Chapter Text
It started with the fucking headaches. And with Todoroki, because Katsuki’s life was a joke.
He was training with IcyHot when a sudden pang of intense pain attacked the left side of his head and his vision got blurry out of his left eye. It hurt so fucking bad that he wasn’t able to focus on dodging Todoroki’s next attack, so when the other boy threw a wall of ice in front of him, Katsuki unceremoniously knocked his head against it. Which fucking hurt, too.
He fell to the ground on his knees and he would’ve been throwing explosions at his opponent already if it wasn’t for the intense pain he was feeling in his head. He pressed the heel of his hand firmly against his left eye and tried to think of what the fuck was happening to him. Was he sick? Was his vision finally decaying after too many bright explosions? Did he overuse his quirk? He couldn’t pin down what the hell had caused this intense amount of pain, but it was sure making it hard to concentrate on anything but that.
“Bakugou? Are you okay?”
Katsuki almost laughed.
“Just fine,” He said through clenched teeth and screwed both eyes shut, counting to ten in his head.
“I don’t think that’s entirely true,” He heard Todoroki’s hesitant voice closer to him.
He actually laughed this time.
“You think so, asshole?”
“I think we need to go to the infirmary.”
“No, we fucking don’t,” He replied angrily, because that sounded like a fucking inconvenience, and tried to glare at the man peering down at him but he doubted it was intimidating enough since his eyes were watering.
Todoroki only frowned slightly.
“You look like you’re in pain. And you’re also bleeding.”
At this Katsuki frowned too and lifted one hand to his forehead. He immediately hissed when he touched the right side of it and when he looked back at his hand it was covered in blood.
“Shit.”
“Here, I’ll help you up,” Todoroki said, stretching a hand out to Katsuki.
He eyed it warily for a few seconds. He and Todoroki weren’t really friends, but they also weren’t enemies anymore. After three years of being in the same class, Katsuki learned that it was better to accept the boy was a damn good hero and a damn good sparring partner, too. They had developed a sort of relationship in which they would train together every once in a while, they would go all out until they were both sweating and aching all over, and that was that. They didn’t really talk about anything except to point out a good move or to give some advice in some tactic or another, and if they encountered each other in the dorms it was to agree on the time and place of their next sparring match. Overall, Todoroki was Deku’s friend, not his. He didn’t despise his guts, but he also didn’t really like him that much, so accepting help from him felt out of his comfort zone.
“Bakugou?”
Katsuki screwed his eyes shut for a few seconds and let out a shaky breath before snapping his glare back to the boy.
“Fine,” He bit out bitterly, and took his hand.
Todoroki helped him up and kept a hand on his elbow while they walked out of the gym and towards the infirmary. They were mostly silent and Katsuki was only partially glad that it was Todoroki the one that was accompanying him since the idiot knew how to mind his own business and didn’t say anything every time Katsuki’s breaths were shaky and labored due to intense pain fogging his mind and vision. He was starting to wonder if he might have a concussion, when they finally reached Recovery Girl’s office. Todoroki knocked once and Katsuki flinched just the tiniest bit at the noise. Fucking hell, what was wrong with his head? It felt as if it might split in two at any second.
He barely heard Todoroki talking to Recovery Girl and absentmindedly noticed that he was being moved to sit on a bed, but he couldn’t really focus on anything except trying not to pass out. Suddenly, his pain diminished significantly, and his vision cleared, leaving only the pain of a small and normal headache. He blinked and saw Recovery Girl leaning back on her stool from where she might’ve kissed him and wiping his forehead with a towel.
“Thanks,” He said grudgingly and grabbed the towel himself.
“Is he okay now?” Todoroki asked a little bit farther than Recovery Girl.
Katsuki narrowed his eyes at him. “What are you still doing here?”
“I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t die on me,” Todoroki said shrugging, impassive look as always.
“Fuck off,” He said wanting to throw his bloody towel to the idiot’s face.
