chapter four: rematch

Coordinate, a girl with blue hair and mischievous eyes, was a real pain in Ochako's ass.

Tsukauchi sighed from Ochako's left—they'd been trying to get information out of this chick for an hour, and so far all they had to show from it was a massive headache and the realization that they hadn't know what it meant to be truly hangry until they had to deal with this girl on an empty stomach.

"Look, Miya—" He started from across the sleek metal table, getting interrupted for the nth time.

"Coordinate."

"…How old are you, again?" Naomasa asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Fourteen."

"And you met Kawaguchi Hana and Fumi…where?"

"They sought me out," She told him, matter-of-fact, "As if I would offer my services for free." Coordinate snorted.

Tsukauchi didn't even want to begin decoding that.

"What exactly did they offer you for your, um, services?"

Coordinate grinned, "Not telling."

Ochako raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"You do realize that you're facing a lifetime in jail…right?" Uraraka asked the girl, just to make sure they were all on the same page here.

"Only if you catch me," Coordinate disagreed, biting her cheek mockingly.

"We did catch you," Tsukauchi pointed out, rubbing his temples.

Coordinate shrugged, flicking her blue hair over her shoulder, "For now."

"Forever," Ochako persisted, getting real tired of this girl's games.

"Whatever," Coordinate waved her hand in Ochako's face to dismiss her, "Look. I'm hungry and tired. Can I go to my shiny new cell now, please?"

Tsukauchi brought a hand to his chin in thought, "It's almost like you want to be here."

Coordinate shrugged again, folding her arms and staring off into space.

Ochako groaned.

»»-¤-««

Tsukauchi seemed almost worried for the girl—he told Ochako later on that he'd seen the girl's quirk before in petty robberies, but had always somehow managed to escape. Her quirk made her fickle and nearly impossible to catch. And yet, this time around, detaining her had been easy. Too easy.

"So what do you think it means?" Ochako asked.

"I think it means," Naomasa said with his eyebrows pulled down, "Either that she was trying to escape, or this all a part of their plan."

»»-¤-««

Katsuki had been out for the count for a week when Aizawa and All Might showed up to the police station with a handful of their students (and students from the grades below them and from Shiketsu high) in tow. Tsukauchi called Ochako on Bakugou's phone to notify her of their appearance and when she saw the men—looking much more rugged than usual—she nearly couldn't stop herself from throwing herself on them in a hug. She was just so happy to see them she couldn't contain it. Seeing them brought her more hope than she's known within the past month.

"Uraraka," Aizawa greeted stiffly, "Tsukauchi informed us about you and Bakugou."

"Aizawa-sensei," Ochako blubbered, tears flowing freely from her eyes, "It's so good to see you!" Okay, she couldn't resist—she threw her arms around the man and cried into the fabric of his shirt. Aizawa stiffened, but didn't push her away. All Might was standing a few feet away, smiling gently at the display.

"Your parents are safe," Aizawa grunted out, trying to comfort her as best as he could, "As well as Bakugou's."

She cried harder at that, clutching onto his sleeve desperately.

"W-who else?" She asked, pulling away slightly.

Aizawa grimaced, eyes hard like he was upset with himself.

"We managed to save everyone being held in our facility," All Might informed her, his gaunt eyes boring deep into her, "But that wasn't everyone—we speculate that there are at least two more facilities similar to ours. We were only able to escape because we were woken up by a young lady who'd been brainwashed into siding with the villains. She somehow snapped out of it and then woke us up when she'd been left alone at our facility."

Ochako blinked at that, and her hand that she'd brought up to rub at her nose froze at this news.

"She…woke you up? How?"

"Her quirk," Aizawa explained, "Her sisters are apparently the masterminds behind this all—from what we've gathered from her, one of her sisters can force anyone to sleep by command as long as she knows their name while the other can then infect their mind with some sort of bug that manipulates the nature of your dreams and keeps you unconscious."

"Is she…with you?" Ochako asked.

"She is being questioned by Tsukauchi as we speak."

Her heart clenched, knowing that this stranger had the capacity to wake Bakugou from his hellish sleep. She could feel the sting of tears even stronger at the corner of her eyes, and her fist clenched together at her sides as if to keep her anchored in the present. "Who else came with you?"

