Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a regular training exercise. The weather had been warm and clear for a few weeks now and the school had been taking full advantage of it. Nearly every day, the hero courses had been taken out for training somewhere. And today was no different.

Rescue training. That’s what they’d been told by Aizawa when they exited the bus at the bottom of the mountain. Each student was given a map which had markings for trails, possible/confirmed victim locations, and safehouse cabins in case of emergencies. They all had their own backpacks with supplies, and could work in pairs, groups, or on their own, it was their choice. A few, like Deku, decided to venture out on their own, but most just stayed in groups. They were all a little tired from their morning training and were given until sundown at 7:30pm to finish and rescue at least 3 victims, aka training dummies, and return to the starting point. It was currently 11:30am, so they had 8 hours.

Deku looked over his map and decided it would be a good idea to secure at least one confirmed victim first before searching the locations with possible victims. The closest ones were on the south side of the mountain, just over halfway up. Most were on the north and east sides, meaning that’s where most of his classmates would go. South side it is then. He started his way up, noting that the majority of his classmates did indeed go to the trail that let to the east and north sides as he had suspected they would. However, he wasn’t entirely alone on the south trail. Bakugou and his friend group were just a bit ahead of him. He’d honestly thought that Kacchan would’ve been on his own but it seemed as though Kirishima had convinced him otherwise. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his name called from behind him.

“Midoriya.” Deku turned around to see that the source was Todoroki, who was walking up to him.

“Hey Todoroki,” he smiled, slowing down to let his friend catch up. “You going solo too?”

Todoroki nodded. “I’m going to search the possible areas towards the west side and this trail is a faster route,” he explained slowly. “Mind having company on the way up?”

“Not at all,” Deku grinned, and the two of them went up the trail together. Pretty soon after that, Kacchan and his group split away to the right, leaving them alone. The walk was mostly silent apart from Todoroki going over search areas on the map with him to ensure that they didn’t accidentally poach each other’s rescues. They came across another fork in the trail about halfway up and the two parted ways; Todoroki going left to the west, and Deku staying on the south path.

Deku didn’t keep track of how long it had been but with a rough estimate, he guessed that it might be close to 2pm by now. From another look on the map, he was close to his first rescue. Maybe ten minutes away? A loud crack of thunder made him jump and look around. It had been a clear and sunny day with no clouds, so where did that come from? The radio in his bag crackled to life a minute later. He stopped and opened up his bag to grab the device as his teacher’s voice came through.

“A major storm is blowing in from the coast. The training exercise is cancelled. Make your way down the mountain and back to the bus.”

Damn. And he’d been so close to finding his first rescue dummy. He shouldered his bag back on and turned around, back the way that he came. Soon enough, the storm clouds rolled in, darkening the sky above the trees, which significantly cut off how much light he had to work with. Another crack of thunder sounded off above that made him jump again as the water started to come down. He had expected that he would run into Todoroki soon, but he was surprised when he heard several voices up ahead. Deku sped up and came into view of Kacchan and his group, which consisted of Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina. The latter of whom was limping with Kacchan helping her, his arm wrapped around her waist as she leaned her weight on him.

“Hey, are you guys okay?” he shouted and ran up to them.

“Fuck off, Deku,” Kacchan growled, not bothering to look back at him.

Hey, Midoriya,” Kirishima grinned. “We’re all fine. Mina just tripped and hurt her ankle as we started heading back.”

“Idiot should have paid attention to where she was going!” Kacchan snapped in his usual, angry fashion, but Deku knew that there was care behind that tone. As much as he would deny it, Deku knew that Kacchan really did care about his classmates. In particular, the Bakusquad, as they called themselves. It’s how he knew that it had to be Kirishima to called out to him at Kamino.

“I was paying attention,” Mina argued with a small pout. “I just didn’t see the tree stump.”

The explosive teen wasn’t quite sure just how Kirishima had roped him into working as a group, but he didn’t exactly mind. Of course, he’d never say that out loud though. The dumb extras would let it go to their head, and think that he actually enjoyed their company. Which he didn’t. At all. Definitely not. Just like there was no way that he was somewhat enjoying himself during this training exercise. They hadn’t made it to their first victim just yet, but his group was chatting away like always while he walked in front. Whenever they directly talked to him, he’d just respond with an annoyed grunt or a glare and the occasional insult. Other than that, he was perfectly content to just listen to them chat and gossip about nothing important.

