It had been two weeks since Izuku had gotten the news of Katsuki's imminent death.
Katsuki only had three more weeks left apparently.
Bakugo of course hadn't gone to school. Even if he wanted to, his body was too weak. He had been held up in his house. Izuku couldn't imagine how he was taking this. He didn't want to imagine it.
Izuku hadn't gone to school either. He didn't have the motivation to leave the house, and his mother didn't have the heart to make him, rather she called the school to say Izuku would be on leave due to family matters. Which wasn't technically wrong.
The greenette had been mostly unresponsive. The first week was spent entirely in shock. He didn't say a word the entire time. Barely moving. Only performing basic human functions like sleeping and eating. The second week was when his emotions began to run rampant.
He cried, he screamed, he used his new super-strength to smash almost everything in his room. Hundreds of dollars in merchandise was lost, but Izuku couldn't bring himself to care right now.
Speaking to those powers, about the only good thing that could be said about these past few weeks is that the powers stayed around. And seemed to be permanent.
But even that Izuku couldn't bring himself to be happy about. How could he? His childhood friend was dying. And it was his fault.
Izuku didn't know if he should see Bakugo? He didn't know if Bakugo would want to see him. Heck, he didn't know if he deserved to see him.
Maybe the last he would see of Katsuki would be from that attack. With his face contorted in terror and begging for help. Help that would only come, too late.
Maybe the last he would see of Katsuki would be the image he would forever remember, and be forced to look at every time he closed his eyes.
But to his surprise. One day Inko got a call from Mitsuki, saying that Katsuki wanted to see Izuku.
And so despite not being sure if he could bear to see his old friend dying because of his actions, he knew he had no right to refuse. So here he was, at the Bakugo household, standing in front of Katsuki's door.
"He said he wanted to see you alone." Mitsuki was right beside him, her voice lower than he'd ever heard it before.
Izuku didn't have the heart to look her in the eyes. The guilt was too heavy for him to lift his head.
"I-I'll be close." And with that, Mitsuki walked away.
Izuku looked at the door. Behind it was repercussions of his inaction. His heart didn't have the strength to open it. But his guilt did.
And so he opened it.
Inside was Katsuki, laying on his bed. There were several machines and I.V. 's attached to him. Likely keeping him alive for as long as possible.
Katsuki himself was pale, his body almost limp. And for the second time in his life, Izuku had seen him weak, and vulnerable.
A sight he was now learning was his least favorite thing to look at.
"Deku," Bakugo said his name, his voice weak and hoarse. It was clear he was dying, but...he didn't sound as angry as he normally was. In fact...he was calm. And it threw Izuku off completely.
"K-Kacchan." Izuku stuttered back, sounding more unsure and scared than the dead man before him.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Bakugo asked him, his red eyes looking at him not with rage for once, but with curiosity.
"S-Sorry. Ba-" Izuku was cut off.
"I didn't tell you to stop," Bakugo told him, his tone being firm and strong despite the obvious weakness in his voice. It was as if even when dying, he still commanded power, still had control. "I asked you, why do you keep calling me that?"
"O-Oh...w-well...I guess...it's...because I just...got used to it." Izuku answered hesitantly, completely unsure of himself.
"Deku. We both know that's not what I'm asking." Bakugo's infamous glare returned, but it lacked the rage it once held. "Why do you still think we're friends? After everything, I did to you? Why?"
"I-I...I...I…" Izuku looked deep inside himself. He had to be honest. If not now then never. So he looked past all the justifications, all the lies he told himself, and found the truth. "...You were the only friend I ever had...You were...so powerful and strong. I...wanted to be like you."
"Huh." Bakugo looked like he thought about that for a moment. "So...even after all that shit I did to you. After every time I tried to put you in your place. To break your spirit. To get the message that we weren't friends and I wanted nothing to do with you, through your thick fucking skull...the reason it never took, is because you were in denial, for ten fucking years."
"I...I guess." Izuku's shoulders slumped.
There was a short pause before Bakugo continued.
"Deku. Come here." Bakugo pointed to the spot right next to his bed.
With a bit of hesitation, Izuku did as he was asked, and moved towards that spot.
And when he reached it, once again he found himself getting grabbed by his shirt.
"We are not friends," Bakugo told him. There was no anger. No malice. No explosions. Just a firmness and forcefulness, that forced Deku to acknowledge the truth.
Izuku looked down, the illusion broken, he now saw reality. "Yeah. We aren't."
"Look at me," Bakugo growled. "Look me in the fucking eyes when I'm talking to you."
It was funny, even when Izuku was the strongest he ever was, and Bakugo was at his weakest. The blonde still held power over him. And so Izuku immediately did as he was told, and met Bakugo eye to eye.
