hello sweeties! this is a my hero academia oneshot i wrote while i was bored. i hope you like it!
it's not exactly short but okay lol
He woke up that morning and everything was dark.
It wasn't even that early, the sun had risen.
Even the sky was dark, the sun seemingly covered by a transparent dark veil.
But the worst part was the people. His fellow students, random people walking around, the teachers.
They weren't even people anymore.
They were just dark spirits leaping through the shadows, watching him and waiting to attack him. He would get scared whenever they would even look at him with their horrific eyes, usually flame-colored. They didn't even look remotely human. They looked like clouds of dark mist, like Kurogiri from the League of Villains. They would walk up to him and touch him and he always tried to get away, but they didn't go away.
He tried to scream and ask for help, but nobody heard him.
Either they were deaf, or he was mute.
Katsuki eventually passed notes to people because nobody heard him, and that seemed to work, but the spirits were confused, probably because he wasn't screaming and growling all the time. His throat apparently wouldn't make a sound, according to them.
Over the course of a few days, he got used to seeing the spirits, but he was still unusually jumpy. He decided to try and tell the spirit whom he was pretty sure was Aizawa. He noticed that anyone within a certain circle (about a meter in diameter) became clearer and less spirit-like. He could make out specific faces and that was it.
He wrote an entire letter explaining what was going on and said that he was probably either hit by a quirk or magically developed some kind of mental disease and he wasn't sure which. Thankfully, the spirit (though still menacing) seemed to understand.
When he walked into class that day, everyone looked over at him, their terrible, glowing, fiery eyes glaring and their mouths split into wide, demonic grins.
He immediately panicked and couldn't breathe. He was sweating, not because of his Quirk, but because he was scared.
Scared of them, scared of the shadows, of himself, and of the fact he was here.
He got up and ran out of the room, trying not to faint or cry. He ran through the halls before reaching an empty room, where he crouched under a table in the corner and tried to calm himself down.
A few moments later, someone entered the room and Katsuki clapped his hand over his mouth, trying not to make a sound.
"Bakugou-kun? Are you there?"
Katsuki peeked out and saw the worst one of them all. The Demon King.
The Demon King was Kirishima, the one he cared for the most. The Demon King was the most dangerous. He was the one who could kill, who could strike fear into Katsuki with a mere thought of him, and who was the only one who could lift the curse.
As the King walked around the room, his calculating gaze with all of the colors of flame sweeping the area, Katsuki tried not to move, as he knew the King couldn't hear him.
Unfortunately, the King had a keen eye, and noticed the scared boy, walking over.
"Bakugo-kun! Are you okay? What happened?"
It was Kirishima's voice, Kirishima's face appearing out of the King's figure, but it didn't help. Katsuki backed himself into the corner even more, trying to make himself so small that he would disappear.
"Bakugou! Talk to me!"
The King placed his hands on Katsuki's shoulders and shook him, and for a split second, the darkness seemed to fade and he could see Kirishima again.
"Whoa. Your eyes… I just realized. They're pitch black, but for a second, they turned back to red. What's going on?"
Katsuki shook the King's hands off, trying to make him go away.
"Are you okay?"
The normally angry teen shook his head and dropped it into his knees, hiding in the safety of his own body.
"Here. If you don't want to talk, maybe you can write it?"
The King handed Katsuki a pen and a notepad, and he slowly picked them up and began writing.
"'Everything is dark, as if covered by a veil. The sky, the landscape, the people, everything. The people are terrible spirits made of dark mist, and you are the one I call the Demon King. You're the most terrifying because you are the closest to me. The closer someone is, the more fear I get from them. And I literally can't talk because my physical body is in your realm, but my soul is in the shadow realm. Even if I speak, my throat makes no sound.' Burning hell, Bakugo… why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
Katsuki shrugged and wrote, 'Can you please get away from me? Being near anyone makes me anxious.'
"Oh, sorry, Bakugou."
Kirishima moved back, which made Katsuki relax a little, but he was still on edge now that the King had seen him and spoken to him.
"You know what? I'm the King. I'm the strongest in terms of a relationship with you. What if I 'protect' you from the others if they scare you? Would that be okay?"
