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“Can we go here next? I want to buy a couple new t-shirts for the summer.”
The temperature in the mall was pleasant. Not too hot and not too cold. The so-called ‘dekusquad’ was walking around on a simple Friday afternoon. Todoroki said he needed new school utilities, Uraraka wanted to go shopping for a couple new clothes, Iida had a tiny list of things he wanted and soon enough they were visiting shop after shop.
“That is a great idea Ochaco, it is always wise to be prepared for the changes of the seasons.” Iida remarked, while making his hand chopping movements.
“I think we are finished after that, aren’t we?” Todoroki asked.
He was holding a small plastic bag, filled with note blocks, pens, markers and a new eraser. He could have just asked Yaoyorozu to make some for him, but he knew that her quirk could take quite a toll on her body. He needed a lot of stuff and didn’t want to bother her; she wouldn’t hesitate to make it for him if he asked after all.
Maybe the fact that he was paying with his father’s credit card helped as well. But that is beside the point.
“I’m craving for a milkshake after this.” Midoriya whined.
They had been walking through the mall for several hours after having an exhausting day at school. They always had endurance training on Fridays. Needless to say, planning the most exhausting exercise on the last part of the last day of the week was not a great decision of the teachers.
Uraraka made quick work of the store and filled her arms with clothing in no time. “Shoto, can you hold this for me please?” She gently asked, offering him the pile of clothes. The boy hesitantly looked at it. “...sure.”
Iida observed the collection which were now in Shoto’s arms. His arms were full, and he could barely see above the clothing. “I thought you only needed a couple t-shirts?”
“I do, but they are all soo pretty!” Uraraka said as the pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to call Ashido real quick, she can help me choose.”
Midoriya picked up one of the shirts. It was a white blouse with poofy sleeves and pink roses embroidered on it. The fabric was not very thick but warm enough to be worn in the spring. It was slightly see-through, and the back was pulled together with a little pink string that ended in a tiny bow.
“You have a good eye, Ochaco. This is a beautiful blouse, you should totally buy it!” The green-haired boy smiled widely before getting worried and quickly added “If you want to, of course. I don’t want you to buy something you don’t like just because I said you should.”
Uraraka just chuckled. “It’s fine Izuku, I wouldn’t have picked it if I didn’t like it. Besides—ohh hello Ashido!”
Their pink haired friend appeared on the screen of Uraraka’s phone, lively as ever. “Heya queen! What's up?”
As Uraraka explained the situation, Midoriya wandered a bit further into the shop. Passing the woman's section, the men's section and the kid’s section, he found the Hero-based part of the store. All sorts of things were available. Jeans from Best Jeanist, hoodies with Gang Orca printed at the front, posters from the current number 2 and 5, Mirko and Hawks. Even a couple Small Might figurines filled the shelves. The item that had caught Midoriya’s attention, however, was a tiny, black and white, plushie.
Eraserhead.
Before he could stop himself, Midoriya was walking away from the cashier, 3800 yen (roughly €30 or 33 USD) missing from his wallet. He was profoundly smiling at the new addition to his Hero merch collection. The boy gently held the plushie in his hands, like the tiniest of movements could break it, as he walked back towards his friends.
“Izuku, where were you? You cannot just run off like that, what if something had happened?”
Iida said as soon as he saw the boy approaching, chopping his hands in the air. Todoroki and Uraraka looked up from the piles of clothes. Judging by the voices coming out of the latter’s phone, they were still on the phone with Mina.
“Is that an Eraserhead plushie?” Todoroki asked dumbfounded. “Those are really rare, since Aizawa-sensei is an underground hero. Where did you find it?”
“Wait a second, did I hear that correctly?? An Eraserhead plushie?!” Mina’s voice came from a phone in Uraraka’s hand, shock and excitement clear from her tone. Uraraka gasped in awe as soon as she saw it.
“Oh my god, it’s adorable! He's so much less scary as a plushie!”
Midoriya couldn’t contain his excitement either and nodded rapidly. A big smile had formed on his face as he passed the plushie to his friends for them to see.