"I was a fucking asshole," Bakugo told Izuku, shocking him to his core. "I thought I was hot shit! I did whatever the fuck I wanted! And I didn't give a shit how anyone felt about it! I thought I was king of the fucking world, destined to be the strongest! But I was fucking wrong! I was weak! And now look at me! Killed by my own fucking quirk!"
That one statement rocked Izuku's already shattered world.
"What?" Izuku's voice was so quiet that had Bakugo not been right next to him he wouldn't have heard him.
"Think Deku! If didn't use my fucking quirk while that bastard was trying to drown me, then there wouldn't have been any fucking fires! Meaning that the goddamn heroes could have actually gone to save my ass instead of trying to save everyone in the fucking burning buildings!" Bakugo told him. "If I hadn't fucking flipped out, then I wouldn't be fucking dying!"
Oh god. Izuku thought, absolutely horrified by what he was hearing. He thinks it's his fault.
For once Bakugo didn't blame Izuku for something when actually deserved it.
Izuku had to set things right. He had to tell him the truth.
"Ka...Bakugo...it wasn't your fault. I...I was the one who let you die." Izuku admitted as he looked away in shame."
Bakugo gave him a confused look. "What the fuck do you mean?"
Izuku wasn't ready for this. But he owed him an explanation.
He backed up, freeing himself of Bakugo's grip.
And then he aimed his wrist up towards the ceiling.
THWIP.
He shot out a web shot at the ceiling.
Bakugo looked at the web in pure shock, for once he lost the control he seemed to have had, as he was overtaken by this out of nowhere surprise.
"That's not all." Izuku took off his shoes and socks and went towards the wall.
Then, he started climbing it.
Not much, he just went far enough to show that he was in fact sticking on the wall.
He relaxed his hands and dropped off the wall.
Then he turned his attention to the dresser on the other side of the room.
Izuku zipped towards it, so fast that to Bakugo he just looked like a blur.
Then he grabbed the dresser and lifted it over his head with ease. Showing off his new strength.
After putting the dresser back down, he looked back at Bakugo.
Katsuki looked like he just saw All Might lose an arm-wrestling contest. Or like he just witnessed his mom fly. Like he had seen something impossible.
After a few moments, he spoke again. "You have a quirk."
"I got it after that spider bite incident," Izuku explained softly. "We're guessing the spider had some sort of quirk that allowed it to pass its abilities with its venom. Sorry I didn't tell you about it sooner. Mom didn't want me showing it off in case it wasn't permanent."
Katsuki's shock didn't fade. As he took the time to process what he heard.
The whole spider thing...well he would hesitate to think that it made sense. But at the same time the alternative option, that Deku was lying and that he always had a quirk, made even less sense. Firstly there would be no reason as to why Izuku would hide his quirk. Secondly, that spider bite incident was freaky as hell so it made sense that there was something more to that than just Izuku being poisoned, and him suddenly having spider powers after that would be too strangely coincidental. And third, he would have to assume that Izuku was lying to him the whole time and that even on his deathbed he was lying to him.
The old him may have jumped to the conclusion that Izuku would lie to him even while he was dying, but after taking some time to look back on everything, it made less sense. And after all, if Deku really wanted to keep lying to him, he just wouldn't show him his powers.
The thing about Inko not wanting people to know also made sense. If Izuku started showing off his new quirk and then lost it, Katsuki would have given him hell.
But the thing that still didn't make sense. Was what this had to do with Izuku saying that he let him die.
Unless of course, Izuku was there. And he just stood back and watched while Bakugo was being suffocated, when he thought he could have helped.
"You were there," Bakugo concluded. "You thought you could have beat that thing."
"More than thought. I knew I could." Izuku explained. "I already did."
The look Bakugo gave him told him to explain, and so after taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, he did so.
"That villain...he attacked me first...but I thought back. I webbed up his face and...then I yanked it off." Izuku recounted. "I beat him...but then Death Arms showed up, and he scolded me for vigilantism. And while he was scolding me, the villain somehow got his face back to his body and escaped...and...when I found him again, he already had you and...there were all those heroes and the people. I...I wanted to go save you. But...if I did then everyone would have seen me commit vigilantism. I-I-I thought the heroes could handle it...Death Arms told me I could handle it I...I…"
As Izuku went on his voice became weaker, and tears flooded out of his eyes.
"I-I-I let you die! I should have done something! I could have done something!" Izuku fell to his knees, and got into the dogeza position, bowing his head in a sincere apology, knowing it would never be enough to make up for his inaction. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
While Izuku sobbed, he couldn't see Bakugo's expression. But he could imagine it. He imagined that he was furious, that he was enraged. That he might even try to attack Izuku despite his condition.
But when Bakugo spoke a few moments later, his voice was deadly calm.
