The Hero Sense can sense future danger
He already knew it was gonna be a bad day when he woke up that morning with sweat beading his forehead and the uncomfortable grips of nausea crawling up his throat.
With a grimace, Bakugou rubbed at his sweaty brow, cringing at the uncomfortable churning in his stomach and just how hot his room was as he pulled himself up and kicked off his covers. Blinking blearily, he glared daggers at the bright red numbers of his clock staring back. For him, even on a Sunday morning, eight o' clock was pretty late to be rolling out of bed, but he'd honestly expected to be waking up a bit later than that today, with how his idiot friends had somehow managed to drag him into an all-nighter of a study session that ended up turning into a movie night that went way, way into the early hours of the morning. He barely escaped before he could be lulled into their little cuddle pile of snoring bodies and somehow managed to crawl into his own bed in a blur of uncoordinated movements.
He wanted to blast that stupid clock into orbit. He's pretty sure he slept for about four hours last night and his eyes burn.
But he can't fall back asleep, his body practically vibrating with pent up energy. His head's spinning, caught between whatever jumble of thoughts was keeping his brain awake and the sudden wave of dizziness that's currently crashing into him. He's not sure if he can even think straight right now, and that has him wondering.
Fuck, he hates being sick. He hates it with a passion. He's gonna kill whoever's responsible. Reduce them to smoldering ashes and dance on their remains until they were smeared across the soles of his bare feet.
He stood up slowly, wincing at the cracking noises in his tensed back and the onslaught of nausea that made him feel like he was going to pass out. Fuck being sick. Fuck weakness. It's too hot in here.
Comfortably in his favorite ruffled black tank top and sweatpants, Bakugou eventually stumbled his way to the door, relishing in the cool metal of the knob against his palm before he pushed it open. The fourth floor was surprisingly quiet, most other people likely still asleep at this time in the morning on a Sunday. Kirishima probably was too, now that he thought about it, half-tempted to storm over and beat down his door anyway.
Wait, no. Kirishima's out of town right now. A family trip, if he remembered correctly. It had just been the four of them last night, Ashido practically smothering him to death while Kaminari forgot how quadratic equations worked and eventually short-circuited, and Sero just watched like the lazy dickhead he was.
Assholes.
The hall wasn't much cooler, but at least it wasn't as stuffy as his room. Almost blindly, he staggered over to the elevator, swallowing heavily as he punched in the ground floor button and blinked the stars out of his eyes. It's too hot up here. He needs to go downstairs. It's too hot.
Ding!
"Oh, Bakugou. What's up, man?"
Bakugou looked up, giving the elevator's sole occupant a tired glare. Sero seemed to pause as he looked him over, brows furrowed and gaze calculating. A part of him wanted to sock him in the jaw for that blanketed spark of concern in his eyes, but the rest of him was still too scatterbrained to care. "Uh, dude, you doing alright? You're looking really pale."
"Fuck off, Soy Sauce."
Even as he closed his eyes, leaning his face against the walls of the elevator and soaking in the relief of cool metal pressed against his skin, he could feel the tape quirk user's gaze burrowing into the side of his head. "...You don't sound too good either."
"I said fuck off, jackass. I don't get sick." In all actuality, that wasn't entirely false. He could count the number of times he'd ever gotten ill in his entire life on one hand.
It didn't make it any less miserable.
The silence that followed was heavy, noticeably disbelieving. Bakugou offered the taller boy a side glance, only to find him pressed up against the other side of the elevator. "Dude, if this is contagious, I'm filing a lawsuit."
He'd roll his eyes at that if his head wasn't already killing him, forcing them shut.
"Why are you going downstairs like this, anyway? It's a Sunday."
Bakugou's frown deepened at that. He hadn't thought about it before, but Sero actually had a point. He honestly had no idea why he needed to be out of his room so badly. Why he needed to move even when his body was violently protesting against him. He flinched as the elevator announced their arrival, lurching to a stop and nearly throwing him to the floor. He could only hope that his stomach didn't betray him.