“Yeah, it is! I found it in the Hero-collection at the end of the store. I had the last one, sorry. They still have Crimson Riot, Edgeshot, Mount Lady and- … I think it was Kamui Woods, for if you guys want one.”
After admiring it, Uraraka begrudgingly passed the plushie onto Todoroki, who carefully turned it around and around. Only after he had observed every little detail, he gave it to Iida. Who, in turn, handled it with great care, before eventually returning it to its original owner. Midoriya quickly stored the plushie in his backpack, making sure it could not get dirty or damaged.
“Crimson Riot, you said?” Mina asked. “Hang on, I’ll go ask Eijiro if he wants one.”
After that only a bunch of incomprehensible noises were heard from the phone, Mina was probably headed towards the ‘Bakusquad’. Midoriya’s attention shifted to the 2 piles of clothes. He recognised a couple of the t-shirts from earlier. The blouse he had recommended was on the smaller, neater pile. Iida must have followed his gaze because he quickly explained.
“With the help of Ashido, Ochaco was able to narrow the clothes she is going to buy to the smaller pile. Cannot go too overboard with the money, she doesn’t really have a lot, after all.”
Midoriya and Todoroki both had to stifle a laugh as Uraraka lashed out towards Iida. The girl's reason for wanting to be a hero had kinda turned into an inside joke from the Dekusquad. While they all supported her, of course, they often made jokes about it. They also joked about Todoroki’s daddy issues, Iida’s attempted murder and Midoriya’s Hero obsession, so there were no hard feelings.
“Anywaayy” Midoriya interrupted Uraraka, who was still complaining to Iida while they both laughed. “I think we’re almost done, then? If we go back to the dorms now, we can still spar a little before we have to eat.”
The group nodded and while Uraraka went to pay for her clothes, the others focused on putting the other pieces back where they belonged. By the time Uraraka returned, they were still busy. Finding the spot of each individual piece of clothing is hard and a lot had to be put back in place. Right before they finished, Mina’s voice was heard from Uraraka’s phone once again.
“Eijiro said he would gladly have the Crimson Riot plushie, he will pay the money back when y’all get to the dorms.”
Iida nodded “I’ll take care of it. It will only take a second.” And with that the boy was gone, off to buy the plushie.
The others simply chatted while waiting for their friend to return. It didn’t take too long and before they knew it, they were on their way out of the store. Kiri came on the screen of Uraraka’s phone and abundantly thanked them. Each had done their necessary shopping and was ready to go back to the dormitory. The door of the shop opened, and a gust of wind blew in their faces.
Something is wrong.
Midoriya suddenly got a feeling. He looked around but couldn’t find anything that could be the cause of his bad feeling. Everyone in the mall was lively chatting and the atmosphere was nice. He couldn’t decipher what could be wrong. Not being able to do anything else, he just brushed the feeling off and hoped it was nothing.
“Still, Izuku, you have to tell people where you go before you run off.” Iida said. “You have a tendency to run into villains when no one knows where you are.”
The green headed boy just awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, Midoriya! It could end really bad one day, you have to be more careful!” Mina agreed.
The group walked through the mall, on their way to the exit. Laughing was heard left and right, the scent of food lingered throughout the area and the sun shone through the glass roof. The atmosphere was cheery, and everyone had a good and refreshing spring feeling.
That is until they heard a big blast.
The Dekusquad was immediately alert and turned towards the direction of the noise. “What was that?” Uraraka asked, her voice tense. Todoroki started running and replied. “Probably a villain. Come on, let's check it out.”
And with that, they ran back to where they just came from. This time they heard screams instead of laughter. The smell of food was dulled by the overpowering scent of fire and smoke. People were running everywhere, trying to get away from the danger as much as possible.
They arrived at the scene of the blast. A food stall was knocked over and fire was spreading. Tables and chairs were knocked over and forgotten, a couple of bags were on the ground. Their insides sprawled over the tiles. But that wasn’t where Midoriya was looking. No, he was looking at the middle of the chaos with wide eyes. Because there, in the middle of it all, laughing violently, stood--
“Is that the Sludge Villain?!”