However, their fun was cut short by a loud crack of thunder, followed by their teacher’s voice coming in through the radio. “A major storm is blowing in from the coast. The training exercise is cancelled. Make your way down the mountain and back to the bus.”

“Shit,” Bakugou muttered to himself.

“Oh well. Guess the great weather we were having had to stop eventually,” Kirishima chimed in as they turned around and started heading back. Nothing eventful happened for awhile as the clouds rolled in. Mina’s excited gossiping hadn’t slowed down much, if at all, and Bakugou had pushed past them all to make sure that he was once again in front. Due to the storm rolling in, it had gotten much darker as the clouds blocked out the sun. A small shriek from behind nearly made him jump out of his skin as he spun around. Mina was sprawled out on the ground, a look of pain on her face. “Woah, are you okay?” Kirishima asked as Bakugou ran over and knelt down next to her, trying his best to hide his concern as he helped her sit up.

“I’m okay, I just tripped,” she assured them and his when Bakugou touched her ankle.

“Let me see,” he muttered with feigned annoyance as he lay her leg across his lap and gently removed her shoe. The skin was bruised and tender and just a little bit swollen. “Don’t think it’s broken, but you definitely injured it.” He carefully put her shoe back on before helping her stand up. “Lean on me,” he grumbled as he slipped his arm around her waist to keep her steady.

“Thanks, Bakugou,” Mina smiled brightly at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t fall again, idiot.” He kept his arm around her and helped her down the trail as she picked back up on whatever topic she had been talking about before. There was another crash of thunder and it started to rain a little drizzle. Just when he thought that nothing else could go wrong, he heard a voice call out to them.

“Hey, are you guys okay?!” Deku shouted, his voice laced with concern.

“Fuck off, Deku,” Bakugou growled, refusing to turn around and look back at him.

“Hey Midoriya,” Kirishima answered, ignoring Bakugou’s comment. “We’re all fine. Mina just tripped and hurt her ankle when we started heading back.”

“Idiot should have paid attention to where she was going!” Bakugou shouted angrily, though his voice lacked its usual bite. He knew that she was fine, but he still didn’t like seeing her hurt.

“I was paying attention,” Mina argued, pouting at him, to which he just rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t see the tree stump.”

“That’s a lame ass excuse,” Bakugou countered with a smirk, and Mina smiled in return. Thankfully, Deku decided to walk behind them and kept quiet, so Bakugou didn’t have to deal with him. It wasn’t that he hated Deku, far from it. But he could be so damn annoying sometimes. Always following him around when they were kids, trying to help him and make him look weak. Not to mention his damn habit of muttering his thoughts out loud and basically going on long winded rambles about dumb shit that Bakugou really didn’t want to listen to. That’s not even counting the nerd’s complete lack of slack of self-preservation, which Bakugou had to admit was impressive with just how stupid it was. The moron had no idea how to take care of himself and it pissed Bakugou off.

The rain had been steadily increasing to where it was now pouring and Bakugou was pulled from his thoughts when a terrible sense of unease filled his gut like a heavy pit, and he slowed down a little bit to look around. A low rumbling sound reached his ears and the pit in his gut increased until every one of his instincts were shouting at him.

“RUN!” he yelled, scooping Mina up in his arms, and they took off. The rumbling noise only grew louder and louder until it was basically deafening, and the ground began to shift. They managed to be fast enough and the land slide hit right behind them, missing them by only a few feet. They slowed to a stop, not wanting to risk uprooting the stable ground that they were on and watched as a flood of mud, rocks, and trees rolled by in front of them. Bakugou gently set Mina down as it slowly stopped, and looked around with worry. “Everyone okay?” The three of them nodded, catching their breaths. Wait. Three? He looked again. Mina, Kaminari, Kirishima…no Deku. His eyes widened in panic, his heart racing. “Deku? Where’s Deku?!”

“He…he was right behind me,” Kaminari muttered.

“Deku!” Bakugou shouted and heard nothing in return. Without thinking, he pushed Mina into Kirishima’s arms and started running back. “Get her back to the bus. I’m going after him!”

“Bakugou-“ Kirishima tried, but he wasn’t having it.

