Bakugou looked toward the calendar as he took another sip from his whiskey glass. This time of year always made him listless. Even after ten years, the memories still managed to catch up with him whether he was in good spirits or already feeling like shit. Telling Deku to take a swan dive off their school's roof had only been meant to be a cruel tease. He never expected him to actually follow through with it. How was he supposed to know he had pushed him too far?

Since then, he had gotten into and graduated from UA as one of its top students, accepted an internship with a high-volume hero agency, eventually building up enough of a reputation to move up to one of the lead heroes. Still, whenever a flash of green caught his eye, he expected it to be accompanied by bright eyes and freckles, only to be disappointed each time. As much progress as he had made in his life and career, Deku was the one thing that he couldn't move on from.

Draining the rest of the alcohol down, he set the glass in the sink before starting his nightly routine. Settled in his bed, he stared at his phone for a while, scrolling carelessly through the day's news and checking his inbox before plugging it in and rolling over.

"Hey look, there goes the kid killer. Some hero he's gonna turn out to be."

"What were you thinking, you little bastard? He was your friend for years! How could you be so cruel? I raised you to be confident, not a fucking bully!"

"His mother's all alone now, I heard her husband didn't even come back for the funeral."

Those teary eyes appeared before him once again, "Please, Kacchan… Give it back!"

And there he was holding that notebook again. Teasing his childhood friend for keeping his foolish dreams of being a hero alive by writing them. Sparking his quirk within his hands, he once again damaged Deku's notes, unable to change the way the day would play out even in his dreams.

How many times was he going to have to relive this part of his life? Was it enough of a punishment for him after the damage he'd done with one sentence?

"That's not fair, Kacchan. You got to see your dream through, while I'm stuck in a place where I'm unable to follow you. Why can't you just…" Deku walked toward him this time, ignored the scorched notebook and stared straight into Bakugou's eyes. Back against the wall, Deku's expression went from weepy to something Bakugou's never seen on the boy's face before. Slotting his knee between Bakugou's thighs, Deku leaned in close, breath cooling the side of his neck and ear.

"Just come back for me."

Startled awake, Bakugou shot up in bed, his black tank top sticking against his damp chest. His eyes darted around the dark room, as if expecting another presence there. Satisfied that he was alone, his breath slowed as he wiped his palm across his sweating forehead.

"What the hell was that?" Tossing his sheets to the side, he rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. His cotton boxers were damp, uncomfortably clinging to his cock. Pulling them down, a string of cum stretched out and fell to the floor along with his underwear. He was still in school the last time he'd had a wet dream, and it wasn't like he had been backed up and unable to relieve the pressure.

No, this had to be something else. His mind still lingering within that dream, Bakugou caught that last flash of Deku's face before he woke up. There was lust in the boy's eyes, an emotion that, to his knowledge, the nerd had never had the chance to experience in life.

Bakugou covered his mouth with his hand, conflicted over the reality that he'd never get the opportunity to see that look again, and the pull within his chest that wanted it more than anything else.

The dreams continued, each night Bakugou would fall asleep with a hope that he'd see Deku again. Even if it meant suffering through all the painful memories, if he could at least have those emerald eyes hungrily looking him over again, it was worth it. Dream Deku gradually lost the shyness that Bakugou had grown so accustomed to when the boy was alive. His hands wandered without fear, his lips grazed Bakugou's without hesitation, even his words lost their stutter.

It always ended the same way, with Deku begging Bakugou to come back for him. Tears and semen awaited Bakugou whenever he left his dreams for the emptiness of his reality. If he didn't finish while he slept, he'd curl his fingers around his leaking cock and fuck into his trembling fist until he released into the palm of his hand with a whimper. Making a quick visit to clean up in the bathroom, he'd dry his eyes and return to bed.