“Language,” Admonished Recovery Girl, rolling her eyes and stepping off her stool. “He’s fine, it seems that you might’ve overused your quirk and got a headache from dehydration. Rest for today, take lots of liquids and you should be fine.”
He saw Todoroki frown behind her. “That looked like it was way worse than just overusing his quirk.”
“I imagine the concussion didn’t help the pain that much,” She grabbed a bottle out of a drawer on one of the cabinets in the room and gave it to Katsuki. “Some painkillers, in case your headache returns, but only rest will make it disappear entirely. Come back if you feel any symptoms of your concussion get worse.”
Katsuki huffed. He almost agreed with Todoroki because he knew what overusing his quirk felt like and he had never felt such an intense headache before but whatever, he just wanted to be out of the infirmary already.
“Right,” He said, hopping off the bed and leaving the towel there, taking the pills with him. “Whatever. Thanks.”
“Go with him to make sure he doesn’t fall over,” Recovery Girl added talking to IcyHot, and Katsuki narrowed his eyes because he could almost swore he saw her smirk.
“Of course,” Todoroki said and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room. “Good afternoon.”
“Let me go,” He murmured shrugging out of Todoroki’s grasp. The boy only eyed him curiously but said nothing while they walked back to the dorms.
After a few minutes of silence Katsuki took a deep breath before speaking.
“So… I need you to not mention this to Deku.”
The boy looked at him confused. “Why not?”
“He will just worry about it and there’s no need for it. You heard Recovery Girl, I’m fine,” He answered shrugging.
Todoroki looked away for a few seconds, frowning. “You were in a lot of pain.”
“Clearly I’m not anymore. Besides,” He rattled the bottle of pills. “I’ve got painkillers, so really there’s nothing to worry about.”
Todoroki looked unconvinced but after a moment he nodded. “Alright.”
Katsuki breathed out a sigh of relief. “Great.”
--
A couple of days later Katsuki was peacefully listening to some music while reading a book in the most comfortable couch of the living room with his knees pulled close to his chest and a warm cup of coffee on the table, when his left earbud got ripped out of his ear.
“What the fu-”
A head full of green hair with a face filled with freckles appeared next to his from the back of the couch.
“Why didn’t you tell me you went to the infirmary?” Deku asked, clearly angry about it and giving him one of his scolding looks.
Katsuki immediately winced and buried his face in the book he was reading, against his knees.
“Fucking Half and Half,” He groaned to the book, frowning. That’s what he got for trusting that asshole.
“It wasn’t Todoroki-kun.”
He lifted his head and found Deku now in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest and his face in that same reproachful look.
“Who was it, then?” He asked, puzzled.
“I went to see All Might to one of his monthly check-ups and Recovery Girl asked me if you were feeling better after your concussion.”
Katsuki winced again and repressed the urge to thump his head against his book once more. Stupid.
“Shit, I forgot about that,” He muttered avoiding Deku’s scolding eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Deku asked again, and before Katsuki could bury his head in his book once more, the nerd took it out of his hands. He huffed and crossed his arms defensively over his chest.
“Because it was nothing! Just a headache and a small concussion, nothing out of the ordinary,” He muttered.
Deku sat next to him and grabbed his face with both hands, squishing his cheeks together and pulling him closer to stare at him. Katsuki complained and squirmed but at the end gave up and just let himself be manhandled by Deku.
“I worry about you,” Deku said simply, still looking at him with concerned and reproachful green eyes.
Katsuki sighed and leaned more willingly into Deku’s hold. “I know you do, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I’m completely fine and Recovery Girl gave me some painkillers in case the headache returns,” Katsuki leaned closer and gave him a small chaste kiss on the lips. “You always worry too much.”
Deku’s gaze finally softened and he moved his hands from his face to lean his head on Katsuki’s knees, hugging them to his chest with his arms.
“I’m your boyfriend, I’d be a pretty bad one if I didn’t worry about you,” Katsuki chuckled and dropped a kiss to the top of Deku’s hair. “You promise you’re fine?”