“GO!” He didn’t look back as he blasted off the ground, using his quirk to get over the large piles of debris. He eyed the ground, searching frantically for any sign of the nerd. After what felt like hours, but was probably just a few minutes, he heard something. It was faint, but he’d heard it. He wasn’t sure how far he’d gone while searching, but he was sure that he was pretty far from the others now. “Deku!” he shouted and held his breath as he waited. There. He heard it again. A groan, coming from about 30 feet away, down the hill. His eyes searched as he walked over the slippery and even ground. Bakugou’s racing heart nearly stopped when he spotted him. Deku was sprawled out, face down, and pinned between a boulder and a fallen tree. It looked as though he had managed to avoid the initial slide as the boulder he was on was a few feet off the ground, held up by other debris and there wasn’t really much mud on him.

“DEKU!” he shouted and ran down the hill. Bakugou climbed up to where he was pinned and knelt down next to him. His eyes were closed and there was a small line of blood running down the side of his face. So he’d definitely hit his head then. Deku was pinned at his leg by a tree. And from what he could see of Deku’s leg, it didn’t look too good. He needed to get it off of him. One problem that Bakugou was worried about was the cliff that was only a few feet away. If he was careful enough, he could blast the tree up and over the cliff. But it was risky. First, the way that Deku was positioned, he could easily be pushed off by the blast. Second, there was a landslide, so the ground wasn’t exactly stable. Too small of a blast and the tree wouldn’t move. Too big and he could trigger another landslide and they would both plummet off the cliff.

The rain picked up even more and a chill ran through him from the wind. He didn’t have many options and Deku needed medical help, having hit his head. He had to blast the tree. “Okay. Okay, just hold on, Deku. I’m going to get you out of here,” Bakugou said mostly to himself. He adjusted his position to get more leverage before placing a hand under the tree. The blonde took a deep breath before setting off a small explosion. The force of it blasted the tree up and over the cliff like he’d planned, but it also pushed Deku. Bakugou reacted with lightning speed, grabbing Deku and pulling him away from the edge and into his lap. He let out a breath and tried to calm his nerves when the green haired teen in his arms shifted and groaned. Bakugou gently moved a strand of hair away from his face. “Deku?”

Slowly, two emerald eyes blinked open and stared up at him. “Ka-…Kacchan?”

In that moment, a small smile most certainly did not pull at his lips. “Hey idiot. I thought I told you to run.” Deku blinked a few more times before his eyes slipped shut. “Oh no you don’t,” Bakugou growled, shaking him till him till his eyes opened again. “There you are. You need to stay awake. You hit your stupid fucking head, so no sleeping. Moron,” Bakugou explained and slowly moved the smaller teen into a sitting position.

“Wh-…What happened?” Deku mumbled while Bakugou slipped his bag off to pull out his first aid kit. Speaking of which, Deku’s bag was nowhere to be seen. Fucker must have lost it in the landslide. “Why is it raining?”

“You really hit your head hard,” he growled, gently wiping at the blood on Deku’s face. “A storm came in. Aizawa told everyone the exercise was cancelled and to head back. Shortly after, it started raining and you ran into us. There was a landslide. Big one. You got caught in it like the fucking idiot that you are,” he explained, his voice softer than he thought was possible. Fucking Deku. Always making him worry.

“The others?” Deku asked.

“They’re fine. Unlike you, those fuckers listened to me. They’re helping Mina get back to the bus. When we noticed you were gone, I stayed behind to look for you.” Bakugou finished cleaning off Deku’s head, noting that the cut wasn’t very deep thankfully. The rain was getting heavier and the wind began to pick up, making them both shiver. Ignoring the look that the fucking idiot was giving him, Bakugou went through his bag and pulled out his jacket, helping the smaller teen put it on. It wasn’t much, but it was warm at least.

“What ‘bout you?” Deku mumbled, and he did not like how he was slightly slurring his words.

“Shut up. I’m fucking fine, so don’t look at me like that. I run at a higher temperature anyways, I’ll manage,” Bakugou snapped at him. It wasn’t like it was snowing, so he’d be fine in his long sleeved shirt, even with the rain. “Besides, it’s not that cold,” he denied, even as he suppressed another shiver. Deku gave him an unimpressed look, which he ignored. “Any other injuries that I should worry about? Can you walk?”

The teen shifted as if to get up, but stopped, letting out a sharp hiss of pain. “My leg. I…I think it’s broken.”

