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Bakugou could barely see as he runs down the street. Dust filled the air from his last explosions and debris from the destroyed buildings littered the ground. The villain attack had been a surprise. Him and Todoroki were the only ones in the vicinity and answered the call. It was only when reinforcements arrived that the battle swayed in their favor.
It was over. But…
But.
He hadn’t seen Todoroki for most of the battle. He hadn’t seen his quirk manifest.
“IcyHot! Where the fuck are you?” He yells again, running in the direction he had last seen his ex-classmate. They were pro heros now but still fresh out of school. He should’ve called for backup sooner.
Shit. Where the fuck is he?
“Dammit you half n half bastard!” He yells hoping to see some sign of response.
He clears another wall of debris and finally sees some ice. A lot of ice. It was everywhere like Todoroki had haphazardly been flinging it around. What the fuck?
He sees Best Jeanist hovering over a body frozen solid to the ground.. “Hey! Where’s that IcyHot bastard?” The ProHero shakes his head and Bakugou growls out a string of curses running further down the street.
If he wasn’t keen as fuck he would’ve missed the tiny red drops on the ground. Blood. He doesn’t think. He just runs, following the trail into a narrow alleyway. He stumbles to a stop, body frozen as he sees Todoroki on the ground, back slumped against the wall unmoving.
Shit. Fuck. Shit! His mind screams and he finally moves, tossing his gauntlets aside and kneeling in front of the guy who had never looked so broken before. He’d never seen Todoroki take a beating like this. The guy was strong as fuck, even he could admit that.
“IcyHot. Hey, wake up.” He says softly, keeping the panic down. Todoroki twitches, lifting his head to rest against the brick wall behind him.
“B..ku...gou?” His voice is raspy but he’s alive. Relief floods the blonde before he turns on his radio and calls for emergency medical treatment, giving his location.
“It’s...bad...huh.” Todoroki murmurs as Bakugou finishes his report. Five minutes. Too long. He looks over Todoroki to the deep gash on his right side.
“Shut up.” He growls moving to kneel over Todoroki’s stretched out legs. Thankfully, the guy was a creature of habit and kept his first aid kit in the same pouch as he did during school. Bakugou unhooks the pouch spilling out its contents hastily. Five minutes. How long had this idiot been bleeding out? Why did he leave the main street? Shit.
“Why didn’t you freeze this wound you idiot?” He barks out as he rips open Todoroki’s uniform and presses a wad of gauze into the wound. Todoroki gasps in pain, trying to move away from the pressure.
“Stop moving idiot. Shit, do you want to fucking bleed out here?” Bakugou barks out, fumbling with the tape to strap down the gauze.
“Quirk cancelled. Can’t use it...I’m bleeding?” The question snaps Bakugous head up, face incredulous.
“Are you fucking blind half n half? You are literally sitting in a pool of blood right now! Fuck! How stupid can you be? Even without your stupid quirk you still carry first aid shit!” He tapes the gauze down and starts searching for other wounds. There was so much blood.
“Where else does it hurt?” Todoroki doesn’t respond and Bakugou looks up angrily to see the guy staring at him.
“Bakugou…are my eyes open?” The question chills the blonde because of course his eyes were open, but now that he looked he could see tiny red lines spreading from the corners of his eyes. What the flying fuck?
He leans closer and waves a hand in front of Todoroki’s face. His eyes don’t follow but he flinches, sensing the motion.. “W-what are you doing?” He coughs and turns his head away.
“You can’t see?” It was a dumb question. He didn’t know what to do right now. “Todoroki look at me, dammit.” The dual wielder jerks in surprise at hearing his name.
“No. Obviously I can’t.” He mutters and Bakugou grabs his chin, yanking him back to face him. His usually bright grey and blue eye stare dully at nothing and Bakugou feels the first spike of true panic. No quirk. He was blind. He was bleeding like crazy. Shit!
“Shit. Shit, no it’s fine. Recovery girl will fix you up.” He says more to himself but Todoroki’s frown deepens.
“I feel it...it’s not good.” He says softly and Bakugou can hear the wetness in his voice now. No no no no no.
“No. You fucker, you can’t die on me, not like this, not when we just started being proheros.” His voice raises as his panic intensifies.
“You can...still be a hero…” Todoroki grimaces and Bakugou holds his chin harder.
“Don’t be stupid! You think the agency will keep me if you are gone? Huh?” He’s yelling. He can’t help it. It’s not what he wants to say but dammit he can’t say what he wants to say.
“What?” Todoroki doesn’t fight his hand, doesn’t have the strength to. “Don’t be...stupid.”
“They told me just last week! They only made me a prohero because I work well with you. My personality is shit, they said. Without you I’ll lose my license!” Tears well up and he’s almost glad Todoroki can’t see.
Todoroki’s scraped up face twists in an expression Bakugou had never seen before. “So, you can’t fucking die! You can’t. You only die when I say you can asshat…” His voice breaks and the tears flow because fucking hell he didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t the hero license he cared about but he couldn’t say it.
“M sorry…I’m sorry Bak...gou.” Todoroki looked sorry. He was crying and looked so fucking sorry that it broke Bakugous heart. No, he shouldn’t be apologizing. He shouldn’t.
“Shut up. That’s not...fuck...that’s not what I wanted to say. I just...ugh!” His hand drops from Todoroki’s chin and he slumps, feeling useless. Even at a time like this he couldn’t be honest. He was a fucking coward.
“What...face are you making…? I can’t tell…” The blondes head jerks up in surprise.
“Why does it fucking matter IcyHot?” He growls out of habit before biting his cheek. “Shit. Fuck. Fine you wanna know?” He grabs Todoroki’s left wrist and plants his hand on his cheek. Todoroki’s eyes widen slightly as he moves his fingers over the wet cheek down to his frowning mouth.