"Needed some air. S' too stuffy in my room." he answered honestly, because thinking back, that had been his initial reasoning. Now, however, he wasn't so sure.
Something's wrong.
He cringed at the sudden pang against his skull, meandering after Sero as he strode out into the common room. The bright greens of the room were setting fire to his retinas, the streams of sunlight filtering through the windows doing him no favors. Eyes half-lidded, he subconsciously left his hand hovering over his mouth in case the roiling sick feeling suddenly overtook him.
He didn't know how, but Ashido and Kaminari were already up, weirdly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with an entire mountain of coffee mugs sitting in the kitchen sink. They chatted happily, hyped up on caffeine with dark circles under their eyes closely resembling their homeroom teacher's. He hadn't even questioned why Sero was up this early on a weekend, but the two stooges loitering dangerously close to the kitchen entrance definitely had him raising an eyebrow. He immediately regretted the action when the pain in his head flared back up with a vengeance.
Ashido gasped as he flopped onto an empty couch. For whatever reason, he already felt the slightest bit better, even if it was just the cooler, less oppressive atmosphere. "Blasty! Blasty, this is really good timing! I need help with the last two questions on that math assignment!"
"Me too!" Kaminari shrieked, causing him to wince. "I need you to check my answers for, like, half of them!"
Before Bakugou could lift his head to yell at them, Sero was shushing them harshly. "Guys, he's not feeling well. Be quiet."
One side of him was grateful to Sero for shutting them up. The other wanted to AP shoot him from across the room for daring to insinuate any kind of weakness. Ashido let out a high pitch whine. "But the test's tomorrow!"
"Yeah, man!" Kaminari joined in. "We got up early just so we could study some more and still have time to fool around!"
Huh, how uncharacteristically responsible of them.
He'd tell them so, but he currently felt like his head was splitting open and his stomach was fucking exploding. He suppressed the need to gag, curling in on himself and tightly clenching his shaking hands.
Why are his hands shaking?
Something's wrong.
A groan escaped his lips without his consent, his hands still trembling violently as he squeezed his eyes shut. He'd never felt like this before. There's a part of him that's slowly becoming more anxious and jumpy because this has never happened before.
What's wrong with him?
Something's wrong.
"Oh..." he heard Kaminari mutter, now standing above him. "Wow, you really do look sick. You need anything, man?"
"Fuck off."
"What's even wrong with him?" Horns asked carefully.
He doesn't know.
He glared at his hands as if they'd betrayed him, willing them to stay still and warm up. Even as sparks lit up before his eyes, his fingers felt freezing. He immediately flinched away from the bright lights, regretting his little experiment.
"Oh, wow! You guys are up early!"
There was a spike of pain, a sudden churning that almost had him retching, but he grit his teeth and held it down.
Something.
Is.
WRONG.
"Hey, guys." Sero greeted tiredly, and Bakugou glanced up carefully. He already recognized the stupid fucking nerd's grating voice, but from here, he could barely make out the forms of Four Eyes and Pink Cheeks, the former aggressively chopping at the air as usual and the latter excitedly bouncing on her heels. Their peppiness was making him feel even more sick.
"Hey, is Kacchan okay?"
"Eh, don't worry about him." Sero waved him off, which Bakugou silently appreciated. "We kept him up really late last night and he's kinda paying for it right now. That's our bad."
"Fuck all of you." he hissed earnestly, though having his face pressed against the couch cushion probably did nothing for his ferocity.
"Um... Okay, if you're sure."
"Come on, Deku!" Uraraka cheered, footsteps pounding against the floor in tandem with Bakugou's rapidly beating heart.
"I do have to agree." Four Eyes shouted. "We should hurry or we will be late!" With that, retreating footsteps announced the trio's departure.
And something caved.
Air wasn't entering his lungs. His empty stomach was about to eject itself from his system. His skull felt like it had split down the middle.
It hurt.
He would later be embarrassed by how desperately he reached out, clawing blindly for Sero's arm as he bodily forced himself up. Sero startled in his grip. "Huh? What's wrong?"
"Where the fuck are they going?" he growled, voice unstable.
Tape Face floundered. "What? Why?"
