In case you don't have/aren't following me on Twitter ( Agirl2223), a lot of my fic files were lost forever and I'm scrambling to remember and rewrite them XD.
Thank you for your patience and support!
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A Day In Your Life
Chapter 3
When Bakugo woke up the morning following the incident with the villain now dubbed 'Swap', he was sure he'd been crushed in his sleep… if he even slept at all. The whole night he'd struggled to truly rest—the frustration, confusion, and everything else he was feeling about seeing those scars riled him up continuously while every toss and turn set off a zing of pain through his nerve endings.
Then he'd woken up to even more agony than he'd experienced the day before. Literally every attempt at movement ended up with stiffness, straining, and then more aches. He had to shift slowly, stretching every limb as patiently as he possibly could in order to get it functioning only to find another needed the same attention.
It was maddening, to say the least, especially for someone like him who was born impatient and had never experienced such total immobility before. The first thing on his mind after he finally got himself up was to go and throttle Deku.
He'd gotten the boy's address from the forms Recovery Girl had made them fill out and had every intention of driving his ass over there early that morning to give him a piece of his mind and—if his pride allowed it—ask what in the hell Izuku did for pain control.
But, by the time he'd gotten ready for the day, eaten, and driven the majority of the way there, the ever-present fiery anger he felt had dwindled into a cold pit in his stomach. Every time he looked in the rear-view mirror, he was met with those emerald green eyes instead of his own.
He'd have mini-flashbacks of the many times he'd seen tears in those eyes… most of them being brought on by something he'd said or done with the intent of causing Deku suffering. It made him want to yank his hair and bite his nails out of what he wouldn't admit was guilt.
"It's not my fucking fault that Deku is a thin-skinned bitch," he muttered to himself. "Damn nerd should have just left me alone when I told him to."
That type of thinking, however, only seemed to bring him more agitation and discomfort. No matter how many times he chewed the inside of his lip or shifted in his seat, he couldn't seem to quell the unease building within him.
He slammed his car door shut once he arrived, hoping that the inhabitant could hear it even if he were dead. The last thing he wanted to do was stand outside like an idiot while his knees throbbed for him to sit.
Shoto was the one who answered, opening up just as Bakugo stomped Izuku's body onto the front porch. "What do you want?"
"Ah? What the fuck are you doing here, Icy-Hot? Can't that little nerd take care of himself?" Katsuki sneered in annoyance. If there was one person who could piss him even more than Midoriya, it was Todoroki because he had what Katsuki coveted deep down.
"I live here, Bakugo. Now, please state your business or leave."
Katsuki scoffed, finding it incredibly annoying that those two lived together; he'd long assumed they were something more than friends, but he'd never had proof until that point. "I'm here to see Deku, why else would I drive to the middle of fucking nowhere?"
Todoroki gave him a suspicious look before stepping aside, leading him to Midoriya's room. "Izuku, that obnoxious noise was Bakugo getting out of his car; he's here to speak with you."
There was a gentle rustling before Midoriya appeared, the blonde's body poised in a very unthreatening way. "H-hey… I'm not feeling so well, s-so…" he attempted, only to have Bakugo crack his fist into the door to force it open all the way.
"Don't pull that shit with me, Deku." He growled. "I know you well enough to know when you're just trying to weasel out of speaking to me."
"Bakugo." Todoroki intervened, the hallway dropping in temperature. "That's enough; damage anything in here and I'll make you pay for it. And keep your nasty comments to yourself… if you only came over here to insult Izuku then you won't be staying."
"AH?" Katsuki jeered, "letting your boyfriend fight all your battles for you, huh, Deku?"
"I-it's okay Shoto…I guess we can talk now if you really want to Kacchan, come in." Midoriya interjected, fully moving out of Bakugo's way so that he could step past.
"I'll be right down the hall if you need something…" Todoroki assured, making sure he caught his friend's eye before heading back to his room.
Midoriya suppressed the urge to gulp as he watched Bakugo look around his room in his body… it was surreal, to say the least. His tastes in décor had changed as he'd grown up, but there was still a little shrine of sorts to All Might on one wall and several locked filing cabinets full of analysis notes he took when he was off duty.
"S-so…" he murmured when Katsuki didn't attempt to start their conversation. "W-what's up?"