"From our class…" All Might started, a deep frown set on his face, "Kirishima, Jirou, Shinsou, and Tokoyami…"

Ochako gulped, "How is…Tokoyami?"

"Not good," Aizawa responded, eyes shining with the need to avenge the wrongs that had been committed to his student, "None of them are good. Tokoyami's torture was particularly cruel and he's blaming himself for things that aren't his fault—but these sociopathic villains have given each and every student their own personal and specific torment involving copious amounts of mental degradation and manipulation."

"What are they trying to do?" Ochako whispered, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

The muscle in Aizawa's jaw was clenched as if he was clenching his jaw together in attempt to suppress the obvious rage in his eyes.

"From what Akiko told us," He said, voice dark—she has only heard her teacher speak so unrestrained and threatening a handful of times, all of which were when villains or his students' own idiotic choices were putting their lives in danger, "They were attempting to take the next generation of heroes and turn them into villains by distorting their very perception of reality."

Akiko must have been the sister of those other two lunatics that they mentioned—and if she was in the know on what they were planning, Ochako could do nothing but accept this information as the truth.

"Oh my god," She whispered, throwing her arms around All Might next. His long arms fell onto her shoulders like a fortress.

»»-¤-««

Aizawa escorted her and All Might to the hospital a couple hours later, insistent that the retired hero get checked up after being held captive for so long. Ochako bowed to them in thanks before parting ways to go visit her parents—all of those who had been extracted from the clutches of the villains had been sent to the hospital as soon as they made it to Musutafu. When she met up with them in the waiting area, she threw her arms around them and cried from the sheer amount of happiness knowing that they were safe and in her arms brought her.

She cried harder when they told her that they were proud of her.

"Mom," She sniffled, pulling back enough so that she could see their faces, "Dad. I'm so glad that you're safe."

Her dad ruffled her hair, and smiled, "We're sorry we worried you, honey. But we're fine now."

"We're under Aizawa's protection," Her mom assured her, tucking Ochako's hair behind her ear, "And yours, beautiful."

"Which means that we'll definitely be protected!" Dad proclaimed proudly, "Our Ochako is the toughest hero around!"

Ochako laughed, watery and broken but undeniably elated.

They got lunch together in the hospital because it was cheaper, and Ochako enjoyed just being in their presence. Even when lunatics hadn't kidnapped them, the brunette only ever got to see them every so often. Most of the time, they communicated over the phone due to how far they lived away from U.A.

She parted ways with them to wander over to Bakugou's hospital room, at peace with knowing that she could see them again soon.

When she opened the door to Katsuki's room, she wasn't exactly surprised to see Kirishima sitting next to his bed with a frown on his face—she was, however, a little caught off guard by Jirou, Shinsou and Tokoyami also hovering behind the redhead. She froze upon seeing them, but they hardly even twitched when Ochako opened the door. She regarded them, recognizing that haunting look in their eyes. Kirishima and Jirou both looked to be holding back tears, while Shinsou and Tokoyami both frowned at the ground.

"Hey," Ochako said softly, not wanting to startle them. She walked hesitantly over to Jirou, because she really looked like she needed a shoulder to cry on, and held out her arms to the other girl. Jirou, who was usually so reserved especially when it came to seeking out comfort, wrapped her arms around Ochako's waist and cried quietly into her clavicle. Ochako brushed her fingers through dark hair, and eyed the boys over Jirou's head.

"When did Bakugou go down?" Tokoyami inquired, hoodie over his head—he was still technically wanted for manslaughter even though Aizawa had told her that Tsukauchi was working on getting his charges removed, and was therefore trying to keep a low profile. Although Ochako's almost certain that he hasn't gotten much trouble over it—the entire police force and the remaining active pro heroes have decidedly ignored the fact that he's wanted since the Kosai incident.

"About a week ago," Ochako answered, guiding Jirou over to the couch and sitting down with the other girl still in her arms.

Kirishima shook his head, "Dammit."

"What?" Ochako whispered, "He'll wake up, won't he?"