"Sero, where?!" He finally looked up at him, and there must have been a minute hint of whatever he was feeling right now showing in his eyes, because between that, his shaky but tight grip, and the sweat rolling down his face, he had the raven-haired boy going pale.
"Uh- Uh, hey, g-guys?" Sero stuttered. Bakugou didn't look, but he did hear the creaking of the front door pause. "Um, where did you all say you were going again?"
"Huh? Oh!" Deku piped up happily. "We were going to the new All Might museum today! I've been there a couple times already, but my mom got me some special passes to get a private tour before they open today! They even have new exhibits!"
Uraraka laughed. "He's been looking forward to this for weeks! Anyway, we gotta go or we'll be late! See you guys later!"
"Wait-..." The utterance was barely a whisper as the three nerds disappeared through the door, Kaminari and Ashido fondly giggling about Deku's annoying enthusiasm and general weirdness.
Which they immediately stopped at the sound of painful gagging.
Bakugou had his hands tightly clamped over his mouth, his vision swimming as he found himself swaying dangerously. He could barely make out the blurry form of Sero, arms outstretched as if prepared to catch him while blobs of pink and yellow suddenly assaulted his vision.
What the hell, he actually felt like he was gonna pass out. He's gonna pass out.
It's too hot.
Something's wrong.
STOP THEM!
"Ashido," he forced out, choking on his own voice. "Stop them. Don't let them leave."
"Why?"
"DON'T LET THEM LEAVE!"
She jumped, freezing for a moment and wasting precious seconds before she snapped out of her stupor and hightailed it out the door. Bakugou tried to force air back into his lungs. "Kaminari, get a teacher. All Might or Aizawa, I don't care. Something's gonna happen at that museum."
Kaminari's eyes widened. "Wait, hold up, this is actually the fidgety feeling!?" he gaped. "Dude, it's fucking you up!"
"GO!"
Dunce Face let out a girlish shriek before he too skittered out the door, not bothering to close it behind him. Almost as if the world was in slow motion, Sero appeared back in front of him. Bakugou went to speak, but he lurched, hands flying back to his mouth as he stared up at his classmate with wide eyes.
Sero shuddered. "Trashcan?"
Bakugou nodded fervently, already heaving. The tape quirk user was gone and back in record time, cringing in clear disgust as the bin was quickly yanked from his hands and filled with saliva and bile. The retching was painful on an empty stomach, but it was certainly too late to be worrying about that now.
Sero, the thoughtful bastard, had been smart enough to grab a towel and a glass of water as well, which Bakugou accepted greedily. "Dude, what is happening? I think I've at least heard that Midoriya's gotten it this bad before, but this is..."
"I don't-" he coughed hoarsely, throat burning. "I don't know, okay!? This has never happened before! It's never gotten this bad!"
Sero bit his lip. "Okay, okay. How about you just lay down then, alright? You somehow look even more pale than before, and that's a feat."
The room was spinning, a strong acidic smell and flood of bright colors overwhelming his overbearing senses. There were too many things to focus on at once, so much so that he'd almost completely forgotten about being in pain. He saw Sero's mouth move, but the sound of his voice was nothing more than a low hum as darkness crept into his peripheral and dotted his vision.
The last thing he remembered was Sero reaching out to catch him just as a familiarly irritating voice called out his childhood nickname.
He woke up slowly, reveling in the cool indoor air and all-encompassing relief.
He felt like he could be lying in a bed of fucking roses right now, compared to the hell that he barely remembered enduring before unconsciousness unceremoniously took him. Barely cracking an eye open, he was mostly unsurprised to see the common room ceiling sitting comfortably above him, light cascading through the windows like a curtain and silence gently blanketing the room.
He really didn't want to get up. No headache, no complaining stomach, no damp skin, no senses trying to drill into his skull with too many sights and sounds. Even with what felt like a heavy quilt resting on top of him, the air felt so...cool. Refreshing.
This was bliss.
"Young Bakugou?" Any other day, and he might have almost startled at the unexpected voice, but there were very few things that could pull him out of this reprieve. He felt like he could lie here all day.