Fuck. Bakugou had been so worried about his head that he forgot about his leg. He remembered that it didn’t look too good when Deku was pinned under the tree. But Deku nearly falling off the edge of the cliff, and his head wound had distracted Bakugou and it had slipped his mind. “Okay. Hold on.” He moved a bit and slowly rolled Deku’s pant leg up to get a better look. “Fuck,” he cursed. Fucking shit. He had thought that it looked bad before. Now, the bruising that’s he’d briefly caught a glance at prior, now looked far worse and it was spread out, all the way up to the knee. Plus, he was pretty sure that legs were not meant to be dented like that. Meaning that the tree had crushed his leg. And that wasn’t including how swollen it looked. “Yeah. It’s fucking broken,” Bakugou growled, rolling the pant leg back down.

“You’ll have to carry me then. Once we catch up with the others-“ Deku started but Bakugou cut him off, shaking his head.

“No.” The blonde teen looked back in the direction he’d come from and sighed. The debris of mud, trees, and boulders was too high and unstable to climb, especially when carrying someone. Going further up the mountain just to try and pass it would take too much time, and would take them further away from where they needed to go. And as far as going down to pass it, well, they were at the edge of a cliff, so that’s out, unless they want to climb down. Doable, but considering the rain, it would be very risky, so he didn’t like that option, unless there was no other choice. “We can’t go back that way. I used my quirk just to get over here. I can’t do that and carry you at the same time. Going up takes us the wrong direction and would take too long. I don’t think we should climb down the cliff unless we have to.”

Deku bit his lip nervously, and for a moment, Bakugou worried that he would start his anxious rambling. Thankfully, he didn’t. “So, what do we do?”

Bakugou let out a growl of frustration. “Think about it, you fucking nerd. We can’t go up, we can’t go back, and we can’t go down from here. And we sure as fuck can’t stay here. Where does that leave us?”

He watched as Deku thought about it before the nerd turned his head. “West.”

“You got it. It’s a fucking miracle,” Bakugou muttered. “We go west and find the other trail. If anything, one of the safehouses is in that direction. Kirishima had the radio for our group. If we find the safehouse, we could stop there to call Aizawa,” he explained before scooping Deku up into his arms, standing up. “Now, let’s fucking go.” Being as gentle and careful as he could, he hopped down from the boulder, and started walking. Deku folded his hands in his lap, fidgeting with his fingers, and curled up as best as he could in Bakugou’s arms, resting his head against the explosive teen’s shoulder.

While Bakugou gave a disgruntled sigh, pretending to be annoyed, he actually didn’t mind. After all, he did care about the stupid nerd. Even if he would deny it as if his life depended on it. They’d known each other for so long. Their whole lives. And they used to be really close when they were little. So as much as he denied it, he did care about Deku, even though he is a dumb fucking nerd. Bakugou shivered again as thunder crashed overhead, the rain absolutely pouring now. He carefully adjusted his hold on the other, but froze when the green haired teen gasped sharply.

“It’s fine,” Deku answered his unasked question shakily.

He continued walking, but his face was set in a deep frown. “That didn’t sound like nothing.” The bundle in his arms stayed silent at that, which made him huff in irritation as he shivered again, the wind picking up even more. “Deku,” he growled.

“It’s n-nothing, Kacchan,” the nerd hurriedly responded. “My side just hurts a little, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

“I’m not fucking worried!” Bakugou snapped. “You didn’t tell me that your side hurt. I need to know that, you fucking moron!”

“I’m sorry, Kacchan. I didn’t want to worry you. It doesn’t hurt as much as my leg, so I didn’t think that it was important.” Fucking shit. Now he’s muttering. God fucking dammit. “Besides, you already have enough to worry about with my injuries and having to carry me down the mountain, all while we’re caught in a storm that’s just getting worse and worse, and there’s already been one landslide because of it, so there could easily be another. Plus, we’ve been cut off from the trail that we were on and now we have to go a different way to try and get down the mountain and we don’t even know if we will be able to get down. For all we know, this way could end up being blocked off too, meaning that we’re stuck up here with no way to call for help. I mean, the way to the safehouse could also be blocked, or it was destroyed in the landslide, or we could get there and once we’re inside, another landslide could happen and destroy the safehouse while we’re inside-“

“For the love of god, shut the fuck up, Deku!” Bakugou shouted, definitely irritated now. Amazingly, the nerd did shut up. “I’m not fucking worried because there’s nothing to be worried about. Your leg is broken, and you hit your head, but that’s fucking it! We’re going to make it to the safehouse, and we’re going to get off this stupid fucking mountain, so clam the fuck down,’ he ranted before taking a deep breath. “Now. I need to know all of your injuries. Where does your side hurt exactly?”