“Yes, nerd, I promise,” He answered rolling his eyes and ignored his stupid fond smile.
“And you will tell me next time?”
“I will. Now, let me get back to my book. If you behave, I might let you watch me while I read.”
“Oh, wow! Can’t believe I’m allowed such a luxury,” Deku answered with a grin on his face and forcing his legs open to lay more comfortably on his chest. “You sure I deserve it?”
“I don’t know, fetch me a glass of wine and a pug and maybe I’ll say yes.”
Deku laughed again against his chest and Katsuki squeezed him closer to him, forgetting about his book and just enjoying spending time with his boyfriend.
--
A few days passed when it happened again. This time he was cooking dinner for him and Deku when he started to notice a dull pain forming in the left side of his head, he stopped chopping the vegetables and grabbed the counter with both hands. When the vision out of his left eye started to get blurry, he quickly turned off the stove and left the kitchen, heading straight to his bedroom.
When he finally reached his floor, he was hardly seeing out of his left eye and was having a hard time not bumping into every wall and door around him. Cursing, he hastily opened his door and closed it behind him, struggling his way to his nightstand. He pulled out the bottle of painkillers Recovery Girl had gave him and he swallowed two pills at once without even drinking water, he then laid face down on his bed and put a pillow over his head, squeezing his eyes shut for safe measure. Just what the hell was wrong with him?
After a long time, he couldn’t really tell how much, he sat up blinking away the water from his eyes and got up from the bed. His headache was only an uncomfortable pain in his left side, and he could see almost perfectly well out of both of his eyes.
When he went back to the kitchen, he found Deku engrossed in his homework sitting on the floor and working in the living room table. When the blond entered the room, Deku looked up from his notebooks and smiled at him and Katsuki felt the familiar warmth spread throughout his chest.
“Hi,” Deku said, getting up and coming to kiss Katsuki’s cheek. “Where’d you go? I thought you were cooking dinner.”
Katsuki opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked at his smiling boyfriend and his loving smile and his big green eyes and thought that no, it made no sense to worry him about something as small as a headache.
He leaned down and quickly kissed Deku’s lips.
“Just went to the bathroom,” He replied before walking towards the kitchen.
“Need some help?” Deku asked, as he did every time Katsuki cooked.
“No, I don’t want to die today, thanks,” He answered rolling his eyes. He heard Deku’s usual complains about not letting him help.
“I’ll just put my stuff away and I’ll go with you,” Deku added. Katsuki turned around and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend.
“No touching anything.”
“Yes, yes, I know, no touching,” Deku replied rolling his eyes.
“Last time you touched something there was an explosion,” Katsuki replied.
“Stop bringing it up!”
“Hurry up, then,” Katsuki replied smugly and walked towards the kitchen again. Yeah, everything was fine.
--
Except it wasn’t. His headaches never really went away, and instead of appearing every few days like the first times, it started to happen every other day, if not every fucking day. The painkillers helped in subsiding the pain to a tolerable level in which he could function like a normal person, but it still made him more irritable and snappier than usual. It was a good thing he was now able to recognize the second one of the headaches was about to start so he could bugger off to his room or the bathroom and deal with it until it went away. He had taken to carry the bottle of painkillers around and he started to take three pills at once every time he had one of his headaches to make them last less. They didn’t really last that long, ten or fifteen minutes tops (he had timed it), but those minutes felt like hours when he was struggling to not cry out of frustration and pain.
Katsuki was honestly surprised he had managed to keep it a secret for such a long time. About a month had went by since the first time it happened and he always had the excuse of going to the bathroom. By now he was sure Deku thought he had an intense case of diarrhea, which was embarrassing but better than worrying his boyfriend. Worrying his boyfriend was maybe at the top of his list of Things I Won’t Ever Want To Do Again along with getting kidnapped and eating shrimp. He really hated shrimp.
