ii.

At the Point of Ignition

"We are the reckless, we are the wild youth chasing vision of our future. One day, we'll reveal the truth. That one will die before he gets there." -Daughter

Honestly, she was surprised he'd managed to stay awake for this long after the first time he'd passed out on her. She had no idea how long he'd been fighting before he'd swooped in and gotten himself skewered on construction equipment, but Ochako could infer from how tired she was at the very start of this that Bakugo had probably fought twice as hard as she had.

He'd been missing his grenadier bracers when he'd shown up, and that probably meant he'd either used them to the point where they had become a hindrance, or they'd been damaged somehow. The point was- this little misbegotten adventure hadn't even started with either of them at full mast, and then the sheer fact that they'd even survived to begin with…

Add some life threatening injuries, what was most definitely a high fever at this point, and oxygen deprivation and well… if he had been anyone else… she'd rather not think about it actually.

Katsuki was something else; a league all his own, and despite his caustic personality, despite the teeth, claws and spit- Ochako had always been flattered by the standard he held her to. It was the same standard he held everyone to, even himself. Especially himself.

You can do better.

That's what Ochako liked to focus on when all his bluster and pomp got thrown around like a category five hurricane. That look in his eyes, that snarling grin on his face when she landed a blow in practice. Like he wanted her to be better than she was, like he expected it.

Ochako shifted backwards in the dark, a hand held out behind her and the other barred across Katsuki's chest. There wasn't time to stop, she had to keep going even if she couldn't see, even if she was tired and dizzy and everything hurt.

Katsuki would never ask, and he would never own up to it if they made it out of here- but he needed help; and she was the only one here to give it.

Her finger pads smoothed over his exposed side, trying to ignore the slickness that could have been sweat or blood, and activated her quirk in order to drag him along with her easier.

Her boots and the length of her legs caught on a multitude of objects, round, sharp, piercing. If she wasn't one mass of bruises and cuts by now she'd eat her gym shorts.

That was a lie. There's no way she was going to do that.

Ochako did not meet a wall right away like she had expected, and after a minute of an excessively slow paced crawl she turned around, hand still reaching but forward now.

Bakugo floated along beside her, eerily quiet. She decided she liked it better when he was screaming death threats in her face.

Or breathing soft words into her neck. The unbidden thought turned her face scarlet the same moment her finger tips touches a flat surface.

A flat surface that was surprisingly… cold?

A cough ripped from her throat, and she wished for a drink of water for what would probably not be the last time during this ordeal.

Ochako contemplated the wall before her, her Katsuki-occupied arm bringing his weightless bulk close enough for his hair to brush her neck and his body heat to soak into her back.

He really was outrageously overheated. She had only a moment to worry about the repercussions of a high fever on top of everything else before her hand met a rounded curve of concrete at ground level that felt suspiciously like…

"A curb?" she mutter to herself in the dark. Bakugo stirred gently, huffing a breath into her skin.

Ochako used a filthy, grime-encrusted hand to brush equally disgusting hair out of her face. The mass felt crunchy in some places and thick with wetness in others. She imagined she probably looked quite frightening at this point.

Something shifted in the air then, and Ochako only had a split second to gather up her unconscious companion and press him into the chilled wall for lack of anywhere else to go when the ground began to rumble beneath her feet once more. He slumped over her, suddenly heavy on her shoulder as she released her quirk with an accidental five-fingered touch. Ochako did her best to cover him in a reflexive motion she didn't give any thought to, ready to shield his much larger bulk with hers.

The terror was immediate, all consuming and devastating to her thoughts. Colors bust in her vision in bright blues and whites in a sensation she knew but didn't think she'd ever actually experienced on this level before. Her pulse pounded in her temples, and all she could think was that if they died then Ochako will have failed Bakugo, she'll have failed his expectations and that just wasn't fair.

I just need more time! Her thoughts screamed over and over meshing together in a slew of mental word vomit, desperate and full of broken resolve.

Dust cascaded over them, filling her lungs which spasmed in vehement protest. The shriek of metal filled her ears and the grinding of concrete on concrete as something large hit the ground in an avalanche of building from the direction they had come from.

Katsuki jerked awake with the blaze of red hot light in his palms, which were unfortunately close to her arms. The Bang of his quirk resounded in her ears, thunderous and deafening. The smell of singed fleshed added to the cacophony, and Bakugo's not-on-fire hands were on her again, tugging, pulling, turning them around so it was her back to the wall and his body facing the unknown.

Ochako didn't have a lot of brain power to compute this with what she was sure were third degree burns screaming agony up her arms and pouring precious water from her eyes. She clung to the boy in front of her for all the she was worth as the world crumbled around them, sobbing into his chest, shamelessly overwhelmed.

The roof above the pair shifted in a sound so ominous she was sure this was it, their last moments left before they were crushed to death and Katsuki seemed to have a similar train of thought, his palm slid into her hair at her nape, pulling her face into his neck as he buried his in hers.

"Ochako." She only head him over the riot of sound because he was so close, the shape of her name was heavy, guilt laden and as intense as anything he'd ever said.

She couldn't help but regret that the first time… the last time he'd say her name it had to be with such heavy apology.

The pair fell from their knees, clutching at each other hard as the concrete above them fell a handful of feet, forcing them to the ground.

Ochako's boot bumped the curb behind her and fell into the empty space beneath it.

Wait.

"Katsuki!" She nearly shrieked right into his ear, managing to rein it in at the last second. She clutched at his wrist, forcing it off her person and laying it flat on the ground.

"Blow it up!" She did scream this time as the ground shook harder. Bakugo didn't argue, there wasn't time, and in the next second his hand was igniting, his other sweeping her behind him and out of the blast radius.

She blinked against the light, managing to catch his silhouette in the dark and the shadow of fresh and dried blood that slathered his exposed back.

The ground beneath their feet caved, and suddenly she was falling.

AN: So on a totally unrelated note, I discovered this show on Crunchyroll called Angels of Death. (its based on the video game if y'all have ever played it) Here's the thing though, the main male character is the same voice actor as Bakugo; and this character is very similar in personality to Bakugo as well, the major difference being if you took some of Hidan's (From Naruto) traits and threw it in there. Its a really fantastic show y'all I highly recommend it. It kind of has a similar tone to It Ends At Dawn if any of y'all have read that fic of mine.

Back on point though, I loved writing this chapter! Chapters Seven and Eight came out really great too so I hope you guys will stick with me till the end.