A couple of minutes passed while Deku remained completely silent. It was a total contrast to the rambling from before. The longer than he remained quiet, the angrier Bakugou grew. His silence meant that it was something that he most certainly should be worried about. Eventually, it go to the point where Bakugou was about to yell at him again, when he finally got his answer. “My ribs…”

Bakugou paled. “Your fucking ribs?!”

“I know, Kacchan, I-“

“Shut up! I don’t want to fucking hear it!” Bakugou shivered again as more thunder crashed, but he didn’t care. He was livid. “If your ribs are broken, that’s something you should have fucking told me!” Silence fell between the two of them after that. Thunder continued to crash from time to time as the rain poured. By now, Bakugou was soaked from head to toe, shivering constantly as the cold, biting wind blew over the mountain, refusing to cease. Thanks to Bakugou’s jacket, Deku was at least spared from most of the rain and wind. Bakugou tried to be gentle as he carried Deku, but occasionally, the slick mud and slippery ground would make him slip a little, jostling Deku’s leg. After a few more minutes of silence, he could feel the nerd start to shiver. Without hesitating, Bakugou used his quirk to warm his hands without causing explosions.

Deku sighed at the sudden warmth and shifted slightly before laying his head back down on Bakugou’s shoulder. “K’cchan,” the smaller teen mumbled, to which Bakugou merely hummed in response. “Th’nk you. For c’ming back f’r me…” His words were slow and more slurred now, which did nothing to soothe his nerves.

“Tch. Whatever,” he grumbled. “I wouldn’t do it again.” A lie. Bakugou didn’t even hesitate to go back for him. Though he wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. Least of all to Deku. The fucking nerd had the nerve to chuckle quietly in response. “Make sure you stay awake. Don’t go to sleep, or I’ll kick your ass,” he warned. They shifted back into silence, with Bakugou just focusing on the soft sound of Deku’s breathing under the loud rain and thunder.

Chapter Text

It was quite a while later when the ground finally evened out and they found the other path. Pain would occasionally flare up his arms as he had been using his quirk the whole time to help keep Deku warm. Bakugou considered it to be worth it since Deku’s shivering hadn’t gotten any worse. His own shivering, however, had completely stopped, and he didn’t feel cold anymore. But he wasn’t an idiot. He knew that was bad, but it didn’t matter. Deku needed medical help and he couldn’t walk. Bakugou needed to hold on a little while longer.

Unfortunately, it just couldn’t be that easy. While they had made it to the other trail, it didn’t really matter as Bakugou soon found out. Deku’s anxious muttering turned out to be true. The way down…was blocked. Had he been alone, he could have gotten over it with his quirk. But he wasn’t alone. He had Deku, and there was no way that he could get over all of that debris while carrying his injured friend.

“Fuck,” he growled.

“Mm?” Deku hummed. “Wh’s wr’ng?” If he had to ask what was wrong, that meant that he had his eyes closed and had been sleeping. Exactly what Bakugou had told him not to do. As if that mattered now. Their way to help was blocked, and they were stuck up here. But there was no need to tell Deku and him worked up.

Nothing,” he lied shakily. “Almost tripped. Th’s all. Everything’s fine…” Bakugou hated how his voice shook and slurred slightly while tears began to fall from his eyes, mixing with the rain on his face.

It seemed as though Deku accepted that response without question. “Be m’re c’reful th’n.” Their only hope now was the safehouse. The side trail that led to it looked to be clear, so he trudged on ahead, silently crying along the way. He wasn’t scared. No. there was nothing strong about being scared like this, and right now, he needed to be strong in order for them to have a chance of survival. So he wasn’t scared. He couldn’t be. They were running out of time, especially as he was now suffering from hypothermia. Bakugou tried to make his legs move faster, to go faster. He knew his pace had slowed dramatically, and his movements had become lethargic. All of that combined with his speech starting to slur indicated that the hypothermia was setting in now. It couldn’t though. Deku needed help, they needed to get to safety, so he had to hold on. But they reached a point where he needed medical help as well. That much had become painfully clear to him.