Katsuki looked up, teary-eyed, at his friend, and nodded. Kirishima smiled warmly.
"Now come on, Bakugou-kun. We still have class, you know."
I guess we do, Katsuki thought.
'Thank you.'
"Of course, Bakugou."
The two walked back to class. Normally, Katsuki would be full of love and maybe blush from being with Kirishima (he had a big crush on him), but right now, Kirishima was the Demon King.
The aura of fear the Demon King emanated overshadowed the romantic feelings Katsuki had for the human behind the figure, and it was difficult to even be near him.
Soon, the boys got back to class. Aizawa understood, but the others were confused about what was going on with Katsuki. Aizawa didn't have time to explain because the classes that day were particularly fast-paced.
Soon, it was time for lunch, and Katsuki ran out first with Kirishima right behind him. The others followed, and Katsuki looked over his shoulder several times to see his class behind him, and each time, he sped up his already fast-paced walking speed.
"Bakugo-kun! Hold on, I got ya!"
Kirishima appeared right next to his friend, making him flinch and almost running into the wall.
"Oh, oops, right. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Bakugou."
Katsuki shrugged and shook his head as if to say, "It's fine."
"Kacchan? What are you doing?"
Katsuki shuddered and slowly looked behind him to see what he was pretty sure were Deku, Round-face, and Engine (Izuku, Uraraka, and Iida, for those who don't speak Bakugo).
"Bakugo?"
"Bakugo! Stop running!"
Katsuki's face turned red and he was sweating, breathing heavily. He was in a state of total panic.
"Kacchan!"
Deku ran towards his terrified childhood friend, who desperately tried to get away.
"Midoriya, wait!" Kirishima jumped in front of Katsuki, protecting him.
"Kirishima-kun? What are you doing?"
"Midoriya, Bakugou-kun isn't feeling okay right now. He's really scared of you, and me, and everyone else he sees. I'm here to protect him even though I scare him the most. He doesn't want you to even look at him, or talk to him, and especially not touch him, and I'm reinforcing that. He'd really like you to respect that."
"O-oh. Do you know why?"
Kirishima hissed. "He told me, but I'm not going to tell you out of respect for his personal feelings. He's just gonna be really off for a while. You'll know when he's back to his normal self when his eyes are red and he's screaming every three seconds."
Katsuki laughed (though of course nobody heard him) and was pissed at that statement, but also too afraid to act upon it.
The students got to the lunchroom and Katsuki sat alone with Kirishima as his only company (though Kirishima wasn't right next to him). Ironically, he felt safer with Kirishima by his side than he would if he was alone. Kirishima was almost his guardian.
When Katsuki went to bed that night, early like always, he thought of Kirishima's protection and felt safe. In the morning, he woke up and waited for Kirishima to come out before going anywhere.
This routine went on for almost a week. Katsuki would spend all of his waking hours alone or with Kirishima. He did need to be alone a lot due to the power of the King, but whenever he had to go out where there were spirits, he would always try and find Kirishima first.
Then, there was one day where his anxiety was particularly bad. He couldn't stand being near even Kirishima and skipped most of his classes. Eventually, Kirishima found him in a storage closet (Katsuki had been sneaking around the school all day to avoid being seen).
"Bakugo, I finally found you. I haven't seen you all day except for lunch! Did something happen?"
Katsuki shook his head and backed himself into the corner, visibly shaking.
"Here, take this. I'll stand back."
Katsuki was handed a pen and a notepad again.
'My anxiety is just really bad today. I can't even look at someone without getting scared.'
Kirishima sighed. "I'm so sorry about that, Bakugou."
'But I do know how to lift the Quirk.'
"Wait, you do?! Why didn't you do it earlier?"
'It's not exactly easy.'
"What do you mean?"
Katsuki struggled to hand the next message over to Kirishima.
'The Demon King has to kiss me.'
Kirishima's face instantly turned red (though Katsuki couldn't really see that).
"I-I have to-to k-kiss… you?"
Katsuki nodded, face also red.
"W-well… if y-you want to-to get b-back to no-normal, I-I'll do i-it! F-for my fri-friend!"
