LMAO sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth, sorry for the wait.

An uneasiness churned in Bakugou's gut as midnight steadily approached.

They had been discussing possibilities for a while now, though Bakugou had found himself content to listen to the conversation more as it went on. Frankly, he was tired. It seemed as though they finally had a way out of this mess, but there was no way to know for sure. So close, yet so impossibly out of reach.

It felt like something—or someone—was mocking him for his impatience.

But that wasn't the point here. They had a plan and they would carry it out. Hell, they even had plans for different outcomes of the main plan. This was the most carefully thought-out plan he had ever made, including his rise to greatness from Aldera to UA to eventually the number one hero! But was he even fit for that anymore? Hadn't that dream just crumbled at his feet piece by piece as the days… loops went on.

As the night went on, the steady tick-tock of the clock made anxiety build up until it almost became unbearable. He shook his head and stood up suddenly. The two adult's heads immediately whipped to him in surprise, cutting off whatever they had been saying mid-sentence.

How long had it been since he had zoned out? He had no clue.

"Bakugou? Is everything alright?" Aizawa questioned with an absolutely exhausted tone.

He gave a curt nod, debating the merits of warning the man about what he experienced at midnight.

"Is something wrong?" the detective tilted his head ever-so-slightly.

Bakugou decided that yes, that would be in both his and Eraserhead's best interest because he wouldn't wish whatever the fuck that horrible, awful-as-fuck feeling upon anyone. But when he went to open his mouth to explain his throat felt tight and his tongue felt heavy, the saliva in his mouth suddenly thick and made it hard to breathe.

He could open his mouth, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to speak. He tried and tried, opening and closing his mouth like an idiot before letting out a whine in frustration. He could feel the two pairs of concerned eyes on him, and he couldn't meet their eyes, instead choosing to stare at the table between the two, not letting their figures focus in his line of vision.

After a minute of silence and undivided attention focused on him, he finally gave up and pulled out his phone, typing out what he had been trying to say in the notes app.

It's almost midnight. Be careful. I stayed up once, and it was the worst feeling you could think of multiplied by infinity. I can't even describe it but trust me you don't want to experience it. If you're asleep before midnight, it should be fine.

He thrust the phone at Aizawa and averted his gaze again, embarrassed as Tsukauchi stared at Bakugou with a hint of confusion.

The hero read through it once with an odd expression on his face. He glanced up at Bakugou before looking back at the phone to re-read it. The teenager shifted his stance a bit, the awkwardness still palpable to him.

Eraserhead just shoved the phone at Tsukauchi before turning to look at the future hero-in-training, "And you didn't think to mention this during our planning session? There could be an important reason for this."

Their eyes still didn't meet, making Aizawa just sigh.

"Alright, I appreciate it but this has the potential to be important later, so I'll stay up. I won't make you stay up, but I see that you're nervous. I have some medication to help you sleep in the bathroom if you'd like," he looked back at the plain man in time to see him scratch his head in thought.

Bakugou grit his teeth in frustration. Was he implying that he was weaker than him for not wanting to go through it again? That bastard!

"He's right, you know," Tsukauchi interjected, "This could be important. But he isn't ignoring your advice, he's just making sure that you don't have to go through something so miserable again if you don't have to. But he doesn't want to give up the vital information in exchange for saving you from the trauma. You know, Eraserhead here is one of the few people I've ever met that hasn't ever bothered telling a lie, not even for pleasantries and such. So don't doubt his intentions, alright kid?"

Bakugou looked down in shame. Was he really that easy to read?

"Fine," he bit out, "But don't say I didn't warn you. Whatever information you think you could get from that isn't worth it. I don't remember anything but that feeling anyway."

He shuddered as he began to make his way to the bathroom for that sleeping pill.

"Don't forget! Go to school like normal tomorrow!" the detective shouted at his retreating figure.

"Yeah, yeah! I heard ya!" he yelled back in mock-annoyance.

Aizawa let out a tired, resigned sigh.

"You're really gonna do this?"

"Yeah," the hero scrubbed at his eyes, "I don't have a choice. We need to know, and I've managed to get myself deep enough into this mess that there's nothing else to do. And this kid is in way over head, as miserable as this is going to be, it's honestly better that he isn't alone for this."

He paused before adding, "Even if he is an ass."

The detective just laughed at that, "Well alright, is there anything else you need from me?"

Aizawa glanced at the clock, only about ten minutes until midnight—the moment of truth.

"Nah, just knowing that you'll still help if we need it, even if you don't remember is enough," he awkwardly rubbed his neck and averted his eyes timidly.

He was given a soft smile in return, "Of course. I'm here to help people, just the same as you."

And with that, the detective left and Bakugou had gone to sleep. It was just Aizawa alone, now.