He nearly cried out in relief when the trees began to clear and a cabin came into view. The safehouse. All he had to do was get inside and use the phone to call Aizawa, and wait for him to send someone. Almost there. He leaned against the doorframe for a moment to catch his breath and adjust his grip on Deku so that he could open the door. Bakugou grabbed the doorknob and turned it. No. No no no. Fucking dammit. The door was locked. He kicked the door several times in frustration, choking back a sob at how the loud noise didn’t even get Deku to stir. Deku was going to die. They were both going to die and it was his fault. He was too weak to save Deku. Then the door opened.

Bakugou looked up to see the cold and expressionless face of fucking IcyHot. He didn’t stay expressionless for long as he took in the sight in front of him while Bakugou recovered from his shock and forced his way in, pushing past Half n’ Half. “The fuck you look’n at, IcyHot?”

Todoroki shut the door and locked it once they were inside while Bakugou carried Deku to the large bed, and gently lowered him on it. “What happened to Midoriya?” IcyHot asked, running over to them.

“He got caught in the landslide, and I had to save his dumb fuck’n ass. Brok’n leg, conc’ssion, maybe some brok’n ribs…” Bakugou explained, his words slurring more. Shit.

“Are you-“

“I’m fine! ‘M jus’ tired fr’m carry’ng his dumb ass thr’gh a landslide,” Bakugou growled, cutting off any questions about himself. He could wait. Deku was the priority.

Todoroki watched him for a moment before nodding. “Grab the first aid kit from the kitchen. I’ll call Aizawa and let him know that you are here.”

“Don’ tell me wha’ the fuck t’ do,” Bakugou snapped back as he walked to the kitchen. It took him a minute, but he finally found the first aid kit, and made his way back to Deku as IcyHot hung up the phone.

“It’ll be awhile. The storm is interfering with the rescue crews,” the candy cane explained.

“Of course it fuck’n is,” Bakugou muttered, and sat down on the bed next to Deku. He gently moved some hair away from the smaller teen’s face to look at his head wound. Deku was pale, but he was still breathing. That’s all that mattered. The blonde took a sharp breath as everything started to blur together, and he started to sway where he was sitting.

“Bakugou, are you sure that you’re okay?”

“’M fine…” he mumbled before he felt himself falling to the side as his vision faded into nothing.

When the trail that he was on turned out to be blocked, he Todoroki figured the best thing he could do is head to the safehouse. He was pretty sure that he was the only one this far west, and it would make it easier for Aizawa to find him if he knew exactly where he was. So he headed to the safehouse. Given how loud the storm was, it would be hard to hear anything on the radio, so he’d wait. Once he made it to the safehouse, he locked the door behind him, and used the cabin’s phone to call Aizawa and tell him where he was. His teacher told him to stay put, so h dried off from rain and waited. Till there was several loud thuds against the door.

Odd. He had been sure that he was the only one on this side of the mountain. He walked over and opened the door, only to come face to face with a crying Bakugou holding a pale and unconscious Midoriya. He froze on the spot in shock until Bakugou pushed past him.

“The fuck you look’n at, IcyHot?” Bakugou growled as Todoroki shut the door and locked it again, running over to them.

“What happened to Midoriya?” he asked as his friend was gently placed on the bed. When was Bakugou ever gentle?

“He got caught in the landslide, and I had to save his dumb fuck’n ass. Brok’n leg, conc’ssion, maybe some brok’n ribs…” Bakugou explained, and Todoroki frowned at how he was slurring his words. He took note of the fact that Bakugou was completely soaked. He also noticed how he wasn’t shivering, even though he was soaked and had been out in the storm. Bakugou was incredibly pale and slow in his movements. His arms were shaking as well. Not shivering, but shaking, like when he overuses his quirk. Overall, Bakugou did not look too well.

“Are you-?” he tried to ask, but Bakugou immediately cut him off.

“I’m fine! ‘M jus’ tired fr’m carry’ng his dumb ass thr’gh a landslide,” Bakugou growled, continuing to slur his words.

Todoroki doubted that he was indeed fine, but he knew that Bakugou wasn’t going to budge on that, so he dropped it for now, and nodded. “Grab the first aid kit from the kitchen. I’ll call Aizawa, and let him know that you are here.”

“Don’ tell me wha’ the fuck t’ do,” Bakugou snapped, and headed to the kitchen.

Todoroki picked up the cabin phone and dialed his teacher. “Mr. Aizawa, it’s Todoroki.”

“What’s wrong? Has something happened?” his teacher asked worriedly.

“I’m still fine. Bakugou and Midoriya just showed up.”