Though lying around wasn't very becoming of a hero, now was it? He could already hear his mother screaming in his ear.
He finally pried his eyes open, gaze rolling to the side and falling on a familiar lanky figure, sitting slouched on the couch opposite to him. Shadowed blue eyes stared back into his own with a strange look, one part contemplative and the other entirely unreadable. Bakugou fought to pull his signature scowl back on his face as he slowly pulled himself up, glaring daggers at the handmade leopard-print quilt pooling over his lap and the random Pikachu doll left by his feet.
"How are you feeling, young Bakugou?" All Might asked. Even the tone of his voice was hard to interpret.
Bakugou held his glare, rubbing harshly against his scalp. For whatever reason, he felt physically exhausted. He simply hummed in response. "The hell happened?"
All Might looked at him strangely. "Do you not remember?"
Bakugou grimaced. "Oh, I remember."
All Might watched him for a moment longer, his gaze practically boring into him, almost as if he was analyzing him, and Bakugou suddenly found it difficult to look the retired hero in the eye. "Has this never happened before?" All Might asked carefully.
The ash blonde cocked an eyebrow as All Might explained. "Hero sense reactions of this magnitude... I remember the first time I experienced it, far back in my youth. I was bedridden for days afterward, as my body tried to adjust to it." He suddenly looked him in the eye, his own burning. "You've never had a reaction of this scale, have you?"
Bakugou bit his lip, looking away. "What of it?"
He could still feel those bright, piercing eyes on him, and suddenly, Bakugou felt inexplicably small. All Might chuckled under his breath. "You really are amazing, young Bakugou."
Warmth spread over his cheeks, crimson eyes snapping up to meet burning blue. "Hah!?"
"Would you like to know something that I've never told young Midoriya?"
That caught Bakugou's attention, offering nothing but a blank stare as the veteran hero leaned back against the couch, a ghost of a smile on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. "It's still a small number, but out of the billions of people on our planet, there are hundreds of people around the world who are born with or manage to develop a hero sense, all with various levels of strength. Most are born with it, while a smaller minority are able to obtain it on their own. Even so, it's considered a fact that natural senses are always stronger than developed ones."
All Might's gaze fell back on him, practically on fire. "Young Bakugou, throughout my entire career, no, my entire life, out of the hundreds of people in the world and the thousands in history who have gained this ability, do you know how many people I've met that have a developed sense that is equal in strength to a natural one?"
A silent pause, a gap in time, as if the world itself was waiting with bated breath. All Might breathed out. "Two. I know of two."
Bakugou blinked at him, part of him barely able to comprehend those numbers. All Might suddenly smiled brightly. "You have a very unique gift, young Bakugou. It will be harder for you to fully hone it in, but I have no doubt that you will adjust to it. I have been teaching young Midoriya different techniques and exercises to combat the physical effects of stronger reactions, and I would recommend that you learn them too, especially since your body hasn't had a lifetime to adapt."
All Might was rambling about something else, but Bakugou found himself tuning him out. In all honesty, he had no idea how he was suppose to process or react to all of this. He hasn't had the hero sense for all that long, considering, and at no point had he ever even thought about having a stronger version of it. It just wasn't something he focused on, more worried about training his quirk and his own physical strength. This stupid sense hadn't been part of the equation until these past few months, so it was already new.
This was...
He paused, brows furrowed in confusion. He didn't even bother looking at the hero across the room from him, only focused on his hands. "What was I even reacting to, anyway?"
All Might blinked. "Oh. Right, yes. I should have explained that beforehand." He pulled out his phone. "Well, let's see. I've been told that the reaction happened at approximately eight thirty in the morning and it's currently two in the afternoon."
Bakugou nearly choked. "I was out for HOW LONG?!"
"Calm down, my boy." All Might gently reassured him. "Your body's never experienced a reaction of this scale. It needed time to recover."
The explosion quirk user still simmered at that. He'd lost so much training time today!