Bakugo snorted and turned to glare at Izuku, mouth already in a snarl. But right as he caught sight of his own red eyes flickering around at anything other than him, he hesitated. Every piece of his psyche was telling him to choke the ever-loving shit out of Midoriya until he stopped playing dumb and spilled just what in the hell he was thinking hurting himself like that… every piece but one.
That one small voice of dissonance that he could usually squash down beneath his anger was loud and forceful this time, effectively stopping him from interrogating Midoriya about the scars and seemingly never-ending physical pain he must be in.
"Are you fucking Icy-Hot?"
Izuku tripped backward he was so shocked at the blunt question, toppling to his rear. "W-what?" he practically screeched.
"Tsk." Bakugo deflected, confused himself as to why he wasn't simply bulldozing ahead as usual. "I asked if you're banging Todoroki. I swear if that two-colored prick lays one hand on MY body, I'll kill you. And stop fucking fumbling around; you're such a damn clutz."
Midoriya scampered to his feet once more, shaking his head almost wildly. "N-no! It's not like that between us, Kacchan!" he assured, "Shoto and I are just friends and roommates, that's all!"
"Ah? You're a grown-ass adult, Deku, and you make bank." Katsuki scoffed. "Why in the hell do you need a roommate?"
"Because I—well, he's a good training partner and neither of us really wanted to live alone after high school… I mean we're really compatible on a friend level, you know? I make sure he always feels included and help him with his social skills and he helps me… erm… he just helps me…"
Bakugo felt that old yet familiar restlessness well up in his chest as Midoriya tried to explain his symbiotic relationship with Todoroki. He could guess what it was the dual user was 'helping' Izuku with but couldn't bring himself to call the nervous Pro out on it.
Silence fell between them then as Katsuki couldn't find anything—even an insult—to say and Midoriya resorted to awkward fidgeting. Eventually, Izuku meekly broke the stalemate once more.
"I… I have some m-m-medicine you should take with you—I mean, if you want to…"
Bakugo grunted as his ex-best friend scurried off to his bathroom, a clattering of bottles and zipping sounds ringing out. He didn't want to accept whatever it was Izuku was bringing him, but, part of him didn't even care how much his pride howled in displeasure at this point; if there was anything to help ease the throbbing in his limbs he'd take it.
"H-here!"
Katsuki almost snorted in disbelief as Midoriya held out a medicine bag, the clear pliant plastic bulging from how full it was. However, as he examined the contents before taking it, he soon realized that none of them were actually painkillers.
"What the fuck is all this shit, Deku?"
Izuku shifted from foot to foot, wishing that Bakugo would just take the items and leave so that he could go and have a mini-meltdown in a corner. "I've been injured a lot from villains back in UA and learning how to hone my quirks… Sometimes I get kind of… sore I guess."
"And you think if you take a probiotic, you're magically going to feel fucking better? What the hell, Deku; You're way smarter than tha—" Bakugo cut himself off before he finished, once again feeling almost slimy when Midoriya's eyes lowered and he retracted his offering. "Damn it. Fine, give me all this vitamin/oil rub bullshit and I'll take it."
"R-really?" Izuku gasped. He'd believed it would have taken much more convincing to get his rival to accept anything… that or he'd simply have to deal with the side effects of Bakugo not taking care of his already near-broken body once they were righted.
"Tsk… It's disturbing watching myself cry like that…" Katsuki half-lied, pushing past Izuku to get to the door. "I'll fucking take care of your body, so you'd better do the same for mine; one fucking scratch and I'll rip you to shreds when this is over."
Midoriya's face paled a little, the reaction causing Bakugo to almost bite his tongue. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that, especially since it seemed like they were both just going to avoid the very obvious elephant in the room.
He moved faster to get away, refusing to look back at where Izuku seemed to be glued to his spot. By the time Katsuki got back out on the main road though, he felt sick to his stomach. "FUCK."
~Time-Skip: 3 Days~
Kirishima met up with Todoroki in the dual user's city, giving his best encouraging grin to the blank-faced pro. "So, dude, how have you been? It's been forever since we actually talked, hasn't it? Like maybe since high school!"
"I've been fine," Shoto responded, giving him a nod. "And you?"
"Well it's been really hard work trying to keep up with the rise in crime since both Bakugo and Midoriya were taken out of commission, but, that's just the kind of manly challenge heroes like us have to take, right?"