"Everything okay, bro? Looking a little tired lately." Kirishima always knew when there was something up with his hero partner and friend. He also knew that at this time of year, it was best to give Bakugou his space. Although he hadn't been there, Kirishima had eventually learned what had happened during Bakugou's last year of middle school and the classmate that had taken his own life. Knowing how much it had affected him, Kirishima didn't press for details until Bakugou was ready to share them without provocation.

"Just some rough cases, nothing to worry about, man." Bakugou shrugged off the concern like usual, not showing any kinks in his emotional armor. Kirishima gave him the distance he needed, while still making him aware that he didn't have to go through it alone. That's what made their friendship last as long as it had. But Kirishima could tell there was something different about Bakugou lately.

"Okay, you know where to find me if you wanna get some of that off your chest. See you on Monday!" Kirishima turned on his blinding smile as he waved his way through the agency office.

Not long after Kirishima had left, tremors shook the foundation of the small building, rattling knick-knacks and shaking loose items to the ground with no regard to importance. Bakugou steadied himself against the nearby desk, unnerved for only a moment before taking a serious pose.

"Someone get a reading on that quake, I'm gonna suit up again, relay any priority messages to my earpiece. And someone call Red Riot back, he shouldn't have gotten too far from the building before this hit."

Bakugou spent the rest of the night assisting in the evacuation and rescue of nearby civilians, missing his usual bedtime routine to ensure the earthquake caused as few casualties as possible. By the time the sun peeked over the horizon, Bakugou had made sure everyone within his district made it through the disaster safely.

When the last injured person had been loaded into the ambulance, Bakugou huddled with the impromptu response team to be sure they were clear to leave.

"You did a fine job tonight, true heroes, in every sense of the word!" The dispatcher for the agency heralded them as they shook hands and congratulated each other on a job well done. Bakugou offered his hand when prompted, but all he wished for at that point was the warmth of his bed. Barely fitting the key inside his door properly, he wearily stumbled into his bedroom and collapsed on the bed, still clothed with his feet touching the ground.


Vibrations against his chest shook Bakugou awake, puzzled until he realized his phone was ringing in his shirt pocket.

"Hello?" Bakugou answered with a slur to the word, not yet fully awake.

"Hey Bakugou, sorry if I woke you, I know we had a busy night with the quake and all…" Kirishima's unnaturally refreshed voice echoed through the phone's speaker, giving the blonde every reason to wince at the noise.

"It better be important, Kirishima. What's the fucking time, anyway?" He glanced over to the kitchen, with the bright green readout on the microwave showing 4:15 pm. Not quite enough sleep, but if he had to be up now and stay up, it wouldn't be a problem.

"It's after four in the afternoon. And yeah, I think this is something you would want to know, man. I'd feel better telling you in person, can you meet me at the agency sometime soon?"

Looking at the clock, Bakugou answered back, "Give me an hour, shitty hair. And get the coffee going if you get there before I do."

"Sure thing, bro," Kirishima said before hanging up. Bakugou rubbed his eyes to try to shake off the fatigue. Slipping into the shower stall, he let the water rinse away the dirt and blood from the night before, the hot water waking up his senses and giving him the motivation to venture outside again.

Wearing his civilian clothes, Bakugou found Kirishima in the main lobby of their agency, dwelling near the coffee maker.

"Dark roast, black with two sugars, just how you like it, bro!" Kirishima held out the mug, their agency logo plastered against the side; leftover merchandise from when they were heavily promoting their business.

"Thanks," Bakugou said dryly as he took the mug from his partner's hand and sipped it cautiously. "So what was so important that you had to wake me up after a night like we had?"

"Well, that quake last night caused a lot of damage. But wasn't just buildings collapsing or roadways splitting apart."

"Yeah, so?" Bakugou said as he brought the coffee up to his lips.

"It's the cemetery. The grounds have been broken apart. Graves have been unearthed; coffins broken. It's a really bad sight, man. But, I… I know someone you knew is buried there. So I just thought that you'd want to know before you heard it from some other source."