"Deku. Come over here."
He complied. Because what else could he do?
Izuku got up and walked towards Bakugo's bedside.
In front of you.
His spider-sense told him what was coming.
And he ignored it.
KABOOM!
Bakugo used what little energy he had to hit Izuku with an explosion that knocked him on his ass.
Izuku was surprised, and disappointed, by how little it actually hurt.
"Get your ass up and look at me when I'm talking to you Deku!" Bakugo shouted at him, his voice regaining its' lost ferocity.
Izuku immediately complied, getting back up and forcing himself to look at Bakugo's face again.
He was in fact furious. But not the typical rapid beast kind of furious, but more like a righteous fury. Like he had a mission and would accomplish it no matter what.
"Never! Never! Fucking do that again!" Bakugo shouted at him like he wasn't dying. "Listen here you little shit! Here is what your gonna fucking do! Your gonna become a fucking hero! Your gonna save every fucking person you see! And you gonna kick the ass of EVERY BASTARD THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY! DO YOU HEAR ME DEKU!?"
Izuku took a step back in surprise. "K-Kacchan?"
"You win every fight! Just like All Might! You save, everyone! Just like All Might!" Bakugo continued shouting at him with passionate fury. "This is our dream Deku! And your gonna fucking fulfill it! Do you hear me!"
"Yes, Kacchan! I promise!" Izuku understood now. This was motivation. Kacchan was putting their dreams on his shoulders. Putting his faith in him.
"Fucking swear Deku! Swear on your life!" Bakugo demanded. "Swear!"
"I swear!" Izuku shouted, with tears in his eyes "I swear on my life!"
After that, the room became silent. With the only sounds being Izuku's sniffles and sobs.
A few minutes passed until Bakugo spoke up again.
"Get out of here," Bakugo told him. "There's nothing more we need to talk about."
"I…" Izuku felt like he should say something more.
But after a few moments, he figured that Bakugo was right. This conversation was done.
And so for the final time, Izuku complied. Leaving the room.
That would be the last time he saw his old friend.
A week later.
Bakugo had killed himself.
Once he said everything he needed to say. And settled everything he could. He saw no more point in prolonging the inevitable, and he wasn't going to let some villain be the cause of his death.
His funeral was not how Izuku expected it. Not that Izuku had ever really thought of himself attending Bakugo's funeral, but if he had to envision. He thought it would have been grand. With dozens of people coming to mourn the loss of someone like him.
But it wasn't. Only him, his mother, and Bakugo's parents showed up.
It felt underwhelming. A reminder of just how short Bakugo's life was cut.
After the funeral was done, no one left immediately.
No, everyone was too concerned about how HE felt.
His mother was, of course, coddling him the entire time. But much to his shame, his aunt Mitsuki and his Uncle Masaru were doing the same.
He couldn't look either of them in the face. And each word of comfort they gave him, felt like a knife in the chest.
Eventually, the Bakugo's left. Having to take some time to themselves. Leaving just Inko and Izuku.
"Izuku." Inko watched, heartbroken as her son gazed solemnly upon the grave of his frenemy. "We...we should go home."
"...You go. I...I need to just...take this in." Izuku told her. "Please."
Inko didn't want to leave her son alone. Not when she felt he needed her the most. But...she knew that sometimes, people just needed to be alone.
"Can you find your way home from here?" Inko asked him, wanting to make sure that he was at least safe to leave him here.
"Yeah," Izuku answered simply. "I'll be fine mom just...go."
Inko hesitated, but eventually, she left Izuku to process things.
Now that Izuku was alone. He could focus on the tombstone in front of him.
Rest In Peace, Bakugo Katsuki.
It felt unreal. Even when he heard that Bakugo was dying, deep down he had a hard time believing it.
He'd seemed so powerful. So confident. Untouchable. Like the sun itself. And much like the sun, he would probably hurt you if looked at him for too long.
So that's why he needed this. Because here, written in stone. Was proof that Kacchan was dead.
Your gonna become a fucking hero!
"I promise," Izuku whispered, tears dripping down his face.
Your gonna save every fucking person you see!
"I promise."
And you gonna kick the ass of EVERY BASTARD THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY! DO YOU HEAR ME DEKU!?
"Yes, Kacchan. I hear you." Izuku sniffed, as he spoke to someone who could no longer hear him. "I promise. I swear. I will never stand by, and let this happen again. I will save every person I see and take down everyone that gets in my way. I swear Kacchan. I will do this. For you. For us."
And with that solemn vow given, Izuku turned away. And for the first time, he left Bakugo behind.
So yeah. Bakugo is dead.
Izuku made a promise but will he be able to fulfill it? Or will fate fuck him over yet again?
Anyway, that's all true believers, please review and have a nice day.