As the King advanced slowly towards Katsuki, the boy panicked and tried to push him away.
"I thought you said…"
'I know, but it's still so fucking scary to be so close to the being I fear the most right now. I will try to resist, but don't stop. Just go ahead and do it, and if you want, we can just forget it later.'
Kirishima nodded. Without saying anything, he loomed over Katsuki and pressed his lips to his friend's.
A moment passed and Katsuki's eyes turned to their normal red color, the darkness and the illusions seemingly shattering like glass. To Kirishima's surprise, the blond boy kissed back. And after a few more seconds, they split apart.
"Are you okay now? Can you talk?" Kirishima sputtered, clutching Katsuki's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You look normal. Everything looks normal. I'm assuming my eyes are normal as well?"
Kirishima grinned. "Crimson red as ever."
"Th-thank you."
"Haha, of course! But what was that, Bakugo?"
"I-... um…"
Katsuki struggled to speak, still blushing.
"D'you like me?"
"Duh."
Kirishima giggled and hugged Katsuki. "That makes two of us."
"Wait, wouldn't that mean you like yourself, or me?"
"Bahaha! Bakugou, you're funny!"
"No, seriously, do you like me?"
The red-haired teen sat back and shrugged. "Guess so."
"A-ah… well…"
"W-we should go, right? We ha-have to get back to… the dorms! Yes, right, the dorms. To sleep."
"Y-yeah."
So, the two boys awkwardly went back to the dorms and hardly spoke on the way there. Right before they entered, Katsuki grabbed Kirishima's arm and hissed, "That kiss never happened. We didn't do it."
Kirishima gulped. "Sure."
Then, they entered.
"Bakugou-kun! Kirishima-kun!" Iida announced.
"Bakugou-kun! You're here!" Denki shouted.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't stay for long," he growled back.
"Kacchan, what happened?"
Katsuki groaned. "I don't wanna explain, nerd. But I know it's probably inevitable and I'm sure you're all wondering what's been going on with me."
"Bakugou-kun, you're talking! You were only using notes!"
"Give me a second and let me speak, ya extras!"
Katsuki explained everything (with the help of Kirishima) what had happened. Well, everything except the kiss part, of course.
"So, how did you lift it?" Mina asked, very curious.
"We don't talk about it, Mina-san," Kirishima said.
"Oh, come on, what happened?"
"Mina-san, I think they do not wish to speak of it," Tokoyami murmured.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm still curious, though, and I will find out exactly what happened."
Katsuki hissed, small explosions shooting from his palms. "No, you won't."
"Actually, I agree with Mina-san. I need it for my notes, Kacchan," Deku piped up.
"This is really kind of interesting."
"Was it that embarrassing?"
"I wanna know how to break it in case that ever happens to me."
"Did you have to kiss someone?"
The entire room went silent at Mineta's question.
"WHAT?!" Katsuki roared.
"Jeez, it was just a question. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to," he replied, holding up his hands in surrender.
"And I don't. I'm not telling any of you extras!"
"Wait a minute, this Quirks seems oddly familiar. Let me go get something," Deku exclaimed, getting up and running off somewhere.
"I swear if that damn nerd tells-"
"Bakugou-kun, calm down!" Kirishima yelped.
"How am I supposed to calm down?! You know what happened! I told you we weren't gonna speak of it!"
"Here! I've got it!" Deku announced, running back with a different notebook.
"Deku, if you dare tell-"
"Mineta's guess was actually quite accurate. Didn't you have to kiss the Demon King, aka Kirishima-kun, Kacchan?"
The room went silent again, and a few students went, "Ooooooohhhh…"
Kirishima cleared his throat. "Different Quirk, Midoriya-kun. That's not what happened at all."
Katsuki was quiet.
"Oh, alright. If you say so~."
"Where would you have even heard of it? It's not exactly a common Quirk. That's not even what happened, Deku!" Katsuki hissed.
Deku smiled mischievously. "Even so, I walked by a storage cabinet earlier and I'm sure I heard Kirishima's voice followed by the sound of kissing. Unless that was someone else, it had to have been you, Kacchan."