Bakugou paused, the mug shaking in his hand. "Cemetery? Do you know for sure it was his grave?" His tone was normally eruptive, but now it took on a desperate tone. "Kirishima, was his grave affected or not?!" He slammed his coffee mug down against the desk, the contents sloshing up over the side. He gripped Kirishima's collar, leaning further against him than could be considered tolerable even by casual friend standards.

"I-I'm not sure, man. But the extent of the damage was pretty deep from the reports I heard. They're expecting the crews to be working through the night to fix it."

Bakugou had to go see for himself. He had to be sure that Deku's final resting place was undisturbed. He let go of Kirishima and rushed out of the building, knowing he didn't have to say anything for his partner to know where he was going.


Dusk had fallen by the time he made it out of the city's traffic and entered the cemetery. Large floodlights had been moved in, providing artificial daylight for the people scrambling around like ants assessing the damage. Kirishima hadn't been exaggerating, it looked terrible. Mounds of earth had risen up, bringing with them the caskets that had been resting within. Some were left whole while others were splintered and cracked. Blue tarps were being used to cover the caskets that had been broken open and exposed. People carrying clipboards rushed around, making a note of the nearest headstones to identify those who were pulled from their place of rest.

Despite the altered terrain, Bakugou still knew where to expect Deku's grave to be. He silently cursed to himself as the broken earth exposed a casket that he'd watched get lowered into this spot years ago.

"Sir, unless you're a part of the response team, we're going to have to ask you to leave," one of the people in reflective gear said as they noticed him staring at Deku's broken gravestone.

Ignoring her, Bakugou slowly approached the casket. Laying on its side, the lid had cracked and laid open. His head told him to stop at that, but his heart demanded to know, so he took one more step forward and peered inside.

"Where is he?" Bakugou said, his voice hoarse after his previous night spent barking orders to the rescue teams. Getting closer, he looked further within the casket, circling around the entire area, watching the ground for any trace of Deku's remains.

"I'm sorry sir, we just got to this section of the site. We have recovered some of the deceased but it will take time to confirm their identities."

Tears welling up in his eyes, Bakugou couldn't believe it. Deku couldn't even have a chance for peace after death.

"Do you need more assistance? I have a full team of heroes that can be out here in minutes once I give the word," Bakugou told the recovery worker. "I'll stay out here as long as it takes, move as much earth as possible to get him back in the ground."

"I'm sorry, but that's not my call to make. If you weren't assigned here then you'll have to leave the area." Bakugou was about to snag the girl by her rescue jacket before Kirishima called out to him.

"Hey! Look, man, just let them handle it. They've been trained for this kind of thing." Bakugou still resisted, his inner rage getting closer to the surface. Kirishima knew firsthand what being on the other end of that was like, and was fortunate he was able to harden and deflect the bombardment back then. "Bakugou, listen to me! You are too close to the situation, you need to step back. They'll do their job, you just have to give them the chance!"

Shoving his partner away, Bakugou stumbled away from the gravesite. He knew that a hero that was too invested in a case couldn't make rational decisions. Kirishima was right about that. It still didn't make Bakugou feel any less useless. By the time he'd made it back to his apartment, Kirishima had already texted him several times to be sure he'd made it back home safely.

Shooting off a quick 'I'm home, fuck off' text, Bakugou sunk into his chair with a glass of whiskey to cut his nerves down. When the glass didn't keep up with him, he retrieved the bottle. Even that couldn't shake his feelings of unease over the situation with Deku's disturbed grave. Would he have felt better if he'd seen what was left of him in the casket?

The fatigue of the last two days stacked on top of the liquor brought him back to his bed, leaving the nearly empty bottle on his nightstand as he tossed his phone up there and fell asleep before even getting under the covers.


He found himself in the classroom again, Deku stalking towards him, licking his lips as he drew closer. His back against the wall once more, Bakugou waited for Deku to touch him again. In a new turn of events, Deku pushed him to the ground, his head raised as Deku stood over him with a dominant smirk on his face.