"Yeah," Shinsou said, "But the first time's easy. When those goddamned bastards woke us up for the second, third, fourth times against our will—well, each time it was the most painful thing I've ever been put through, and it just kept getting worse." Ochako shivered at his words. It was no secret that Shinsou's been through shit, so for him to word it like he was…

"The longer you're under, the worse it is," Kirishima added, "They never had any of us sleeping for longer than three days…a whole week…fuck."

Ochako gulped, glancing over at Bakugou's twitching face as he battled the demons inside of his head, sound asleep.

"He'll be okay," She asked hesitantly, "Right?"

"He's Bakugou," Kirishima affirmed with wet eyes, "Of course he'll be okay. But he hates worrying everyone with his own demons; I'm afraid he's gonna end up holding onto a lot of negative emotions unnecessarily."

Ochako's frown deepened at that—Katsuki had actually been doing well in this regard recently; partly because of the promised he made to be honest with her. But part of her believed that whatever fake life had been implanted in his brain by those girls had made him realize how much he needed to rely on others to find lasting happiness. She hoped whatever he was combatting within himself now wouldn't make him backtrack down this path of being more forthcoming and even a little vulnerable.

"Is there any way to wake him up without Akiko's help? Would that be easier for him?" Ochako inquired further.

Shinsou shrugged, "Not sure. They had some guy who's quirk manipulated our memories—if we ever cracked their code, I'm sure they wouldn't let us remember it." His eyebrows scrunched together, as if he was trying to remember a circumstance in particular—but even Ochako knew how difficult that was after having these villains in your head. Shinsou shook his head, as if to tell himself to focus on the discussion at hand, "Means there's no way for us to know for sure if waking up on our own accord doesn't hurt like a bitch."

Stumped, Ochako rested her cheek on Jirou's hair. They were all silent for a long while, staring at Bakugou like he somehow held all the answers to what was going on. Eventually Jirou's tears petered out, and she eventually fell asleep along the length of the couch. Ochako moved over to perch herself on the side of the bed next to Bakugou. She clasped her hand with the blonde's, and ignored the raised eyebrows from the boys in the room. Ochako wasn't about to give up this particular comfort just because there were a few prying eyes.

"Why were you separated from everyone else?" She asked eventually, stroking her thumb along the back of Bakugou's hand like she's done a thousand times before.

The three boys shared a heavy look between them, and then glanced up at Ochako.

"They had a harder time with us, I think," Shinsou spoke, hand raised so that he could slide it through his unruly locks, "They were trying to condition us, you know. Mess with our memories—turn us into villains." A breath of air left his mouth, like he was amused at the notion, "Like I was going to take that bait after how hard I worked to get into the hero course."

"Their quirks worked fine on me," Tokoyami muttered, "But they couldn't keep a lid on Dark Shadow." Ochako grimaced at that—Bakugou's speculations on why they had set Dark Shadow loose on Kosai were spot on, it seemed.

"Pretty sure Jirou's quirk also saved her ass," Shinsou continued, obviously not wanting to dwell on what Tokoyami's untamable quirk forced the villains to do in retaliation, "Subconsciously she'd use it and input into the real world—they messed with her memories the most because she probably heard more than they wanted her to."

Ochako glanced at Kirishima, who's remained oddly silent through the discussion. She didn't want to pry if it was a hard subject, but at the same time any information they had on the different effects of this quirk and the villains' reactions were important and could be a game changer.

"What about you, Kiri?" She asked softly, hoping he knew that he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

Kirishima's hands were balled into fists on his knees, and he shut his eyes tightly at her question. He shrugged eventually though, and Ochako didn't press the issue do to the tears she could see that were streaming down his face.

"What's your story, huh?" Shinsou inquired, directing the conversation away from the redhead, "How did you and Bakugou get away?"

"Yeah," Tokoyami chimed, glaring at the ceiling, "When we heard that you guys were here, we were shocked. We only managed to escape by the grace of Akiko. If she hadn't been there, we'd all be stuck in their warehouse of torture still."

"Hah," Ochako breathed, wondering how to even begin. She glanced over at the slumbering blonde next to her and, without really even thinking about it, rested her chin on Katsuki's shoulder. "We both woke up in the initial attack. Katsuki first—I think, actually, that if it wasn't for him I wouldn't of woken up at all. He saved me."

"Katsuki, huh?" Kirishima mused; his fists were still clenched in his lap, but a small smirk quirked his lips upward for a fleeting moment.