Todoroki simply nodded once more, unsure of how to respond. Despite his vast improvements in sociability, his comfort zone was still fairly limited. Izuku had integrated him into a small friend group that consisted of Ochaco, Iida, Asui, Hatsume, and Shinso, but they all had little personality oddities of their own that made his insecurities feel less inhibiting.
People like Kirishima made him almost inherently nervous since they seemed to be comfortable around anyone… seemed to be comfortable with who they themselves were.
"How's Deku handling his leave by the way?" Eijiro continued, completely unphased by Shoto's lack of response. "Bakugo keeps wanting to blow shit up but what else is new!"
"Izuku is rightly uncomfortable with the situation; everyone hopes for a swift resolution to this unfortunate predicament," Todoroki responded, almost wishing for a villain to come out so that he didn't have to think so hard about how to act.
"Woah, bro!" Kirishima laughed. "I forgot talking to you is like reading a hard book! It's okay though; I think it's super manly how smart you are… I wish I had a big brain like yours! I'm pretty sure half of the brain cells I did have were blasted out of my ears after spending so much time with Bakugo."
Shoto cooled himself off a little with his quirk. Even if it sounded like Kirishima was complimenting him, it still made him uncomfortable to not be able to just talk to the redhead like a 'normal person'. "Izuku says normal is what we make it… just relax and focus on what you're good at… the rest will work itself out."
"So, you and Midoriya live together then?" Kirishima added once the conversation lapsed again. "That must be super cool to be around your best friend all the time."
"We do seem to be ideal roommates…"
"Ha! Well, I couldn't live with Bakugo that's for sure… Don't get me wrong he's my best bro and all but even I'm not able to get his sensitive side to come out; I think Midoriya is the only person I know that can do that."
Todoroki was unable to hide his sarcastic scoff as he thought about how the blonde treated Izuku. Midoriya had told him once that it was his ultimate goal to get Katsuki to be at least be his friend again but still… he didn't ever see it happening.
"I suppose we should thank you for being so persistent with him in high school…" he mused aloud. "He may never have been able to do anything remotely heroic without your influence."
"Eh? What are you talking about, Todoroki?" Kirishima questioned in confusion. "I hardly did anything! Bakugo won't admit it but Midoriya would get to him sometimes… Like a lot actually… He'd go through these mini-phases of wanting to make things right but then it's like he'd convince himself that accepting that he cared about Midoriya was wrong."
Shoto side glanced suspiciously, not finding any deception on Eijiro's bright face. But he still wouldn't believe it. He'd seen Katsuki take his insults too far many times during their tenure at UA—witnessed the self-deprecation his cruelty elicited in Izuku. He'd known that Midoriya was teeming with doubt about his own abilities even back then and he'd stepped in plenty of times to stave off panic attacks and reassure him of his importance to the world.
But once they'd moved in together he became fully aware of just how fractured the boy's psyche was; witnessed first hand how the abuse Izuku had suffered in the past merged with and amplified any negative encounter in the present until it overflowed into self-harm.
Todoroki had made it his personal mission in life to tirelessly hold those splintered, barely together pieces in place—to keep Midoriya afloat emotionally until he was able to see how special he was. He wanted Midoriya to see that he'd already helped so many people and was loved… wanted him to know that he didn't need Bakugo's affection to be worth something.
No matter what Eijiro said, it just didn't seem possible that Bakugo could have made any notable improvement with how bitter and cruel he was to this very day… or that he'd ever wanted to for that matter.
"Yeah, I know that look." Kirishima sighed. "Everyone thinks that Bakugo is a villain at heart, but, I'll bet Midoriya has argued against that with you… I mean, since you guys seem to be best friends you've got to know that they were even closer than you two once, right?"
"I'm aware…" Shoto agreed. "But that was a long time ago; much has changed since then."
"Heh… You got that right! I think they'll work it out though. Especially now since they're literally walking in each other's shoes!"
Todoroki bit the inside of his lip, thinking about what secrets Midoriya's body was keeping from the world. Clearly Kirishima didn't know about the scars which was probably a good thing, though he was certain that's why Bakugo had come to their house.
He was saved from answering this time though, as a group of thugs came rushing out of a nearby bank with wads of cash in their hands.
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:) Let me know what you think!