“Why?” He whispers and Bakugou sighs heavily, leaning his head into the warm palm. It felt so good. So gentle. Pride be damned. He would never forgive himself if he wasn’t honest and then Todoroki died...shit, no don’t think that. Don’t. His eyes clenched shut as fresh tears fall against Todoroki’s fingers.
“Bakugou?” Todoroki coughs and it sounded so fucking awful.
“Shut up idiot. Stop talking!” The blonde snaps, holding Todoroki’s hand tightly against his face. “Shit. Why? Why did it have to be you, huh?”
There are shouts from far away and Todoroki stiffens on reflex. His breath more ragged and wet than before and Bakugou caves completely. He raises his free hand to lightly touch Todoroki’s cheek making him jerk in surprise. “Relax IcyHot. I’m not going to let anything hurt you. Not again. I’m going to be stuck to your fucking side from now on, got it? Just relax. Just another minute or so okay?” He was rambling. Saying whatever came to mind but he had to keep Todoroki engaged. He could feel his energy slipping away and Bakugou didn’t know what else to do.
“Just stay with me. Help is coming. Okay? Then you’ll get better and we can start kicking ass again.” He leans down, touching his forehead to Todoroki’s, focusing on his labored breathing.
“I...don’t have my quirk. I’m blind....” Todoroki whimpers, fresh tears falling. “I’m...useless. Useless…”.
“Dammit shut up! You are gonna make me say it aren’t you? Fucking Half n Half bastard, just shut up and listen. I don’t care okay? Fuck, do you really think I fucking care about that shit?” He presses hard against Todoroki’s forehead wishing his thoughts could just be transmitted instead of him having to actually say all this shit.
“But…” He squeezes Todoroki’s hand tightly and closes his eyes.
“I don’t care if you are fucking quirkless and blind. Just...just don’t die…” He breaks, the sobs he was holding back finally burst and he lets it out, lets Todoroki feel his tears on his hand, lets his hand lace through the dual colored hair that he’d always wanted to touch but couldn’t and pulls his partner to him, holding him tightly.
“Don’t leave me…” He whispers over and over between sobs. “Please, don’t leave me.”
xXx
It’s been a week. Todoroki hasn’t let anyone see him even though he stabilized two days ago. Bakugou paces the visitor lobby, anger barely contained. If he yelled at another nurse they would ban him from the hospital. But fuck, why wasn’t Todoroki letting him in? What the fuck?
The rescue team had come in time and had the decency not to comment on the position of the two heros and their tear stained faces. That was the last time he saw Todoroki. He had fucking confessed and now the guy didn’t want to see him. His blood boils. Fuck this shit.
He barrels through the doors and down the hall ignoring the yelling nurses behind him. If the bastard was going to reject him then fucking do it to his face at least. Fuck!
Bakugou bursts into the hospital room and shuts the door quickly behind him to lock out the faculty. Fuck them. He was done waiting.
“Bakugou?” The voice has him whipping around in surprise, seeing Todoroki look at him, like actually look at him.
He crosses the room quickly without a word grabbing Todoroki’s face and looking into his eyes. Blue and grey follow his and he breathes a sigh of relief. His mismatched eyes shimmered with surprise and they looked so fucking pretty.
“Bakugou why are you here?” Todoroki asks as Bakugou lets him go, his face was guarded. The face he wore when he was hiding his emotions. It had taken Bakugou three years but he knew the face, he knew everything about the guy, everything he could without seeming like he cared.
“You know why dumbass.” He says, voice unusually soft. He was so happy. So fucking relieved that this bastard was alive.
Todoroki looks away frowning, his hands clenched into fists. “Please leave. I asked for no visitors.”
“Haah? I’m not a fucking visitor!” He growls grabbing the front of Todoroki’s hospital gown. “I’m your fucking partner or did you forget that?”
Todoroki looks at him. His eyes search his face looking for something Bakugou couldn’t name. “I don’t have my quirk back yet.” He says finally and Bakugou sees the pain flashing in his eyes.
He lets go of the gown with a huff. “So what? I didn’t come to see your stupid icy sculptures.”
“I can’t do hero work without a quirk Bakugou. I can’t...I can’t be your pa--.” Bakugou cuts him off, his palm over the other boys mouth. He was pissed. This was why the bastard didn’t want to see him?
“Pretty sure I spelled this shit out before. I. Don’t. Care!” He barks angrily moving closer with every word. “You understand now? I don’t fucking care about your quirk!” Todoroki’s eyes widen slightly and Bakugou feels him smile under his hand. He swallows thickly, embarrassed by his loud announcement but damn that smile. He moves his hand, tracing his thumb along the gentle curve. So small yet it was one of the most expressive smiles he’s seen on his partners face.
Todoroki humms and brings his hand up, cupping Bakugous cheek softly. “I was hoping I hadn’t dreamt all that.” He murmurs and his mouth quirks into a smirk. His hand heats up making the blonde jolt in surprise.
“You bastard…” Bakugou mutters, voice lacking it’s usual venom. “You fucking asshat. You made me confess that shit again for nothing?” He leans down despite his annoyance resting his forehead on Todoroki’s.
“That’s for waiting till I’m almost dead to confess.” Todoroki deadpans and Bakugou chuckles, relief flooding every inch of his body as he crushes Todoroki to him in a hug.
“Thanks.” He whispers into Todoroki’s neck feeling the other squeeze him tighter.
“You told me not to leave you.” Bakugou lets his tears fall, not holding back the happiness surging through him at Todoroki’s statement. He was so fucking happy Todoroki was okay.
“Though, we need to work on your first aid skills. That mess you call first aid on my wound was horrible.” Bakugou growls. On second thought, maybe he needed to beat up the bastard a little more for good measure.