The two boys were very quiet.
"Of course, Kacchan wouldn't have said anything until after the kiss, because he couldn't. There were definitely Kacchan-like growls that I heard."
"So it was that embarrassing…" Denki mumbled, struggling to keep a grin off of his face.
"I am going to MURDER ALL OF YOU!" Katsuki roared, so loudly it surprised even himself. More explosions shot from his hands, larger now, and everyone screamed.
"All of you, shut the hell up!" Aizawa shouted, appearing from out of nowhere. His Quirk was activated, stopping Katsuki's.
"Sensei…" the angry teen growled.
"Bakugou, I already know. You told me everything in that letter. It definitely says you had to kiss the 'Demon King' in order to lift the Quirk. Kirishima is that Demon King, right? Stop trying so hard to deny it." The teacher, who was in a normal t-shirt and pajama pants, his hair in a bun, held up a piece of paper.
"W-well, it was a one-time thing. It was necessary. No strings attached. Plus, I was so terrified that it almost didn't happen. I kept resisting out of fear."
"Who would have a closer bond than whoever you liked, Bakugou?"
Katsuki growled, ready to attack, when he suddenly froze and coughed up a black substance, eyes widening.
"Bakugou?!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"Get… away… from me..." were his last words before he collapsed.
"Hold on, I've got him. Kirishima, you carry him and come with me," Aizawa said, serious now.
"Yes, Sensei."
Kirishima carried the unconscious Bakugou while Aizawa kept his Quirk erased. They reached the hospital wing in no time and set him down on a hospital bed. Recovery Girl ushered them out as she examined Bakugou.
A few minutes later, she came out of the room and gave them the news.
"Bakugou-kun is alright, but barely. If you had been any later, there might have been permanent long-term damage to his health."
"What happened, Recovery Girl?" Aizawa asked.
She sighed. "We think the seriousness of the aftereffects of that Quirk depend on how long it took to lift it. It took you just over a week, yes?"
Kirishima nodded. "Ten days, Sensei."
"If you had gone on even a day longer, he might have been dead. To lift it as soon as possible is the most important thing."
"I understand why he didn't, though, Sensei. He was genuinely terrified of everyone, especially me, since I have the closest bond with him."
"Hm?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. The amount of fear he feels towards people depends on how strong the bond is. Since I have the strongest, I was the scariest to him."
"Ah. And what did he have to do?"
Kirishima blushed. "U-um…"
"They had to kiss," Aizawa intercepted.
"Sensei!" Kirishima whined.
"I see. I understand now, thank you." She turned and walked back into the hospital wing.
"Sensei, did you have to say that?!"
Aizawa glared at the red-haired teen. "She's a healer. She needs to know things in order to heal and help others recover. You also sometimes need to do embarrassing or insane things to save others."
"Y-yes, Aizawa-sensei."
"Let's go. It's getting late."
Aizawa led Kirishima back to the dorms, where the other students were sitting in the lobby, worried.
"Sensei! How is Bakugou-kun?" Sero asked.
"Is he okay?"
"Students, he's fine. No need to worry about him," Aizawa announced.
Uraraka stood up. "I'm still confused. Did they kiss?"
Aizawa turned his gaze to Kirishima. "Well?"
Kirishima turned almost as red as his hair and quietly mumbled, "Yes."
Everyone cheered as soon as they heard that. Kirishima couldn't handle it and ran to his room, slamming the door shut and locking it. He curled up on the bed and wrapped himself in a blanket. Connecting some headphones, he turned on some music to calm himself down. It was quiet and sad, as if to tell you, "If you're not okay, that's okay."
He stared out the window and watched the sunset, and kept staring far beyond the point of moonrise.
Eventually, someone knocked on the door and he went to unlock it. Standing there was Denki.
"Kaminari-kun? What are you doing here?"
"Um, can I come in?"
"Sure."
The two boys walked to Kirishima's bed and sat down.
"So… what did you want?"
"Well, I figure it's probably been a tough several past days. Plus, you were kind of forced to admit that you had to kiss Bakugou-kun. I joined in on that and I apologize."