Iida’s voice barely registered. It seemed like all noises drowned out, all except for the laughing of the Sludge Villain. When their eyes met, Midoriya’s stomach dropped, and he felt like throwing up. His throat was full of slime, and he couldn’t breathe.
“Don’t worry. I’m just going to take over your body. It'll only hurt for about 45 seconds.”
No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Wasn’t the Sludge Villain in prison? Why was he here? Why couldn’t Midoriya breathe? People were saying something. He couldn’t register anything, his focus solely at the green, slimy blob in front of him. Suddenly he was back at that tunnel, choking to death. And there was nothing he could do about it.
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Bakugo was walking down the stairs to the common room. He just finished doing the homework for Monday and had gotten hungry.
He grabbed a bowl and quickly made some noodles. It was one of those cheap things where all you had to do was add hot water. Not the best quality, but he was hungry, so it would do.
He could hear Mina and Kirishima talking. Uraraka’s voice answered his friends over a phone. He knew the nerd and his group of friends went to the mall earlier. Mina and Uraraka are good friends, so it wasn’t a big surprise they were calling.
What was a surprise, however, was a big blast that could be heard from Mina’s phone. Bakugo hurried towards his friends. “What was that?”
Mina and Kirishima shared a concerned glance. “No idea, man.” The latter answered. “Maybe it is a villain.”
Bakugo’s grip on the bowl with noodles tightened. “Ochaco? What is going on, are you guys okay?” Mina asked, but there was no answer. The screen changed from Uraraka’s concerned face to a blur of colours. The phone, and Uraraka, were on the move, probably.
The 3 waited in a tense silence, hoping for someone or something to explain what was happening. The blurred movements had stopped, and they were met with a distressed Uraraka. She was looking forwards and didn’t pay attention to her phone, but judging by the fire and running people in the background, the situation couldn’t be good.
Iida’s voice came through the speakers of Mina’s phone. “Is that the Sludge Villain?!”
The bowl with noodles slipped through Bakugo’s hands and shattered on the floor.
The Sludge Villain?! No way. That thing was supposed to be in prison. Several memories hit Katsuki at once. Of course, the incident itself. He could almost feel the sludge in his throat again, choking him. Almost. But it was close enough to make him tremble where he stood.
The next memory was when he came home to his parents. The news with his face plastered on it was on the television. His dad was crying and incredibly relieved when he finally got it through his skull that his son was okay. Katsuki’s mom showed a little less emotion. While she was obviously scared for her son and happy that he was okay, she simply told him that she was proud he held out long enough for the Heroes to save him. The irony of that still felt salty on is tongue. Right. Because the Heroes had saved him.
He then remembered a little bit of the sports festival. How he had received his first-place medal. Chained up and muzzled. Thinking back, it wasn’t too bad, he just got overwhelmed and couldn’t stop the feeling slime from entering his mouth and nose. He couldn’t stop the feeling of choking, even though he was just muzzled. Couldn’t stop desperately hoping that All Might would notice his panic instead of just laughing along with everyone else. Tch. Weak, wasn’t he.
He quickly pushed the event away and got slapped in the face with another memory. This one happened very recent, actually.
Bakugo was minding his own business in the common room. Jirou and Yaoyorozu were in the kitchen, brewing one of the latter’s new tea ideas. Kaminari, Mina and Kirishima were making dinner for everyone, spaghetti to be precise. The rest was either in their rooms or doing homework on the table.
His peace was disturbed when the shitty nerd approached him. “Uhm, Kachhan? Can I ask you a question? It will be quick, I promise.”
Bakugo’s relationship with Deku had improved after he found out about One for All. They still had their fights, of course, but maybe they could be something called ‘friends’ in the future. “Spit it out, nerd.” he said.
Midoriya was fumbling with his fingers, obviously uncomfortable. Whatever it was he was about to ask him, it wasn’t pleasant. So, without hesitation, Bakugo stood up from his spot on the couch and walked away. “Ask me somewhere a little more private, dumbass.” He grumbled. Midoriya shot him a small, but very grateful smile and quickly followed.