Deku and him had gotten together in second year after finally managing to have a functional and healthy friendship free of sometimes borderline stalkerish behavior and episodes of uncontrolled rage. And since then, Katsuki had worried Deku enough for a lifetime. Turns out, getting locked in your room for days with no food and no water by your mother as punishment was not a normal childhood event that every kid went through. Neither was getting slapped every time he said something his parents disapproved of or getting your arm broken by getting thrown against a table (that was only one time but apparently it still wasn’t something common to go through, which had been a concept that was hard to grasp at the time). When they started officially dating and Deku realized that every time Katsuki went home for the weekend he returned with a new bruise or scratch and talking less than usual, it wasn’t long before he figured out what went down in his house.
And Deku was just. Amazing. He did so much. He was the one that convinced him to talk to Aizawa, the one who took him to Recovery Girl every time his injuries were harsher than usual, the one that helped him pack up his stuff from his house when his custody was taken by the school and the one that helped him fall asleep every time he woke up from a nightmare crying and sweating. Deku had literally changed his life and he would forever be grateful to have him as a part of it. Sometimes it felt unreal that a person like him, full of issues and rage and trauma, had managed to score a boy so kind and selfless and good.
That’s why he never wanted to be the cause of Deku’s worrying again. He still remembered Deku’s concerned eyes every time he came back from his house, he remembered him crying at night when he thought Katsuki had already fallen asleep and since then he had decided to not be a burden to Deku anymore. And because of that he was not going to tell him about his little migraines that sometimes made him cry because his boyfriend did not need another thing to worry about. After a year of being together and six months out of his abusive home Deku still worried crazy about him even if it was something as small as a bruise from hero training. He understood that. He really did. If someone treated Deku like his mother had treated him he would probably do some very unhero-like stuff to the person responsible for it. It still was something Katsuki wanted to avoid and he would try his hardest to not get Deku involved in his shit again.
It would be significantly easier if his headaches weren’t so fucking frequent. Last time it had caught him at the end of a group exercise in hero training and he had been lucky enough that Jirou sent a huge sound wave that marked the winning of his team making it easier for him to leave and go suffer in the bathroom in privacy. He knew it wasn’t normal. He knew it was starting to affect his capacity as a hero and that he needed to get it checked out. But also. What if it was nothing? Katsuki knew how to handle pain. His mother had taught him well. This pain didn’t feel normal. But what if it was? And Katsuki was just being a big fucking baby about it? He couldn’t ignore that voice in his head and he decided that as long as he wasn’t actively dying it was something he didn’t have to worry about and it would probably go away on its own.
--
Of course it didn’t because Katsuki’s life was a joke. Next time it happened it was so sudden and intense that he barely had any time to disappear and cry in the privacy of a bathroom. He was in the library with his group of idiot friends helping them with their math homework when his left eye felt heavy and like it was closing on its own.
“I gotta go,” He said getting up quickly and gathering his stuff. “Text me if you have more questions,” He added stuffing some papers in his backpack without really caring about organizing them as he usually would.
“Um, you have something to do?” Asked Kaminari sounding confused.
“Yes,” He replied through clenched teeth because the pain was increasing, and he was struggling to know if his left eye was open or closed.
“Aww bro, so soon?” Kirishima asked, pouting.
“What are you doing??” Ashido asked leaning closer to him.
“Mind your own damn business,” He muttered, and he would’ve rolled his eyes if he could.
“Are you ditching us for Deku, again?” Kaminari said in a teasing voice.
Katsuki suppressed his urge to groan in pain and also annoyance. “You guys are way too possessive.”
“You’re like our parent!” Added Ashido excitedly. “You feed us and you teach us stuff and you train with us!”
Kirishima grimaced. “Does that mean Midoriya’s like our mother?”
“More like step-mother,” Said Kaminari.
Katsuki slapped a hand over his face and did groaned, feeling his headache get worse. He was a hundred percent blaming his friends for that.
“Can I text you even if I don’t have any questions?” Sero asked. Katsuki paused putting his backpack over his shoulder and stared at Sero in what he hoped was a puzzled look and not a fucking hell, am I pain look.