"No, it's okay. It was inevitable."
"Which, the actual kiss or the reveal?"
"Both, I guess."
The two were quiet for a while before Kaminari finally asked it.
"Does he… does he like you?"
Kirishima took a deep breath. "I think so, yeah."
"What about you?"
"U-um…" Kirishima looked away, tapping his fingers together shyly.
"You totally do, bro!"
Kirishima giggled. "Oh my god, stop!"
"But really, do you?"
He sighed, letting out a fond smile. "You win. Yes, I do."
"Dude, I knew it! You weren't exactly… secretive about it."
"Huh?"
"Come on. It's Bakugou. You put his arm around him several times, you cling to each other, and you're still alive. That's literally only possible with you."
"A-ahh… I see."
"It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it's completely awesome that you found someone! It doesn't matter if it's Bakugou-kun, because you can't help who you fall in love with, right?"
"Y-yeah!"
Kaminari laughed and grinned widely. "Come here, bro." He held out his arms and Kirishima fell into them, accepting and returning the hug.
"Bakugou-kun's… gonna be okay, right?" Kirishima whispered after a while.
Kaminari smiled warmly. "Of course, dude! This is Bakugou-kun. He'll be just fine, I know it!"
"Thanks, Denki-kun."
Kirishima fell asleep on top of Kaminari that night and Kaminari laid him on his bed before leaving.
The next day, Katsuki woke up in a hospital bed. It was around noon and the sunlight was shining bright through the windows.
"H-huh? What happened…?"
Recovery Girl walked in. "Yesterday, you spat up an unknown liquid and then passed out. You also said 'Get away from me' before that. Kirishima and Aizawa rushed you here, and I was thankfully able to heal you. If you had waited any longer, you probably would have died."
"I… almost died?"
"Almost. Luckily, you were able to lift the Quirk just in time."
Katsuki coughed. "Is… is everyone else… okay?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't they be?"
"I… thought they were… in danger… from me."
"Nobody's in danger except you, Bakugou-kun."
Katsuki sighed. "Thank God."
"Now, you're going to rest today. You should be better by even as soon as tomorrow."
He shot up. "Really?"
She scoffed. "Down, Bakugou-kun. Don't overexert yourself."
"Sorry."
"As you should be. Now, rest."
Katsuki tried to lay in bed longer, but he couldn't. He was hungry and itching to move.
"Hey, uh… I'm really hungry."
"Oh, I suppose. I apologize, I nearly forgot. Let me go get you something, Bakugou-kun," she called.
He sighed, staring up at the ceiling. He stretched and cracked a ton of joints, making him giggle and cringe at the same time.
Soon, Recovery Girl came back holding a plate of food.
"Here you go, dear. Eat up."
Bakugou happily ate all of it (really fast, too), leaving her surprised.
"I had no idea you were that hungry, dear."
"Whatever. I'm itching to get up and do something."
She sighed. "I suppose it would be fine if you wanted to walk around and get some fresh air. Are you feeling better now?'
"A lot, yeah. That would be great."
"I won't let you go on your own; I'll call someone down to walk with you. Just in case. Is there anyone in mind you'd like?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Anyone but Deku and Four-Eyes, I guess. Four-Eyes would scold me or something, and Deku is… Deku. Still can't get over how annoying I think he is."
She exhaled. "Okay. After this, I think I'll have to hire a personal therapist for you."
"Huh?! I don't need therapy!"
"You do, Bakugou-kun. You do."
"Whatever. Just let me go out and do something already, Obaasan!"
['Obaasan' means 'grandmother.']
"Bakugou-kun…" she said in a condescending tone.
"Tch!"
"Ah, well… I'll go down and see if anyone wants to volunteer. You stay here."
"Sure, whatever."
She left again and came back a few minutes later.
"That was quick. Where is the volunteer?" Bakugou grumbled.
"I found Present Mic-kun on the way there. I gave him the message. He should be back soon."
And, soon enough, Present Mic came back… with Sero, Mina, Kaminari, Jirou, and Kirishima.
"What the hell are you all doing here?! First we got Shitty Hair, then Dunce Face, then Earphones, then Tape Arms, then Raccoon Eyes. Goddammit, you idiots."