Once they were in the empty hallway, Bakugo leaned against the wall and waited for Midoriya to start talking.
“I wanted to- Um- Do you-” the green haired boy shut his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath. Bakugo raised one of his eyebrows in concern. Midoriya avoided his eyes but eventually managed to ask;
“Remember when we had pudding for dessert a couple days ago?”
Bakugo did. The nerd had taken a couple of bites before excusing himself and going to his room. He had been acting weird since then. No, Bakugo was not worried about him. At all. It was just strange.
“Yeah, I do. What about it?”
Midoriya swallowed. He was still avoiding Bakugo’s eyes, looking everywhere except the spiky haired boy. “How did you- Uhh-” Midoriya swallowed and took a deep breath again. This time he looked Bakugo straight in his eyes. Bakugo saw determination, fear and doubt shimmer behind the green of the nerd’s eyes.
“Didn't it remind you of something? You know, something slimy?”
If anyone saw Bakugo losing all of the colour in his face, no they didn’t.
“Where are you going with this, nerd?” Bakugo grumbled. He knew exactly what Midoriya was talking about. Was that any of his business though? Definitely not. Or so he thought, at least. Because before he could stop it, Midoriya was talking his ears off.
“Well, I mean, it looked like you were eating it without an issue and with your history with the Sludge Villain that just surprised me. I mean I still remember the feeling of sludge going down my throat and choking and not being able to breathe and since pudding and sludge are so similar, I wondered how you didn’t have any trouble eating it. I mean, I thought I was choking the second the pudding came in my throat and since you were also caught, I figured-”
“Shut your mouth, Deku. What the fuck are you talking about?”
Surprise flashed across Midoriya’s face. “What do you mean, Kacchan?”
Bakugo gritted his teeth. “What do you mean what do I mean. You said you were also caught. The fuck is up with that?”
“Oohh, I guess I never told you that!” Midoriya said as he dropped a fist into the open palm of his other hand, like two cogs that had clicked in his head. “Before the Sludge Villain held you hostage, his target was me.”
“I was walking down this tunnel and he came from the sewers. He was trying to take over my body, just like with you, except I only held out for like a minute. If All Might hadn't come to save me, I probably would have died right there. That was actually the first time I met All Might.” Midoriya sheepishly rubbed his neck.
That was a lot of information to process in a short time.
Midoriya then began apologetically waving his hands in front of me. “Ahh, that being said, it was my fault he was free again and had the opportunity to attack you! I never really had the opportunity to apologise for that, so-”
Bakugo held up a hand in front of Midoriya’s face. “I don’t need your fucking apologies, Deku.”
“And to answer your original question, the old hag really likes pudding, so we had it often back home. I suppose all I can say is that it gets better over time, you get used to the feeling eventually.” He figured that she never linked pudding and the Sludge Villain together, and since it is her favourite food, Bakugo never had the heart to tell her he couldn’t really eat it anymore.
Midoriya physically saddened at this. Even his hair lost some of its fluffiness.
“Oh, okay. Thanks anyway.”
Bakugo just scoffed. “Whatever, nerd.”
That was when he found out that Midoriya was also attacked by the Sludge Villain. And now that damn piece of slime had suddenly escaped? It even appeared where Deku was?? Whatever the fuck was going on, Bakugo was not having it.
“The mall, right?”
That was all that Mina and Kirishima heard, before explosions deafened them. After that Bakugo was gone. “Katsuki? Katsuki!” Kirishima yelled. He and Mina shared a confused and worried look, before Mina shrugged. Nothing they could do about it now, anyway.
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Midoriya couldn’t breathe. His eyes were blurry, and he felt like he was going to throw up. It was too cold and too warm in the mall. People were everywhere, but the only one who he could focus on was the Villain in front of him.
Uraraka was on his right, Iida and Todoroki on his left. They were talking to him, but Midoriya couldn’t make out any words. Hopelessly gasping for air, he took a step backwards, eyes still on the Sludge Villain. He didn’t notice the tears leaking from his eyes.