Ochako blushed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"How did you wake up when literally no one else was able to?" Shinsou pressed, leaning forward in his seat in interest, "And how did the most stubborn asshole I know manage to get caught in their trap after escaping it the first time?"

Ochako sighed, "I'm assuming they planted some fake life in your heads too, right? Like at first?"

Tokoyami nodded, "I think it was so we'd more easily accept that parasite in our dreams."

She nodded in agreement, "Well—even with years of forged memories in our brains—the actual dream was just too good to be true. We both realized within minutes that it wasn't real. I woke up to Katsuki slapping my face. We made a run for it, and ended up shacking up with Utsushimi Camie to remain hidden. We've been trying to find leads so that we can save everyone—we were following one when those bitch villains put him back under their spell." She winced after she realized what she'd just said—not like she's a prude, but Katsuki has definitely been rubbing off on her.

"And he fell for it the second time around?" Kirishima pondered.

Ochako shrugged, face heating up again as she remembered Bakugou's moans and groans of pleasure after they forced him to sleep. He had whispered her name so softly and—and preciously. And while she hated possibly being the reason for him giving into the dream parasite, it also made her heart skip knowing that Katsuki thought of her like that. That she's enticing enough to him to be his vice.

God, why hadn't he told her? Ever since that moment, she's been dying over the possibility of Bakugou thinking of her in that way.

"Oh my god," Kirishima said, eyes wide as he took in her blushing face, "It was a sex dream, wasn't it?"

"W-what?" Ochako spluttered, "What makes you think that!? What? No!"

"It totally was," Shinsou said, grinning like he just won the lottery, "Holy fuck. Bakugou's weakness is wanting to get some."

"Stop, you guys!" Ochako whaled, "There's really no way to know for sure—!"

"Why are you blushing so much, huh?" Kirishima teased, "Did you hear things you wish you hadn't?" Shinsou barked out a laugh at that, and Kirishima looked like he was trying to reconcile this revelation, "God, I didn't even know that Bakugou thinks about sex—I can't even imagine him moaning along to a wet dream!"

Shinsou's laughter only became more rowdy the more that came out of Eijirou's mouth.

"It's not funny!" She whined, removing her hand from Katsuki's so that she could cover her steaming face, "You guys are mean!"

»»-¤-««

Kawaguchi Akiko, in terms of personality, was exactly like the redheaded villains Ochako had encountered in the rubble of Kosai. Her crass language and overall attitude, however, were much more playful instead of demeaning. Her red hair was pulled atop her head in a bun. And, because Ochako first saw her when the girl's back was to her, the first thing the brunette noticed about Akiko was that she had an undercut. The second thing she noticed was that she had a nose piercing. The third thing was the sandman's hourglass tattooed on her sternum.

"So you're one of the brats that has been shaking things up for my bitch ass sisters?" She inquired loudly after Ochako introduced herself. Akiko accompanied her question with a hearty slap to her shoulder, which Ochako was positive was going to leave a bruise.

Ochako laughed lamely at the girl, and her response ended up sound much more like a question rather than a statement, "That's me?"

"Good fuckin' job!" She hollered, and Ochako got a good glance at the woman's tongue piercing, "I love seeing my sisters bitch at each other cause they ain't getting what they want!"

"This is Kawaguchi Akiko," Tsukauchi introduced calmly. Kawaguchi had been talking to the officer rather amiably when Ochako had walked up to them. "We wanted her to speak with you and Bakugou's parents about what should be done about Bakugou."

Ochako gulped. She's only ever heard stories about Katuski's parents, but has never had the opportunity to meet them like she had with Deku's mom. But if the stories were true, and Kacchan's mom was really exactly like her explosive son…

"Right…" She said, like that made any sense. Which it didn't. Not even a little bit.

»»-¤-««

"Wake that bastard child up!" Bakugou Mitsuki demanded, hand slamming down on the table with vigor. The only person to flinch at the resounding sound was poor Naomasa, who obviously wasn't used to this kind of behavior.

Bakugou Masaru laid a calm hand on his wife's shoulder, "He's not a bastard child, honey."

"Whatever the fuck he is, he needs to be woken up!"