"I knew you'd come back for me, Kacchan. I never stopped believing it." Deku dropped to his hands and knees, crawling over Bakugou's prone body like a wild cat claiming their long-sought-after prey. Now hovering over him, Deku slid down, his weight bearing down on Bakugou's chest. The heat from Deku's body clung to him. He felt Deku's weight shifting back and forth, causing the bed to shake beneath him. Although, they were just in the classroom, so how…

The shaking of the bed slowly roused Bakugou from his dream, he groaned as he reached for the bedside lamp, but felt something weighing him down from above. Alert now, he quickly turned the light on, his eyes squinting at the sudden brightness. Although he made no sound, a small shriek filled the room, and when he regained his vision, he found Deku crouched on top of him, his hands raised in defense of the light he had turned on.

"Oww, Kacchan, that hurts, I'm not used to bright lights yet!"

"Shit!" yelled Bakugou as he drew up his legs and kicked the person imitating Deku away and cleared the bed. Sparking up his hands, he stood on the other side of the room, ready to set off his quirk if necessary. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Wait, Kacchan, it's me! I-It's Izuku!" The teenager shielded his eyes from the light, gradually acclimating himself to it. "I was just getting comfortable, we haven't seen each other in so long but I knew you were tired, so I didn't want to wake you."

Shaking his head frantically, Bakugou spat out his words like venom. "No, there's no fucking way you can be him! I was at his funeral, at his grave. I saw him get put into the ground, so there's no way you can be Deku! He died ten years ago, and whoever you are, you're going to be just as dead for making a mockery of him!"

"I swear I'm the real one, Kacchan, okay? Y-You went to the cemetery tonight, right? I know because I was there too. You went back for me, knowing I'd be waiting for you. I'm sorry I didn't approach you then, but I was afraid that if I showed myself in front of all those people, they'd try to put me back. And I couldn't do that, not again."

Bakugou stared at the boy, scrutinizing every detail against what he could remember of Deku. He was dirty, hair tangled, fingernails frayed and scraped down close to his fingertips. He was wearing one of Bakugou's hooded sweatshirts, which covered him past his knees with his arms barely detectable in the sleeves. He'd hardly changed at all from his middle school appearance, short and slim.

Noticing Bakugou was looking him over, Deku felt compelled to explain his appearance. "Sorry, I had to borrow your hoodie. The clothes I had on fell apart while I was following you back. This was the first thing I saw when I came inside." Deku sniffed the sleeve, buried his face in the burnt orange fabric and sighed. "It's the same sweet scent I remember, Kacchan. Are you still upset? I guess it was wrong of me to just invite myself onto your bed. But after all this time, I… I thought you'd be comfortable with it."

"I'm not fucking comfortable at all! You're dead, Deku! You killed yourself ten years ago, there's no way you can be here right now!"

Deku looked at Bakugou blankly before the realization hit him. "Oh! That's what has you all worked up. It's a funny thing, Kacchan," Deku said as he slowly started walking towards him. "All those years where I was told I didn't have a quirk?" Even with his short stature, Deku approached Bakugou, and while the grown man was still in shock, he grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him down to his eye level.

"It turns out I had a quirk all along!" There was a wild glare to Deku's eyes now, and it stabbed fear deep into Bakugou's chest. "I can't die, Kacchan. It took killing myself to discover I wasn't quirkless! Isn't that great?"

Pulling away from Deku's grip, Bakugou backed up again, putting some space between himself and this person claiming to be Deku. Despite everything he knew to be true from ten years ago, he found it hard to deny that this kid was telling the truth. And it scared the shit out of him.

"But… But the fall, the funeral, burial. You were dead, I saw you myself!" Tears of fear and confusion blurred Bakugou's vision now, remembering those terrible dreams of the last moments he had seen Deku alive and all the hateful stares and words that were said to him after his fall.