He didn’t hear the Sludge Villain recognising and greeting him. Didn’t hear his friends' confused questions. He was back in that alleyway, choking to death. Midoriya fell to his knees, but the pain never registered.
Uraraka broke the eye contact between him and the villain by physically putting herself between them. “... hear me? Izuku?” While she tried to hide it, concern was evident in her voice. Though Midoriya didn’t have the luxury to worry about her.
He was still in the hands of the Sludge Villain. Dying.
Distant sounds of explosions disrupted the sound of him gasping for air and a couple moments later another figure entered his peripheral vision.
“I’ll handle the nerd, make sure that thing gets away from here.”
The voice sounded familiar, but Midoriya couldn’t place who it belonged to.
“I’ll explain everything later, extras, just hurry up!”
The other people that surrounded him disappeared and he was left with the familiar voice.
“Alright Deku, nod if you can hear me.”
He slowly managed a small nod.
“Okay, that’s good. Fuck, ehh... Can I touch you?”
Another small nod.
The person gently grabbed his hand and put it over a heart. The person put the other hand over his own heart. The difference in heartbeats was enormous. Both were beating faster than normal, but Midoriya’s was very uneven, while the other persons had a rhythm.
“Do you feel the difference?”
Midoriya did not know when he had firmly closed his eyes, but he was suddenly very aware of it. Another nod.
“Let’s try to match them, shall we? Focus on my voice and try to breathe with me, okay?”
Another nod.
“Okay. Breathe in with me. Hold for one, two... and breathe out. Hold for one, two... Let’s do it again.”
Midoriya was trying to breathe with the person, but that was harder than he thought. So, he was primarily focussing on the voice. It was still very familiar. It sounded like it was a boy talking to him.
After a couple of minutes Midoriya’s breathing had evened out a little. His heartbeat was also a bit more like that of the other person’s. He felt good enough to open his eyes, even just a little.
He was looking at the ground below him. It was cold to his legs. The green haired boy moved his head up and his teary green eyes locked with feisty red ones. He could recognise those anywhere.
“K-Kachhan?”
The blond in front of him cracked a little smile. “Welcome back, nerd.”
Midoriya looked around, confused. Aizawa was scolding Uraraka, Iida and Todoroki, who did not look phased at all. The Sludge Villain was led away by police officers and the fire from the food stall was put out. The chaos that was the mall a couple of moments earlier was replaced with a strange calmness.
“What happened? Since when is Aizawa-sensei here? How long was I panicking?”
“It’s been roughly half an hour since I came here. Four Eyes, Pink Cheeks and Icy Hot absolutely destroyed the Sludge Villain. Aizawa was not very happy, though, as I’m sure you can see.”
While Bakugou would never admit this, he was proud of the so-called ‘dekusquad’. They did some badass fighting while Midoriya was... away. It was certainly satisfying to see the thing that haunted his dreams, and apparently also one of his friends’, begging for mercy.
Midoriya’s expression turned incredibly hopeful. “The Sludge Villain is defeated? No casualties? Is everyone alright?”
“Except for your panic attack, there were no issues.” Aizawa’s voice came from behind the two boys. They turned to look their teacher in his eyes. To anyone who only knew the pro hero Eraserhead, he may seem emotionless. But the students knew better, he was worried about his kids.
Midoriya was suddenly reminded of the brand-new plushie in his backpack. It emitted the same, warm energy that he felt when his teacher went in dad-mode. He slightly smiled. “I’m a little better now, thanks to Kacchan. I'm glad everything worked out okay.”
Relief flooded through Aizawa, but he would never admit that. “That is good. You two have some explaining to do, though.” The teacher looked around. A crowd had started to form around the crime scene.
“We’ll wait until everyone is back at the dorms. Then you two can explain.”
Midoriya quickly nodded, while Bakugo only scoffed. They stood up from the floor and started walking after their teacher, who had gone to gather his other students.
“Thank you Kacchan.”
“Whatever, nerd.”