"Look lady," Kawaguchi slammed her own palm on the table, probably to assert her dominance in retaliation, "It's not that fuckin' simple—"

"I beg to differ!" Mitsuki barked, "You woke me the fuck up, you can wake my son the fuck up!"

"That was your first time being infected by my sister's shitty quirk," Akiko argued, her sneer making her nose ring glint in the fluorescent lights, "The first time's always the easiest. This isn't your bastard son's first rodeo with Parasite—"

"Fuck you! Only I get to call Katsuki my bastard son!"

"Fuck you, actually. Me waking that twerp up is only going to hurt him!"

"You think my son can't handle it!?" Mitsuki roared, everything about the woman aggressively reminding Ochako of Katsuki. From the angry bared teeth, to her thrown up fist—Bakugou Katsuki was the spitting image of his mother. It would be kind of cute if Mitsuki didn't look one-hundred percent prepared to kill Kawaguchi.

Ochako flicked her eyes over to Bakugou's dad—his eyes were full of worry, and you could tell by the hand planted firmly on his wife's shoulder that he was loyal to his family.

Katsuki also resembled his dad, in a way.

"That's not the point, you psychopathic woman!" Akiko screeched right back, "The point is, I don't want to cause your boy unnecessary harm! I only elected to waking up your sorry ass and the other kids at that damned warehouse because they needed to escape!"

"You think keeping him comatose is doing him any fucking favors!?"

The more these two women bickered back and forth, the more Ochako wondered why the hell she was even there—obviously, they each had a compelling argument and either course of action was likely to have negative effects on Bakugou. But she definitely didn't feel like she had claim enough over Katsuki to have a say in all of this. She wished she could just peek into his damn dream and ask the boy himself, because in the end it was Katsuki who should choose.

"What do you think, Ochako?" Tsukauchi interjected, really looking like he could use some sanity in this conversation.

Ochako blinked as everyone's attention was turned on her.

"To be honest," She started, eyes flicking between the four adults, "I'm not really sure why I'm a part of this decision—"

Mitsuki scoffed, "Katsuki doesn't just put up with someone for over a month, sweet cheeks." Good to know that Bakugou's fondness of appropriating names for people was at least inherited. "If he's been working on this case with you, he obviously trusts your judgment. That's why we asked for you to fucking be here. So don't be shy—we're big kids, we can take it."

"I wasn't finished," She snapped, forgetting that his wasn't actually Bakugou that she was speaking with but not really caring either way. Mitsuki's mouth shut, and she raised her eyebrows at Ochako. Then, to her amazement, Mrs. Bakugou leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest with a look of respect. Ochako took that as her queue to continue, "I'm not really sure why any of us are part of this decision—we're debating on whether or not Bakugou should be saved but not even considering whether or not he wants to be saved. If we wake him up, if he's forced to rely on us—he'll probably feel humiliated by that." She let in a deep breath—because no matter how much she wanted to side with the Bakugou's and just wake him the fuck up so that she could see him scowl and laugh and live, she knew that these words were true. She glanced up, staring into Bakugou Mitsuki's eyes with determination painted within her own, "The only one that can make this decision is Katsuki himself."

Silence fell on the room like a poignant sprinkle of rain—the kind that made everything look more vibrant.

And then:

"Fine."

"What do you mean fine?" Akiko inquired, "How the hell do you suppose we have the twerp make the choice when he's unconscious?"

Mitsuki growled, "I trust Uraraka to not suggest something like this if she hadn't already thought it through—we live in a fucking world of super powers. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Ochako blinked at that, wondering what exactly she'd done to earn this woman's trust.

"We don't know what interfering with his dream will do—"

"Ah, shaddup already," Mitsuki droned, leaning into her husband more now that she'd calmed down, "We're following the kid, so just get on board."

»»-¤-««

Bakugou's not sure how long he's been fighting this motherfucker, but like hell he was going to give up now—even if his lungs turned to ash, even if his arms felt like they were going to erupt, even if he was choking on his own damned blood. He wouldn't quit until he wiped that smug look off of his own counterpart's face.

The fucking irony.

"You dead yet, pussy?" The other Bakugou spat at him, explosions trickling from his palms as if to inform Katsuki of another barrage of attacks. Katsuki was proud to say, that this fucker looked just as beat up and fucked as he did. But no matter what the other did, neither of them went down.