Deku shrugged as he retreated back to the bed and hopped onto it before replying. "Well, it's not an immediate process. I'm sure the first time took the longest to come back, but I eventually figured out how it works. While I was buried I kept waking up, but would run out of oxygen and die all over again. I'd wake up not long after, remember what had happened the last time, then start suffocating again. But each time, I'd gain a little more information on this quirk. So, I suppose it'd be more accurate to say that I can't stay dead."

"Can't… stay…" Bakugou slid his hands over his eyes to dry them, only for more tears to seep out. Feeling his legs weaken, he sat at the other end of the bed, staring at the floor as he processed that last detail.

"Ten years… You've been dying on loop in a box for ten fucking years. Goddammit Deku, what did I do to you?!" Already made to feel alone and isolated during his short life, realizing that Deku had to spend the last ten years the same way, with no hope of escape had broken what had been left of Bakugou's emotional barriers. Shaking his head, his tears flowed without restraint, his voice weak with regret.

"I planned to jump long before you said the words out loud. I just wanted an escape from that life, to give myself a chance to start over. After I found out death wasn't permanent for me, eventually escaping from the ground and finding you again is what kept me going. You were what I focused on most, Kacchan. When I fell, the image of you was what I saw last. Even deep underground, I still felt a connection to you. And now here we are. It looks like fate has worked things out for us."

Carefully sliding himself closer, Deku cupped Bakugou's cheek in his palm. Bakugou dwelled in the momentary warmth and comfort that offered before pulling away.

"Deku… You can't think I'll believe that you were always going to kill yourself. It's my words that pushed you over the edge. I fucked up your entire life, afterlife, or whatever the hell's going on now." Bakugou's eyes filled with tears as he looked away from Deku.

"I don't blame you at all, Kacchan! If anything, I should be thanking you. With your advice, I was able to discover my quirk. You were right, my next life did grant me a quirk!"

Feeling incredibly exhausted, mentally and physically, Bakugou looked back to Deku, "What do you want from me?"

"I want you, Kacchan. It's always been you." Deku rose to his knees on the bed, meeting Bakugou's eyes. The look of desire within those emerald eyes matched the expression that had pulled Bakugou into Dream Deku's arms so many times. Fearing they'd disappear, he dared not blink as Deku slid closer to him. Lifting his left leg to straddle Bakugou's thigh, he could feel that Deku wasn't wearing anything underneath his hoodie.

"Deku…" Bakugou couldn't find the words he wanted to say anymore. After all the nights he had dreamed of this kind of connection, having Deku physically in his lap while giving him such a seductive look took away any need to speak. Closing his eyes at last, trusting that Deku would still exist there after doing so, he pulled him in for a kiss. Feeling their lips meet, Bakugou hungrily sought more of him. Licking into Deku's mouth, he felt a low moan vibrate against his tongue as he tucked his hands behind Deku's neck.

Deku's hands fell between Bakugou's legs, fondling his growing erection. The sudden contact distracted Bakugou, cutting his breath short.

"I want to make you feel good, Kacchan. Right here," Deku whispered, stroking the blonde's cock over his boxers. Bakugou nodded, burying his face into the crease of Deku's neck, sucking against his soft skin, leaving a path of red marks behind. He could feel Deku was hard too, his little cock grinding against his thigh, pace increasing the more Bakugou licked his neck and grazed his shoulder with his teeth.

"Mmm, I've waited so long to be with you like this," Deku lovingly said as Bakugou reached under the hoodie and started stroking Deku, earning a sharp yelp from the younger looking boy.

"I never thought you'd… You always followed me everywhere, Deku. I didn't know what I was saying back then. Once you were gone, I felt that empty space behind me grow. I've hurt you so much Deku. I want you by my side, but I don't feel like I deserve it. Even now I don't want to hurt you," Bakugou said as he rolled his hips against Deku's body, his cock jabbing him in the side. "I've grown up, but you're still the same as you were ten years ago."

Deku joined hands with Bakugou and pulled them over his head, forcing Bakugou down to the bed on his back. "My quirk halted my aging since I couldn't stay alive long enough to grow up like normal, but I'm no child, Kacchan. But would you feel better if I were the one in control?"