He had never had problems being alone, in fact it was often more preferable because social interaction was as tiring as it was pointless most of the time. But as the clock hand seemed to move by at a snail's pace, he almost wished Tsukauchi hadn't left.

But whatever, it was all going to be fine.

And it was.

Until it wasn't.

He had decided to get a glass of water and reheat some of the leftovers that had been more refreshing and delicious than he cared to admit. Maybe he would allow Lunch Rush to make him real food more often, so long as it was healthy and practical of course. The staff knew that the cooking hero had been trying to serve him real food for as long as he'd been a teacher at UA, so maybe it was time to finally give in and appease both the hero and his own taste buds.

How irrational.

The food was absolutely delicious, which left him wondering why he had given up most real food in the first place. He couldn't really remember…

But despite his wandering thoughts, he made his way through half of the reheated food. In the middle of one of his bites, everything screeched to a halt with the fork still in his mouth, but his tongue tasting nothing, feeling nothing.

But then it happened suddenly, every atom in his body felt like it was being torn apart, while also getting dragged across each other. Everything was hot and burning and sharp pain pain pain everything aching throbbing stabbing burning stinging—make it stop stop stop stop stop stop it stop stop no please stop this he couldn't do this stop please make it stop stop please make it go away away away stop please away no more no no no stop.

He heard something garbled but everything was so much that he couldn't even begin to make out what it could have been.

Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

Aizawa stared at the ceiling of his room, lying in bed just wheezing and trying to calm his pounding heart, ignoring the sweat that uncomfortably clung to his clothes and the sheets.

What. The. Fuck. Was. That?

Bakugou grumbled as he sat up from bed, two minutes before his alarm. He was awake, but he was already regretting it.

He absolutely hated how lethargic he felt. Like every other loop, his body was in tip-top shape, but his mind was sluggish and ready to give out on him. He supposed those stupid, old philosphers weren't making shit up when they said you had to train both your mind and body.

He felt himself let out a 'tch' and began gathering his school supplies. His heart felt as heavy as his mind when he wondered about how Aizawa was doing after the midnight experience. He wondered if it was any different, or if it maybe didn't affect the hero at all (hell, he hoped not).

Bakugou froze at a sudden intrusive thought.

Or maybe it broke him out of the loop because he wasn't supposed to be in it in the first place.

His eyes widened and sweat rolled down his neck.

Fuck, that couldn't be right, he couldn't be alone again, not after all the time they spent on that plan that required both of them. It couldn't all be wasted because he had been a fucking weak idiot that told Eraserhead about his weakness.

He was brought out of his spiraling panic by a yell from his mother, "Katsuki! If you don't get your ass down here now you're going to be late! What the fuck is up with you, you little shit?! You're never late!"

Bakugou clenched his teeth and growled to himself, fighting the urge to blow something up. Fuck her, she didn't know shit.

But he still hurried around his room, gathering everything he needed before ditching his miserable house and slamming the door behind him, ignoring his mothers threats and protests. The streets were as busy as ever, students and adults bustling about in a hurry, clearly late and frantic.

He tried not to look as scattered as the rest of the crowd seemed to be, even if he had been feeling the same kind of frustration and mild fear. It didn't really matter if he was late to class though, so he wasn't sure why he cared so much. He had never gotten in trouble for being late before, though he had to admit that it wasn't a common occurrence.

But hadn't Deku gotten detention for being late even when he wasn't? What the fuck was up with that? Whatever, he didn't have time for this!

Finally, his damned school was in sight and he scrambled through the building to his classroom, ignoring the questioning gazes of the extras. He quickly scanned the room, zeroing in on Deku's… Izuku's obnoxious green hair. He sat down and tried his best not to stare.

As much as he felt like he shouldn't—no, couldn't—take his eyes off of the idiot, he also didn't want to deal with the bullshit from the extras that followed him around.

But then again, why did he care what they thought? Augh, fuck he didn't have time for this.

He shifted his posture so he was sitting casually sideways in the chair, giving him a good view of most of the classroom. Bakugou scanned the room again, the panic that he had been trying to quell all morning instantly surging up again. Nausea began to plague him and he suddenly felt like throwing up.

He couldn't find her. She wasn't there why wasn't she there their entire plan revolved around both Deku and fucking Yoshiko being there. Why the fuck wasn't she there?

Bakugou felt a little dizzy as his breathing began to quicken. He tried to keep it under control, but this was his one shot because if she wasn't here today, then she probably wouldn't be there for the rest of the loops. But he didn't understand why she wasn't here? Nothing should have changed? What the fuck what happened? Did someone else get stuck in the loop which altered it? But he didn't have any contact with any...on..e…

But Eraserhead had come into contact with her dad, hadn't he? And the hero had only joined the loops after coming into contact with Bakugou. But then, why wasn't everyone getting stuck in this damned loop with him? What the fuck could be triggering this?

