The blonde's head snapped up, turning to see his mother sitting in the chair beside what he assumed was a hospital bed. The moment his red eyes met her own, he looked away, staring at the wall.

"I told him to kill himself! I told him to-, and he did! And now- now he's gone, and he's haunting me!"

Great, now Katsuki wasn't just haunted by his dead childhood friend-turned-victim but by his own idiocy. Why hadn't he been able to keep it together? Why had he broken down like that?!

"How you feeling, baby?" Mitsuki's voice was soft in a way Katsuki hadn't heard in years. He just shrugged, still not able to look at her. He couldn't. His mother had a murderer as a son, and she knew the truth: he'd be kicked out. He'd have to drop out of school, become a criminal, and then a villain, and then get arrested and die in jail.

"'M fine." He muttered. He felt her manicured hand brush through his hair, making him freeze. She was…touching him? After all that he had told her? Why was she even here with him?

"The doctors should be here soon, so…rest up, Katsuki."

He felt his body instantly tense. Doctors? Oh, good, she thought he was crazy. Hell, Katsuki thought he was crazy, too, but at least he had seen Deku! He had felt the ghostly boy run through him, seen him do it to others and watched how they got cold. He knew that Deku was real.

But his mother didn't.

"I'm not fucking crazy; I know what I see."

"Nobody is calling you crazy, Katsuki. Your vitals are just really low, and your body is exhausted from training."

"Tch, that's a good thing! It means-"

"It means that you need rest. This weekend, we'll do nothing but rest. And talk. All three of us."

Bakugou felt his heart drop to his stomach in distaste. This was maddening. He'd actually go crazy if he was forced to do nothing all weekend.

"Hi! You must be Katsuki, and I'm Doctor Maki. It's nice to meet you. Now, let's get you settled…"

After he was cleared and checked out, he and his mother got into the car. The air was thick with tension, and both of them were silent. He pulled down the sun visor, flipping up the mirror lid attached to it. He looked at himself, eyes tracing his face. He looked fine, except for his eyebags. Those were as prominent as ever. Nothing a little concealer couldn't fix.

Then, his gaze moved behind him. It was empty. Had Deku decided to stay at the hospital and float around there? No, of course not. Deku would never leave him, especially not without a ghostly growl. Bakugou looked out his window. Ah, that was it.

They were near Inko's apartment.

"Katsuki…" His mom said as they pulled into the driveway. Dad's car was gone. It was just said. "We need to talk."

Here it comes.

"I know." his voice was gruff, his body tense. Nails dug into his skin through his pants as he gripped at his skin. He knew this was coming. He had been thinking about it all day.

"You didn't kill Izuku."

"What?" Katsuki almost growled, his head snapping up to look at his mother. She was serious, her hands laid gently in her lap.

"What you said…whatever it is you said that even related to him doing that was awful, yes. I am…so unbelievably mad at you for it. But you did not kill him."

"Yes, I fucking did."

"Did you force him to jump, Katsuki? Did you throw him over the roof?"

"I might as well have!"

"No, you didn't."

Katsuki could only stare.

"I need you to tell me everything. I need to know. You aren't in trouble. I can't very well do anything now that he's…a ghost."

"You…believe me?" Katsuki can hardly believe it himself, and his mother believes him. Without an explanation?

"You're not the type of person to make this up, honey. I know you. You've always been against anything weird or not normal. It's just who you are. For you to claim a ghost of all things…"

"I can prove it, I swear, I just-"

"Katsuki, I know he's real." Mitsuki sighed, rubbing a hand over her tired face. "While you were asleep, I was sitting beside your bed. Suddenly, you sat up, and you opened your eyes. None of your vitals had changed. It was like you were still asleep."

"Yeah?" Katsuki asked, needing more details.

"Your eyes were green, Katsuki. The exact colour of Izuku's. Your smile was even…it was just like Izuku's used to be. And then you laid down again, back asleep."

"What the fuck…"

"Those were my exact words." She let out a humourless laugh, looking at him. "So…I want you to tell me what happened."

"I will. Let's just go inside first." Katsuki said, opening the door. Mitsuki followed him with a sigh, and they sat down on the couch. She placed a comforting hand on his back as he began to speak.

"He was quirkless. I hated him for that. He had this issue with him, but he came to school every day, smiling like he was fucking somebody. He was annoying. I couldn't stand him. So I bullied him."

Mitsuki gasped, but her hand remained. Katsuki was almost grateful.

"And it got to the point where I told him to kill himself. So did a lot of other people. We were- we were cruel. He should have been in the hospital half the time. He still- his ghost I mean, it still has the scars that I left on him."

"Oh Katsuki…"

"And then he died. He killed himself. And since then, I've seen him. Everywhere. And not just his face in other people or some shit. I see his ghost. It's- he looks disgusting."

A screech. It was almost deafening, like nails on a chalkboard. It rattled his teeth. Katsuki's head whipped to the side, seeing Deku standing in the corner of the living room, his gaze angry.

"Sorry, I mean- he looks fine. Like he did when he died."

The screeching stopped.

"Is he here?" Mitsuki asked with a gasp. Katsuki nodded. "In the corner."

"Yeah. Deku, my mom, she uh, she's hi."

The ghost just moved to Katsuki's room, paying them no mind.

"Sweet lord…"

"Yeah. He's usually always here. Sometimes, he's at Auntie Inko's house. But he always comes back here. To haunt me."

"Because of what you said?"

"It's one of the few things he can say. Is that he blames me. That's its my fault."

"It isn't, Katsuki."

The boy didn't believe her. He never would.

After the conversation was done, Katsuki locked himself in his room, lying on his back. He watched as Deku floated around aimlessly, not staying in his hero merch corner. It was going to be a very long weekend for both of them.