Bakugou nodded as he sat up and gently moved Deku onto the bed. Dipping into his work bag, he pulled out two sets of long-chained handcuffs. Hooking the ends to his bed frame, he rejoined Deku and gave him the honor of cinching the other ends to his wrists.

"I left the key on the nightstand, but I don't want you to take them off until you're satisfied, okay Deku?"

Straddling himself over Bakugou's stomach, Deku leaned in and kissed him again, his tongue charging past Bakugou's lips and deep inside his mouth. "Mmhmm, I'll do that, Kacchan."

Continuing their kiss, Deku started to work himself open with his fingers, his tight little hole softening until it was ready to take Bakugou's considerable length.

"I'm ready, Kacchan, I can't wait to feel you inside me," Deku said as he leaned back and brought his right hand back to guide Bakugou's cock to his entrance. He pressed it in, his hole clenched around the leaking cockhead, slicking himself up with Bakugou's precum.

Bakugou wanted to look away, didn't want to see the pained expression on Deku's face as he took his cock inside him. He'd wanted to tell him to stop, but couldn't bring himself to say so. Deku's heat surrounding his cock sent chills radiating through him. His small teenage body was soft and pliable, every time he thought Deku couldn't take more, he sunk even deeper onto him.

"Haa haa, it's… it's all in, Kacchan. You're filling me up so good." Deku started to rock himself slowly on Bakugou's cock, leaning back with his arms braced behind him on Bakugou's knees. The angle made it easy for Deku to guide the tip right to his most sensitive spot. Rubbing himself with Bakugou's cock made him whimper as he bit down on his lower lip.

"Deku, fuck, you feel so good. Take off the hoodie, I wanna see the rest of you." Even without the use of his hands, Bakugou still thrust upward, meeting Deku's rhythm and pacing. He'd wanted to last longer, but Deku was squeezing him so much, his cock was melting inside him.

Lurching forward, Deku caught himself on Bakugou's chest, his hands squeezing his pectorals. "It's too cold to take it off, Kacchan. Ahh, are you close? You're hitting me so deep, I'm gonna finish soon."

"I can't keep it up much longer, Deku. It's never felt this fucking good before."

A renewed energy flashed in Deku's eyes, wild and mysterious. "Kacchan, do you know what it's like to have your air taken away? It's scary at first, I panicked so many times as I ran out of oxygen underground," he said as he slid his hands around Bakugou's neck, clamping his fingers down against his throat. "But there's a point when the fear turns and becomes something exhilarating!"

Staring into Deku's eyes, Bakugou doesn't see the innocent boy there anymore. There's something far different in control now, the gleam in his eye didn't bring comfort anymore, it brought fear. Not stopping as he slammed himself down onto Bakugou's cock, Deku clenched his hands tight, choking the blonde.

"D-Deku," Bakugou wheezed, weakly tugging at the chains that held him down to the bed. The combination of being ridden hard by Deku and his dwindling air supply gave him a euphoric feeling he'd never experienced before. Was this how Deku felt each time he was suffocating?

"Shh, Kacchan. I'm almost there, I want to feel you finish too, deep inside me. Fill me with your warmth, Kacchan!" Deku's grip tightened on Bakugou's neck and at the same time, he furiously fucked himself on his dick. Whether it was the instinct to rut as he came or in defense of being choked, Bakugou rocked up hard into Deku as he filled him with cum. Deku cried out as splashes of hot seed hit Bakugou's stomach and chest.

His eyes blurring, Bakugou could only feel a deep drowsy feeling as he came down from his climax. Deku was breathing deep, gyrating himself around Bakugou's softening cock. Squeezing harder, Deku's knuckles turned white as he started to laugh. Blood vessels in Bakugou's eyes ruptured, thin veins of red connecting and expanding through the whites of his eyes.