“Why would you text me for then?”
“I don’t know, just to chat.”
“You’re an idiot,” He replied and walked away.
“I already text you anyways!” Sero screamed.
“Wait, Bakugou!” He heard Kirishima say after him.
Katsuki turned around and shot them a bland look.
“C’mon, shitheads,” He said groaning, just wanting to leave so he could cry a little bit. “You’ll survive without me for a couple of hours,” He frowned, and after a pause in which he thought about it, he added, “Well… most likely,” He said shrugging and left.
Once he was out of the library and had walked a safe distance away from it, he allowed himself to collapse in an empty hallway. He pressed both hands to his face and took deep breaths trying to control the watering of his eyes, leaning his back against a wall and pressing his head against his knees. One would think that after going through the same pain so many times he would get used it, but really, he didn’t. Once he felt that he was more in control he took out his painkillers only to realize that he only had two pills left. Huh, that couldn’t be good, it had been barely a month since he started taking them. He swallowed his two pills anyways and waited. He left his head buried in his knees with both arms over it because complete darkness seemed to help his useless left eye.
“Are you okay?”
Katsuki startled and looked around. When he realized who was talking, he groaned and buried his head on his knees again.
“You sure know how to ask stupid questions.”
“Is it your head again?”
Katsuki groaned once more. Couldn’t he suffer in peace? The universe wasn’t even going to grant him that? He heard Todoroki’s footsteps get closer and he made a long groaning and complaining sound.
“Go awaaay,” He almost whined. Almost.
“Maybe you should see Recovery Girl.”
“Shut up.”
“Did you overuse your quirk again?”
Katsuki lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at Todoroki, that was now sitting cross legged in front of him looking as unbothered as always.
“Look,” Katsuki said trying to keep his expression somewhat normal and his breathing not so shaky. “Just because you’re friends with Deku doesn’t mean you have to be my friend too, so you can bugger off and leave me alone.”
Todoroki made that same small frown that indicated that he was feeling something other than complete indifference.
“I’m no trying to be your friend just because Deku is my friend,” Todoroki said as if it was obvious. “In fact, I’m not trying to be your friend at all if you don’t want to. But you’re clearly in pain and I want to help, it’s what heroes do.”
Katsuki stared at him for a few more seconds and then bumped his head against his knees screwing his eyes shut.
“My head hurts too much for this shit,” He muttered.
“What about the pills Recovery Girl gave you?”
“Took them all already.”
“That can’t be healthy,” Todoroki said and he could almost hear the frown in his voice.
Katsuki laughed with difficulty.
“Got one thing right, asshole.”
“Are you really not going to Recovery Girl?”
He pulled out his phone from his back pocket and looked at the time.
“It will pass in like two minutes. Maybe five.”
“How do you know?”
He returned to his previous position.
“I’ve timed them.”
Todoroki didn’t say anything after that and Katsuki stayed still waiting for his headache to become a tolerable level of pain again. He wasn’t sure how much time passed, if it was two minutes or five or ten, but when he looked up blinking away some tears, he found Todoroki in the same position, scrolling through his phone. Todoroki looked up too and put his phone away.
“Has it passed?”
“Yes,” He replied feeling completely puzzled as to why fucking Shouto Todoroki was still talking to him after he had repeatedly told him to leave.
“I feel like your headaches are not exactly normal.”
“You think so,” He said with a dumb expression on his face, feeling bewildered.
“I think you should go get checked with Recovery Girl,” Todoroki said while standing up from his place.
Katsuki got up too and felt too confused to say anything else.
“Feel better.”
He started to walk away. Before leaving the hallway completely, Todoroki turned around to give him one last unreadable look.
“I won’t tell Deku.”
And then he left.
What the fuck.
After spending a couple of minutes pondering on the bizarreness of the entire conversation he shook himself and walked back to the dorms. Todoroki was a weirdo.