" Bakugo nudges Midoriya's body with his shoe, moving the shattered limbs with carelessness. The crowd murmurs, but Bakugo silences them with a heavy glare. A few of them scatter, likely going to whatever class they're supposed to be in. Midoriya did kill himself during his lunch period, after all, right in the middle of the day. His original plan was to wait until school had ended and everyone had gone home, but, foolishly, he didn't want animals to get to his body first before someone found him.
Midoriya draws closer as a breeze swoops in, ruffling the green curls of his dead form. He watches as Bakugo's fists tremble, not from the cold, but from something else.
Before he can stop it, Midoriya's lips curl into an amused grin. "Feeling sad, Kacchan?" he asks, his words carried by the wind. "Feeling bad? Good. Because you're the reason I went on that roof." Midoriya giggles. He would never say this aloud or act this way if he were alive, if Bakugo could actually hear or see him. It feels even more freeing, almost as much as flying, to finally admit it.
Bakugo looks up, his red eyes searching cautiously around. Midoriya tilts his head at his childhood friend and floats off the ground, circling Bakugo smoothly, as if he's flown his entire life. "Can you hear me, Kacchan?" Midoriya whispers into Bakugo's ear. He watches transfixed as Bakugo shivers, the most discomfort he's ever seen the blonde truly show in quite some time. Even staring at a dead body doesn't have Bakugo as on edge as he is right now.
"Bakugo!" A loud voice interrupts Midoriya's toying, and he turns to see one of his teachers pushing through the gathered crowd of students. Took him long enough. When he manages to get to the inner circle, he stops, flinching backwards at the sight and likely the smell— Midoriya has seemingly lost that too with his recent ghostliness. "Oh goodness," the teacher mutters, braving a glance at Midoriya's corpse, then redirecting his gaze to Bakugo. "What are you doing?"
Bakugo shrugs, as he wasn't just searching for whatever felt as if it was murmuring in the wind. "Checking to see if he's dead."
Midoriya scoffs and rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as he casually floats around. "Of course I am. Look at me."
"I know you're grieving, Bakugo, but Midoriya is… he's dead. Now, step away from the body. Authorities are on their way," the teacher glances around at the rest of the students. "All of you back to class!" Many of them grumble their disappointment, while others hurry away. Was Midoriya's death just a show for them? A source of entertainment? Well, how could he expect otherwise? He is the quirkless freak after all.
Midoriya sighs. "Just an inconvenience as always, huh?" He looks at Bakugo who remains motionless, still standing over the broken corpse. "What are you even so upset about? You wanted me to die." He leans closer. "I did this because of you."
Bakugo flinches, his eyes widening slightly as he whips his head up and looks around again. The teacher says his name, but Bakugo doesn't hear him and pays him no mind.
"So can you hear me?" Midoriya asks. "Kacchan! Can you hear me?"
"Bakugo, what's going on?" The teacher lays a hand on Bakugo's shoulder only for the blonde to shove it off.
"Did you hear that?" Bakugo questions, looking at the teacher as if he personally did something wrong to Bakugo. Which perhaps he did. Everyone gets on Bakugo's bad side some way, somehow.
The teacher looks at Bakugo with a mix of confusion and pity glistening in his otherwise tired eyes. "Hear what?"
"Yeah, Kacchan. What did you hear?" Midoriya flies around in loops, staying close to Bakugo to hear his response. "Did you hear me tell you it's your fault I'm dead?"
Bakugo's eyes open more, and he whips his head around crazily. "Shut the hell up!" he growls, crimson searching for the source of the disembodied voice.
"Language, Bakugo," the teacher admonishes, his expression hardening slightly. "I know you are mourning, but we are still at school and rules applies." The teacher thinks for a moment. "Perhaps I should grab the school counselor."
Bakugo practically snarls at the teacher, who backs away with visible fear from the blonde. So much for being a so called authority figure. Midoriya rolls his eyes. He knows from unfortunate experience how aggression breeds fear and cowardice. But a teacher shouldn't be afraid of their student, at least not how Midoriya is afraid of Bakugo.
Or well… used to be. Midoriya realizes with a sense of relief and lightening that he doesn't have to be scared of Bakugo anymore. After all, that's a reason why he died. To be free, including from the fear his old friend and life-long bully instilled in him.
"Hey, Kacchan," Midoriya says with a sickly sweet voice. "Guess what? I'm not scared of you anymore. You can't hurt me anymore!" Midoriya laughs. "After all these years, I'm free from you!"
"Shut up, Deku!" Bakugo shouts, turning in a circle. A few remaining nearby students, as well as the teacher, send Bakugo judging looks, obviously believing he's going crazy. Which, maybe he is. As far as they know, Bakugo is standing next to the corpse of a classmate he was close with. Unbeknownst to them, it was a classmate that Bakugo drove to his death.
In the distance, sirens echo out across the street. They'll arrive at the school within the next couple of minutes. Midoriya looks down at his corpse solemnly, staring down at the lifeblood still draining out of him. He wonders if his skin is cold now and when the rigor mortis will set in.
"Do you regret it?" Midoriya whispers. Bakugo flinches, goosebumps raising unwillingly up his arms. "Do you regret bullying me? Hurting me?" Dead green eyes stare into Bakugo's red ones even though the blonde doesn't know he's making eye contact with the ghost. "I committed suicide because of you. Does that haunt you, Kacchan?"
Bakugo grits his teeth and clenches his fists. "You wish," he murmurs so quietly under his breath, his words are almost lost to the window and the sirens, which are now directly outside the school.
Midoriya doesn't scoff in disbelief or tease Bakugo more. He just stares at the boy who single-handedly ruined most of his life. He watches paramedics and police arrive, guiding the teacher, Bakugo, and remaining student stragglers away from Midoriya's corpse. When Bakugo's blonde hair dissappears from view, Midoriya watches as the paramedics check his body, declare him dead, and start packing up his body. They murmur words like jumped, suicide, impact, and instantly, under their breaths, but Midoriya still hears. Not like he didn't know, though. He's… well not living proof of it.
When the paramedics load Midoriya's corpse onto the ambulance, he drifts slowly after them, wanting to be with his body for a little longer before it's dressed up in his best suit and propped in a casket for his mother and the few people at his funeral to see. Bakugo and his family will likely be there, a result of their mothers never losing touch despite their sons no longer being avid fans of All Might together. Those were the good old days. Before things like quirks truly started mattering despite simultaneously meaning the world to them.
As the doors shut in the ambulance and Midoriya lingers next to his bagged body, he wonders when he'll be able to pass on, because surely flying in the afterlife— whether heaven, hell, or whatever awaits Midoriya— will be much more peaceful than wandering the world he tried so hard to leave behind.