The group moved out of the hospital room and began walking (yes, Bakugou had shoes and decent clothing on).
"We're your idiots, Bakugou-kun!" Kaminari exclaimed, grinning.
"You're the biggest idiot here," Jirou muttered.
"Aw, come on, Jirou-san! I'm not that dumb!"
She smiled. "I guess not. But you are a dumbass, you know that? Sero, Mina, you too."
"You're part of our squad now, Jirou-chan," Mina teased. "You're gonna be just as dumb as us!"
"Oh god, no." But she was still smiling.
Katsuki managed to turn his stupid grin into a scowl. "Damn right, you're all idiots."
"Still your idiots, Bakugou-kun~!" Kirishima shouted.
"Okay. My idiots, your idiots, Deku's idiots, you're all still idiots."
Sero and Mina fake pouted. "Don't you love us, Bakugou-sama?" they mock whined, looking at him with huge puppy eyes.
Bakugou stopped mid-hiss, trembling with annoyance. "Shut up."
"He loves us!"
"Hell no!"
"I mean, you did kiss me...~" Kirishima joked.
"Shut the hell up, Shark Boy! That was a special one-time situation!"
"No, you very clearly said you love me."
"I-I did not!"
"You did?!" everyone else shouted.
Katsuki's hand, ready to explode, twitched. "No, I didn't! Say that one more time and I'll blast you down to hell!"
"Okay, okay, sorry..."
He sighed. "Let's just keep going."
The squad of six kept walking and chatting. They kept annoying the shit out of Katsuki, but he was secretly happy.
No anxiety. No anger. No sadness. No pain.
Finally happy.
- epilogue -
"I'm surprised Kacchan was able to pull it off before it was too late, considering how he is. The Quirk did, however, have an effect on him." He smiled. "So my subject worked. This is perfect. Thank you."
The eyeless man grinned through the computer screen. "Of course, Midoriya. Are you sure you do not want to work with the League, though?"
"Yes, I'm sure I don't. I will be acting on my own accord. This Quirk is the perfect one since it won't directly kill someone. Not if they're smart enough. I guess I can kill with One for All, but I don't want to. It would feel wrong."
"That's quite alright. I understand."
You really don't, Midoriya thought, but kept to himself. "Thanks for understanding. I actually have to go now. Goodbye and thanks again."
"Goodbye, my boy."
Midoriya hung up the video call and sighed. "I don't want to be associated with the League or All for One. I can't believe I agreed to it at all. I have to act all sinister around him and I hate it."
He turned the computer off and stood up, stretching. "It's for All Might. For the heroes. For U.A. Everything I do is for them. I swore Nezu-sensei that I would undertake this mission, no matter how dangerous it was. Still, I'm not sure why he entrusted me to this. I'm just a kid with One for All who barely knows the full extent of the power."
Midoriya decided to take a shower and then go to sleep.
A few weeks later, Kirishima and Bakugou started officially dating. It was very awkward at first with Bakugou's lack of being able to express emotions healthily and normally, but he was eventually comfortable with letting others (mainly Kirishima) know how he felt. He was soon convinced to go to therapy to help with all of his mental issues. He was still angry a lot but he wasn't quite as violent as he'd used to be. Some people, though (Monoma in particular), still always pissed him off and he couldn't help but fall back into his old ways. But he was a lot better.
He didn't feel burdened with being strong and superior anymore, but he still aimed for the top.
~ the end ~
Thank you for reading this! Just a little thing I wrote while I was bored.
And just because I want to, I'm going to give you a bit of explanation.
The main effects of the quirk is meant to be a highly exaggerated version of what anxiety is like (at least from what I've heard). I don't (think I) have anxiety myself, but since I got this idea, I thought that I might as well make others aware of what anxiety actually is. Some people don't believe anxiety is real, which is total bullsh!t.
Anyways, thanks again for reading this!
I'm writing another little oneshot. Maybe I'll just make this my spot of MHA oneshots?
It's another Bakugou-focused one lmao
Well, until next time! I hope you have a good day or night or whatever! Bye!