There had to be a way to kick this parasite outta his head—he just couldn't fucking figure it out.

"Not likely, asshole," Bakugou snapped back, ignoring his burning lungs to rush forward. He swung his right arm back, jumping forward to increase his momentum, and set off an explosion near the bastard's stomach. The fake-Bakugou dodged out of the way, aiming a kick at his head on the way. Katsuki narrowly managed to thrust his head backwards so that his face did not meet the destructive force of the villain's heel. But the bastard used the cover of Katsuki's recent explosion to attack again, tripping Katsuki with his leg. Katsuki felt a rough hand yank his hair and force his face into the ash and dirt hard enough that it was making him bleed.

"Fucking give up," The villain-Bakugou growled, "You let me in and you'll need to force me out. You'll never fucking beat me at this rate—you're growing weaker by the minute."

Katsuki grit his teeth, inhaling the dirt beneath him. He attempted to shift his weight to throw the fucker off of him, but the fake-Bakugou was settled securely onto his back so as to cut off his movement.

"Your only chance is to be saved like the pathetic piece of shit you are," The bastard continued in a nasty snarl, "Heroes fucking win. Heroes do the saving. What kind of hero needs to be saved?" He laughed mockingly, "You're no fucking hero; you don't mean shit if you can't win. You don't mean shit if you're always being rescued by your shitty classmates—"

"Shut UP!" Katsuki roared, turning his head to the side by sheer force of will so that he could glare up at his own ugly condescending face.

Fake-Bakugou sneered down at him, finding some sort of sick satisfaction at finally getting a reaction out of the blonde. He opened his mouth to no doubt degrade him, but Katsuki didn't let him say another fucking word.

"I said, shut up!" Katsuki growled, "What the fuck is so wrong with being saved, huh? Better that than have to stare at your ugly mug any longer!"

There was a scoff above him, but it was only fuel to the fire that had started burning within him.

"You've said it all, fucker!" He raged on, bringing his weak fingers up to wrap around the villain's wrist. He dug his fingernails into the skin there until there was blood streaming down the fucker's hand. "I'm a fucking piece of shit! And what the fuck does that make you? Huh?" He didn't let the fucker respond, "At least I can be saved, you soulless bastard!"

The fake-Bakugou picked up Katsuki's head by his hair and then proceeded to slam his face back into the ground forcefully. Katsuki groaned through the pain, and could feel that his nose had been broken. God, why did this feel so fucking real?

"I don't need to be saved, genius," The villain's laugh was laced with mirth and it was right in Katsuki's ear, "I'm fucking winning."

"Hah," Katsuki gurgled out through the blood in his mouth, "M'not dead yet."

The weight on top of him disappeared, only for the bastard to kick him as hard as he could in the gut. Katsuki grappled for breath, clutching at his stomach as if that would ease the pain. But he forced himself to roll over so that he could glare up at his counterpart.

"Y'can't kill me," He spat, "And if I'm saved from this nightmare, you lose."

Another kick, this time to his face.

Katsuki spit out a tooth, feeling more pissed off than he ever has in his entire life.

"That make you feel good, bitch?" He yelled, staggering to his feet with all the strength left within him, "You feel at the top of the world just 'cause you can land a couple on me?"

"Haaaah?" Fake-Bakugou growled, "Isn't this what you do to everyone you deem beneath you? Isn't that what you're doing right now? Calling me a bitch to try and make me feel small?" He pushed Katsuki's shoulders, making the blonde stumble backwards, "Isn't that what you did to Deku so you'd quit feeling threatened by him?" Another push, "We're not so fucking different. You realized it, right? That you and I—we're one in the same? Everything you hate about me is really everything you hate about you."

Bakugou threw a half-assed explosion at the villain's face.

"You're not real, fuckface."

But his counterpart's words hit a little too close to home. He bit his lip, feeling tears of guilt and regret prick at the corner of his eyes.

"I'm the realest shit you've ever fuckin' seen—"

He was cut off by an actual pillar of light breaking through the dark clouds like some divine power that was here to pull Bakugou out of this nightmare. The both of them stared up at it dumbly.

"Bakugou."