This is what I deserve, honestly. I put him through so much pain and agony, an ending like this is nothing in comparison. A thousand deaths wouldn't make up for what I did to you, Deku...

"Kacchan, do you feel it? It's amazing, right? I'm so happy that we can share in this feeling together now! Kacchan? Kacchan?" As Deku let go, he saw the blue tinge around Bakugou's lips. Chest still, Bakugou was gone, staring blankly at Deku.

"Aww, I didn't mean to do that. Hold on, Kacchan." Deku carefully unseated himself from Bakugou's cock, cum drizzling from his ass as he leaned over on his hands and knees, pressing his forehead against Bakugou's. Eyes shut tight, Deku furrowed his brow deep in concentration. A faint green glow encircled his head, little currents of the hue flowed from Deku to Bakugou. After holding him like this for several minutes, Deku opened his eyes, the light now gone. He rolled over, leaning against the headboard as he sighed deeply.

"It's a good thing, Kacchan. Don't worry, you'll be back before you know it. It wasn't until after I made it out of the grave that I found out what else my quirk could do. I didn't mean to hurt them, I swear! One of the first people to show up at the cemetery saw me come out of the ground and panicked. I knew they were going to make me go back, so I just… I grabbed a shovel and stopped them."

He looked back to Bakugou, who still stared out to nothing with clouded eyes. Deku continued his story despite the lack of an audience. "But it was so strange, as soon as I killed him, I felt this urge to connect with him. I leaned over and that green stuff started flowing into them from where my body touched his. I ran away and hid nearby, and that's when it happened! The guy came back, just like me! I haven't figured out if it only works on people I kill or those who have recently died. Oh, I should probably observe how long it takes for you to come back, Kacchan!"


Bakugou awoke with a painfully deep gasp of air. His eyes felt sore and swollen, not to mention considerably dry and itchy. As he blinked repetitively to clear his vision, he saw Deku sitting at his small office desk. Too short to reach the ground, his legs swung carelessly between the chair legs as he busied himself with whatever he was writing.

"De-ku…" Bakugou choked out, his voice cracked and just as dry as his eyes. The attempted words were enough to get Deku's attention though, and he turned to the bed.

"Oh, Kacchan, you're back! Hold on, let me take note of the time," Deku said as he got a look at the nearest clock and wrote down his findings in the booklet. From where Bakugou was laying, it looked similar to the old journals that Deku kept, like the one that he had exploded and destroyed on Deku's last day as a normal human being.

He closed the notebook and slid out of the chair, walking over to the bed. Deku was clean now, hair still wild but no longer clumped with dirt. He wore a different hoodie this time, still far too big as it swallowed the teenager up in black and orange tones. He showed off the front cover, which featured a small drawing of Deku with the words 'Undeath/Revival Analysis' printed neatly across the top.

"I'm taking notes on all the details for my quirk. Who would have thought I'd be writing up something for my own quirk like this, right? You've already helped me learn more about it, Kacchan. I was able to get a more accurate time frame to when people I revive come back thanks to you. But like I said before, the first revival seems to take the longest, so we'll have to test it out to see how long repeated revivals take."

Repeated revivals? Sounds like he wants to claim those thousand deaths, huh? Would it make my guilt finally end if I do this for him? Shit, how could I possibly say no...

Bakugou attempted to sit up but found himself still connected to the handcuffs. Still feeling physically weak, he fell back against the mattress and pillows. Deku kneed himself up onto the bed and crawled over to him.

"Why didn't you take these off, Deku?" Bakugou asked, though he already suspected what the answer would be.

Swinging his leg across Bakugou's naked stomach, still coated with dried cum, Deku patted the side of Bakugou's face affectionately.

"Well, you said not to undo them until I was satisfied, Kacchan. And we have so much time to make up for, so it'll be a while before that will happen. But you wanted me all to yourself, didn't you? We're both getting what we wished for most in this world. You'll never have to lose me again, Kacchan. I'll always be by your side. Always."