"Anyway," All Might interrupted his thoughts. "A good distance away from the school, there is a museum in my honor. From my understanding, young Midoriya, young Uraraka, and young Iida had been planning on going on a private tour before the museum officially opened from the day. Apparently, there were two groups scheduled at the same time today, and for whatever reason, young Midoriya's pass put him in a separate group from his friends. Had they gone today, he would have been by himself."
All Might was looking at his phone with a contemplative look, slowly getting to his feet and approaching the explosive teen. It took Bakugou's eyes a moment to adjust to the bright light of the screen, but as soon as they did, this were impossibly wide.
VILLAIN ATTACKS ALL MIGHT MUSEUM!
NEWEST MUSEUM EXHIBITS DESTROYED IN SURPRISE ATTACK!
SEVEN INJURED IN MUSEUM IMPLOSION!
"Young Midoriya's scheduled group was closest to the destruction and made up most of the injured. From my understanding, they'd been allowed to explore the exhibits on their own by that point. Thankfully, none of the injuries are serious." All Might beamed at him. "I also had a rather violent hero sense reaction to this development, so Aizawa reported suspicious activity and Nezu arranged for a few of the hero teachers to patrol in the area. Midnight was able to subdue the villain responsible before anymore damage was caused."
Bakugou nodded numbly, the gears slowly turning in his head as he worked to decipher the puzzle presented to him. Something about this just wasn't clicking in his mind. Despite the damage caused, he wasn't entirely sure why this event, of all things, was what caused his sense to go absolutely haywire.
Unless...
One of the factors that decides the strength of a reaction is your connection to a specific person in danger and how much you care about their safety.
Bakugou blanched.
Nope.
Nope.
"Fuck no." Bakugou hissed fiercely. "I didn't- That couldn't have been for him!"
All Might, the absolute bastard, had the gall to grin at him, and Bakugou suddenly had the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face. "I'm truly happy that you and young Midoriya are growing closer!"
Bakugou screeched in rage. All Might's smile was way too bright.
Everything was mostly back to normal by Monday morning.
Glaring at his phone that morning, he was met with day old panicked texts from Kirishima and Todoroki, the latter having been at home for the weekend, yelling at him about how Deku won't answer his phone and something is really wrong. Bakugou simply left them on read. They're both back at this point. He doesn't need to respond.
All throughout his morning classes, he could feel those stupidly large green eyes staring at the back of his head, and he'd be about two seconds away from whirling around and blasting him into the stratosphere if he wasn't so focused on that damn math test. It took every ounce of self-control he had left to not chase him out of the classroom when the lunch bell rang.
After this past day and a half, he'd take his friend group's incessant screaming any day, now simply soaking in the unbearably loud screaming and laughing and bright smiles as they sat around their usual table for lunch with only the slightest throbbing in his temples.
"I'm glad you're doing better." Sero smiled, tapping his chopsticks against his tray.
"Yeah, man." Kaminari chimed in, somehow gaining the courage to bump Bakugou's shoulder. "You were pretty sick."
Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry I wasn't here to help. I heard that it was pretty bad."
"Don't fucking apologize." Bakugou barked at him. "You didn't know what was gonna happen."
Kirishima still looked slightly guilty, which did nothing but sour his mood, but the redhead let it go relatively quickly, easily being pulled back into the conversation as the other three went right back to their normal enthusiastic screaming.
Out of the corner of his eye, Bakugou's gaze was pulled to a burst of green. Their eyes met for the first time that day, Bakugou having been doing everything in his power to avoid looking at the shitnerd. Deku's expression was mostly blank, but his eyes were sparkling with life and joy that made him feel sick to his stomach all over again.
And then he was smiling, so brightly that he thought he might go blind. The nerd actually waved at him, his entire face radiating a kind of unbridled happiness that neither of them had truly expressed with each other since those days as little kids running around in the forest catching bugs and playing heroes and villains.
Bakugou could only growl back, turning away and glowering at his tray with enough ferocity to set it on fire.
"I'm truly happy that you and young Midoriya are growing closer!"
That was a bridge that he could cross another day. For the time being, he was content to just eat his lunch and pretend that yesterday never even happened in the first place.