Bakugou didn't even notice the teacher walk in and begin taking roll, he was too busy drowning in his own mind, his thoughts swirling around him and pulling him under the surface into insanity.

Fuck, how could he salvage this? Maybe ask someone where she lived? But that was creepy, and who the fuck in their right minds would give him that kind of information?

Well, now that he thought about it, the administration was pretty shitty and let him get away with shit that he (now) realized he should have never been allowed to do. Plus, most of the extras in this damned school were intimidated by him.

Okay, he had a plan now. Sort of.

Bakugou spent the remainder of the class time before the lunch break going over his new plan in his head: deciding who to ask, how to ask it, and bracing himself for the possible outcomes. Finally, the lunch bell rang and he got up from his seat like everyone else in the room.

The teacher clicked his tongue in annoyance before grumbling, "Class dismissed, or whatever. Not like you all would listen anyway. Oh, and Bakugou? Stay behind for a bit."

Bakugou froze in shock as the class began to whisper and speculate about why he had been singled out. So he stayed and glared at the extras who stole glances at him and laughed, knowing exactly what they were talking about.

Fuck them. And fuck the shitty teacher for calling him out for literally no reason.

The teacher just stared at him, motioning for him to come up to him at the front of the room. The damned teacher was really gonna force him to move? What an ass.

"Bakugou, you've been… well… How should I put this? You haven't been like yourself today. You were almost late, so your homeroom teacher says, and you haven't done anything… well, you know. I'm worried about you, is everything alright?" the teacher smoothed out his rumpled shirt anxiously.

Was this fucker for real? No everything was not alright, but this fucker didn't need to know that, it was none of his damn business.

The teenager resisted the urge to growl at the fucker for seeing him as weak and taking pity on him when he remembered what the detective said. "So don't doubt his intentions, okay?"

Intentions, huh?

When was the last time he thought about what someone intended rather than what he assumed from their words or actions?

Yeah, that was a big, fat never.

He grit his teeth and ducked his head, "I'm fine, just leave me the hell alone, "there, now the fucker should get the memo and understand his intention and just fuck off.

The teacher (he really should start trying to remember names… but then again, what had this fucker done to merit any respect?) blinked in surprise and sighed, "Alright, if you're sure."

And without any sort of dismissal, Bakugou stormed out of the room in search of Deku.

The nerd wouldn't be in the cafeteria, he hadn't stepped foot in that loud mess of a room in years, so Bakugou decided to check all the bathrooms first.

But he wasn't there. Not a single one had any sign of him. So then he moved onto the janitor closets, pretending like his heart wasn't racing and he wasn't tired of the constant whiplash feeling he was getting from the day's surprises. But there was no sign of him.

It was like Deku was purposefully avoiding him or something!

Well… Bakugou couldn't really blame him in hindsight.

But he also knew that the nerd rarely resorted to those tactics, in fear of Bakugou's ire turning on someone else instead. He started to wonder if Deku was trying to die this early in the day, which was new. (That idea scared him, that means he would have less and less time to investigate and would have to spend more and more time to protect him from himself.) (A part of him wanted to mock Deku for becoming so weak that he had to be protected from himself, but Bakugou was starting to become well-acquainted with the feeling of self-hatred himself.)

Despite all of the signs of chaos that loomed over him, he knew that Deku was not very good at protecting himself. So that meant something was up.

With no other options, Bakugou reluctantly trudged to the cafeteria. He was met with the deafening chatters and juvenile laughter that he despised. All the ignorant fucks in one place, milling about as though they were the center of the universe.

He hated it.

But the extras that he normally tolerated during the school day were nowhere to be found either. His breath caught in his throat as he remembered that one day where the extras decided that he had been in a bad mood and locked Deku in a closet in an attempt to stay on his good side.

Deku, lying on the ground, soaked in vomit, blood, and bleach.

Sprawled out, limp and lifeless, halfway between seized up and calmly accepting death.

Fuck! Those fuckers!

He immediately sprinted to the top floor where the stairs to the roof resided. The idiots weren't near any of the closets, and none of them were locked, so the only place that left was the roof.

Bakugou grit his teeth and tried to hold back the panicked tears that pricked at his eyes and the burning that irritated his nose. He slammed the door open only to see the fuckers holding Deku over the edge of the building just far enough that the nerd couldn't hold onto the fence.

He noticed that they must have forced off his shoes because they were sprawled far away from the edge as though they had been carelessly thrown behind them in favour of tormenting the nerd.

This time, he couldn't hold back the growl that escaped his lips as he stormed forward. Finger-fuck noticed him first, flinching and accidentally letting Izuku's uniform slip from his grip. The other extra head snapped toward the idiot who let go. Bakugou could literally see the panic rise in his expression as his grip faltered.

