What Scares You Most

Bakudeku angsty drabble.

"KAACHAN!"

It was the last thing Midoriya could remember. He'd screamed his childhood friend's name and dove forward without a second of hesitation. That's when everything had gone black. The world had disappeared, time frozen, and in that split second, young Midoriya opened his eyes to nothingness.

Where am I? He wondered as he found himself floating in a sea of black air. Am I dead?

"No," a hollow voice replies, "not yet it seems. You're in a limbo between such worlds."

"What?" Midoriya shouts into the void, not even an echo, his words swallowed by the nothingness. He was terribly confused. What was this place? Why was he here? Did neither Heaven nor Hell want him? That made no sense.

"Why did you save your friend?" The voice queries. It holds no judgment behind its tone, just simply a question to ponder.

Why did I jump in front of Kaachan? Midoriya asks himself. Well, first off Bakugou is a friend, and two, he was a hero, and heroes will sacrifice themselves for others.

"That's not the answer."

"How the hell would you know!" Midoriya yells at nothing. "Stop reading my mind and tell me the answer then!"

"You must figure it out for yourself."

Oh, this was just aggravating! Of course, those were the answers… weren't they? Midoriya starts to second guess himself. No, those were a part of the answer, but maybe not the whole truth.

Midoriya sighs, over 10 years of nipping at Bakugou's heels convinced that the answer to his happiness would lie in this man's hands. Bakugou was strong, fearless, everything Midoriya felt he couldn't be. But that should have changed the moment he'd inherited All Might's powers.

He thought it had. He was definitely stronger and willing to jump into any situation. So, why was he still so attached to Bakugou? The next easy answer was well, they've known each other since they were small children. It was only natural that Midoriya would want to stay close, even when Bakugou pushed him away.

Would he have jumped in front of any of his friends to save them? Oh, most assuredly. That was Midoriya to a fault, risking his life to save another. He pauses, wait that might be a lie. He would do what he could to save others, but not without assessing the situation first. Another one of his downfalls was over analyzing everything and that's caused him problems before.

So, back to the original question. Why did he not hesitate with Bakugou? In fact, now that he thought about, he didn't even think at all in that moment, just suddenly dove forward. His body and mind reacted without question. Midoriya gasps as the sudden realization hits like a freight train.

"Do not waste your second chance…"

Midoriya slowly opens his eyes to the blinding light and sees a paneled ceiling like the kind one might find in a hospital. Pain riddled his stiff body, all wrapped in gauze and bandages. Midoriya turns his head. "Kaachan?" His voice was raspy as if he'd been asleep for a long time.

"Finally, you fucking wake up!" Bakugou leans forward from the chair he was sitting on, directly beside the bed. "I thought you were gonna die on me and that pisses me off!"

Surprisingly, Bakugou was the only one in the room. More of a shock was that Bakugou was even in the room waiting for him to wake up. Since when had this man ever cared enough to show he might care? But the closer Midoriya looks at his friend, he notices the puffy red eyes. Had Bakugou been crying?

Nah, Midoriya tells himself, that couldn't be. Maybe a Bakugou just woke up from a nap or something. "I'm sorry for worrying you Kaachan."

"Yeah, well, you idiot, why the fuck did you take that blast for me, huh? I could have handled it! You still trying to make me look like the fool aren't ya!"

Midoriya tried to shake his head but it hurt too much to move. "No… that's not the reason…"

"Then what the fuck is?!"

"Tell me…" Midoriya closes his eyes to the sharp pains racking his body. "Why are you here, is it to yell at me Kaachan? You've never visited me in the hospital before."

"Tch!" Bakugou crosses his arms, "I got my reasons, and I don't gotta explain them to you."

"You don't really care about me, do you, Kaachan? You're just mad that I got in the way, right? Or tell me I'm wrong."

"I…" but Bakugou's mouth clamps shut for a moment as the memories flood back. When Midoriya jumped in front of him and took the full brunt of the villian's blast, there was only one thing that came to mind. "I want to… but I can't."

Midoriya opens his eyes and looks at Bakugou. "Why can't you?"

"Because I didn't wanna lose you Deku!" Bakugou leans forward shaking a fist. "You fucking idiot stop putting yourself in jeopardy for me! Don't you realize how much it would kill me if I lost you?!"

Bakugou jumps to his feet. His emotions were getting the best of him and he didn't really like it. "Fucking hell Deku!" He runs a hand over his face. "I treat you like shit cause I used to get tired of you following me like a goddamn puppy. But, it would be too weird if you weren't around anymore."

"Kaachan?" Midoriya was a little speechless. He wasn't ready to tell his friend how he really felt, not yet. Don't waste this second chance…. he won't, but Bakugou wasn't ready. "I'll try not to do that again Kaachan."

"I'm holding you to that!" Bakugou shakes a fist and walks out of the room.

Midoriya closes his eyes. He knew it was a promise he couldn't keep.

Outside in the hallway, Bakugou braces against the wall. He was screaming inside but you'd never know it. That moment would be forever burned in his memory. He'd screamed Izuku until his throat was raw and it was only until the paramedics had come did he finally let go of the man cradled in his arms.

But what scared Bakugou the most was in that moment he'd realized just how much Midoriya really meant to him. It was the first time in his young life that true fear finally entered his heart.

"When the fuck did that happen?!"