It was a woman's voice—a voice that Katsuki recognized. One that resonated through his mind in much the same way his own thoughts bounce around his head.

"Bakugou," The voice from above the clouds repeated, "This is Mandalay—I'm here with pro-hero Angler."

Katsuki racked his brain for any information on Angler, and a vague memory of Deku muttering on about the hero surfaced within his mind. Angler had telepathic abilities, similar to Mandalay—he had the ability to look within someone's mind to read their emotions thanks to the single antennae on his head. Apparently, if the fucker focused hard enough he can even read individual thoughts from one specific person at a time.

"There's a woman here who can wake you up from this sleep," Mandalay continued, and Katsuki glanced over at his counterpart to find him growling at the beam of light like it personally offended him. "Being forced awake is mentally and even physically painful—so the decision on whether or not you want to be rescued from this coma lies within your own hands. Angler—"

"Fucking do it!" Katsuki yelled before the hero could even finish her explanation, or before the fake-Bakugou could incapacitate him or gag him or some other bullshit. And for the first time since the beginning of this shitty dream, his lungs didn't feel like they were on fire and he could finally breathe, "Get me out of this nightmare!"

»»-¤-««

"The fuck?" Kawaguchi pondered, lowering the hand that had been outstretched towards Bakugou.

Ochako frantically peeked around the older woman, wondering what could have caused her to sound confused when Angler literally just told them that Katsuki actually wanted to be saved for once in his life. She wasn't exactly sure how Akiko's quirk worked, but her sisters seemed to be able to activate their troublesome quirks through speech alone. So then why hadn't anything been done…?

Her train of thought stopped when she got a look at Bakugou.

His eyes were fluttering open, as he tried desperately to adjust to the sudden barrage of light. He squinted up at all of the people surrounding his bed, and his hand reached for his throat like he was surprised that it was working.

"The hell?" He croaked, voice rough from disuse. He glanced over to Mandalay as he tried to piece together just what the hell was going on. "Thought you said it'd be painful?" He finally asked the hero when his eyes had adjusted a bit more, "I'm just thirsty as fuck."

Mitsuki thrust a glass of water at her son while glaring at Kawaguchi.

"Don't look at me like that," Akiko snapped before the blonde woman could say anything, "I didn't use my quirk on him; he literally snapped out of it just as I was about to wake him up. He must've broken through Parasite."

Ochako quirked her head to the side, curious.

Katsuki gulped down the water gratefully. When he was finished, he shoved the glass into his mother's abdomen and shut his eyes again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Mitsuki barked at him, reaching down to pinch his cheek, "You've slept enough!"

Katsuki batted her hand away grumpily. "Doesn't feel like it," He muttered sleepily, rolling over onto his side. He exhaled dramatically, cracking open one scarlet eye, "Where's 'Chako? She safe?"

Mitsuki snorted, "Glad to know you've missed your own damned parents. Brat."

Bakugou rolled his eyes.

"I'm right here, Katsuki," Ochako chimed, stepping forward with a red face. She pointedly avoided eye contact with Mitsuki, who was smirking at the pair of them with a knowing look in her gaze. Katsuki stretched out a hand to her. Ochako accepted it like it was the most natural thing in the world, sliding her fingers into his. Katsuki smirked, maneuvering their hands just right for a thumb war. Ochako laughed, because only Bakugou Katsuki would instigate a thumb war rematch immediately after waking up from a traumatizing coma. She stretched her thumb, attempting for the millionth time to beat him at this silly game but getting her own thumb stuck underneath his in the process.

"Gotcha," He murmured softly, closing his eyes again and not bothering to let go of her hand after his victory—apparently accepting the warmth of her palm as his prize. She was a little struck dumb by the contented smile on his face. Someone had obviously let the butterflies in her stomach loose because wow, Bakugou looked good when he smiled like that.

"I'll beat you one of these days, Kacchan," She whispered back, squeezing his hand.

He cracked open a velvet eye and regarded her for a moment before snorting.

"I look forward to it, angel," He mumbled.

"You owe me questions."

Bakugou hummed in agreement, "When I wake up."

"Fine," Ochako allowed, teasing. Her smile settled into something fond, "I missed you."

"Of course y'did."

"Jerk."

Bakugou chuckled, "Missed you too. Now lemme sleep."