They all watched in horror as Deku began to slip toward the ground. Without hesitation, he released an explosion to propel himself fast enough, he had to be fast enough!

At the last second, he managed to grab Deku by the sleeve just as his feet left the edge.

But he didn't account for the momentum that carried him forward as well, tipping him over the fence he had tried to use to stop him. He felt himself get flipped over the fence, his hand luckily just void of sweat that would have sent him flying, he was glad the blast used up his sweat. He had just enough to keep a good grip.

His shoulder ached in protest as the nerd's full weight suddenly tugged against him. Bakugou held onto the fence with one and Deku's sleeve with the other, grimacing at the ache in his joint. He really hoped he hadn't just dislocated his shoulder.

Bakugou spared a glance down at Deku before immediately regretting it. The nerd was staring at him with vacant yet tear-filled eyes. Confusion was written all over his face, as though he couldn't understand why his childhood bully had decided to save him at the risk of himself.

He really couldn't stand Deku and his bullshit.

Instead of lingering on Deku, he chose to look up at the roof, trying to see if those fuckers had abandoned them in fear. Luckily, they got up off their asses and peered over the edge at the two students hanging on for dear life.

"What the hell do you think you fuckers are staring at! Help us up you fucknuggets!" Bakugou shouted angrily. This was their fault and there they were just standing there cluelessly. These extras were such fucking morons.

Finger-fuck blinked in surprise, "W-why did you… why did you save him?"

"Are you a fucking idiot?!" Bakugou screeched, completely done with these fuckers and their stupid-ass, clueless faces, "Do you really want this nerd's death on your record?! Hah?! Because I sure as hell don't! Plus heroes are supposed to save people, right?! Are you really that stupid?!"

They both flinched at the reminder of their records, which were not as clean as Bakugou's. They scrambled to the fence, carefully leaning over and reaching for Bakugou's hand.

"You really are stupid! Don't grab my hand you dumbasses, or we'll both fall. You fuckers aren't strong enough to lift us both at the same time," he spit, trying not to let the panic he felt creep into his voice.

They flinched a bit, but dutifully reached further down towards Deku, apprehension evident in their expression.

Bakugou sucked in a deep breath, conjured all his will to ignore the sharp pain in his shoulder, and pulled Deku up higher with his one hand so that the extras could reach him. His eyes were squeezed tight and his whole body shook in the effort. His grip on the Deku's uniform was slowly sliding with the sweat he built up from the exertion, but suddenly, a firm hand gripped his wrist and he looked back down at Deku in surprise.

He thought that Deku had wanted to die.

The nerd had used his free hand to get a grip on Bakugou in order to make it easier on his hand that was slowly losing grip. He tilted his head away so his grin would be out of sight as he gave one last valiant effort and heaved Deku up. He sighed in relief once the extras took the nerd's weight from him.

After that, it was child's play to pull himself up and over the fence. Once he got onto solid ground and walked a few solid meters away from the edge (you could never be too careful, after all) he shook his wrist out and tried to feel if his shoulder had actually been pulled out of the socket or not.

The four boys all wheezed, trying to release the tension and stress that had built up in that sudden, terrifying experience.

"What, the fuck, was that?" Bakugou grit out in between heavy breaths.

"We were just, hah, having a little, a little fun B-Bakugou?" Finger-fuck tried hesitantly.

The blonde just shot them a scathing glare that sent them scrambling to get away with a flurry of pointless excuses.

Deku just sat there, staring blankly at his discarded shoes.

"You wanna tell me what the fuck that was, nerd?" Bakugou tried.

He really needed to know what happened, he didn't know why, he just knew that he needed to know.

"...I came up here to hide," Deku admitted with a dull tone, "But they followed me. They shoved me to the edge and asked me if I was really gonna do it. I didn't bother saying anything, but they shoved my shoes off and held me over the edge…" he trailed off, his intonation becoming more and more dull as he continued.

Bakugou could feel his chest tightening, but he wasn't exactly sure why.

Deku began to cry, averting his gaze, "...Kacchan, I don't understand..."

"What don't you understand, you idiot?" he tried to keep his emotions out of his voice, but he really couldn't tell if he had succeeded or failed miserably.

Deku stared him dead in the eye with a blank face and traitorous tears rolling down his cheeks silently, "Why did you save me?"

The blonde froze in horror, trying to keep out all of the glimpses of Deku's gruesome dead body that were trying to overtake him. He didn't know what to say to that. He had nothing to say to that, he couldn't say the truth but he had no believable lie.

No. That wasn't true. He did have one.

"I need you to answer a question, Deku," he let his voice become scathing, feeling miserable as he let himself take advantage of Deku's confusion to get what he needed.

After all, he was worthless Deku.

He just wanted to be useful.

Confusion flashed over his face for only a moment before he smiled brightly, "Ask away, Kacchan."