He heard his teacher give a sigh. “Thank god. Are they okay? Any injuries?”

“Midoriya is unconscious. Bakugou was carrying him. Said he got caught in the landslide,” Todoroki explained, and Aizawa sucked in a breath. “He has a broken leg, a concussion, and possibly broken ribs,” he reported cooly, despite how worried he was for his friend.

“We’re lucky that’s all he has. And Bakugou? Is he alright?” Here, Todoroki hesitated. “Todoroki, is Bakugou injured?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted, watching Bakugou sway in the kitchen. “He said that he’s fine, but…he doesn’t look like he’s okay. He’s completely soaked, he’s pale, he’s not shivering, even though he was out in the storm, he’s lethargic, and he is slurring his words. He said that he’s tired, but I believe he’s hypothermic.” Todoroki had plenty of experience with being hypothermic and easily recognized the signs.

Aizawa cursed. “Alright. Keep an eye on them both. Get them warm, especially Bakugou. Try and wake Midoriya, and call me if his breathing changes. I’m trying to get a rescue screw to you, but the storm is getting in the way. It may be awhile.”

Todoroki hung up and walked over to Bakugou, who was sitting next to Midoriya. “It’ll be awhile. The storm is interfering with the rescue crews,” he informed him.

“Of course it fuck’n is,” Bakugou muttered. He watched curiously as Bakugou brushed some hair out of Midoriya’s pale face. He was being so gentle, and handled him with care.

Todoroki frowned as Bakugou swayed again. “Bakugou, are you sure that you’re okay?”

“’M fine…” the blonde mumbled before his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed on the bed beside Midoriya.

Todoroki cursed, and ran to him, pressing a hand to his forehead and hissing. Bakugou was ice cold. He quickly got to work, moving Midoriya over to one side of the bed before stripping Bakugou out of his soaking wet clothes. Both Bakugou and Deku needed his help, but Bakugou was at a higher risk at the moment with the hypothermia. Todoroki needed to start warming him up right away. After completely stripping Bakugou, there was no need for modesty since he was at risk of dying, he ran to the bathroom, and grabbed a handful of towels. Todoroki hurried back and started wiping Bakugou down to get him as dry as possible, even using his quirk to heat up his left hand.

Once that was done, he wrapped up Bakugou in several thick blankets before quickly tossing the soaked clothes into the dryer. Good thing each safehouse had proper supplies and commodities. Bakugou would still need more supervision and tending to, but at least for right now, he could temporarily shift his focus to Midoriya. Removing what he recognized as Bakugou’s jacket, he checked Midoriya. First, he examined his head. There was a nasty cut there, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore, so that was good. Opening the first aid kit, he gently cleaned the cut and applied some ointment, and a bandage. Next, he would check the ribs as that was more of a life threatening concern than the leg. However, hypothermia was a risk as well. The jacket had done a good job at keeping Midoriya’s upper body protected from the storm, but he was still slightly damp and his pants were soaked.

Todoroki began lifting his shirt up, being mindful of Midoriya’s ribs as he lifted his arms to get the shirt off. A pained groan made him stop his movements as the smaller teen’s green eyes fluttered. “Midoriya?” he asked quietly, but got no response. “Midoriya?” he tried again, a little louder this time. There was another groan as Midoriya slowly cracked his eyes open, looking around with slightly unfocused eyes. “Midoriya, look at me.”

Glassy green eyes met with his mismatched ones, a spark of recognition lighting them up. “Todoroki?” Midoriya croaked. “Wh-…Where’s Kacchan?”

Todoroki offered him a small smile. “He’s right here, don’t worry,” he assured his friend, gesturing to the unconscious blonde bundled up next to him.

The smaller teen turned his head slowly. “Is…is he-?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s just hypothermic, I’ve already tended to him. I dried him off and wrapped him in plenty of blankets,” he explained gently. “He’ll start to warm up soon enough. Right now, your injuries are the priority.”

Midoriya frowned, and tried to shift himself closer to Bakugou. “I want to help him.”

Todoroki sighed, letting go of Midoriya’s shirt to grab his shoulders, and stop him from moving. “You can. After your wounds are taken care of. I still need to look at your ribs, and your leg. You’re also at risk of hypothermia, okay?” he listed off to him. “So just hold on so that I can get you taken care of. Are you able to sit up?” Midoriya glanced over at Bakugou again before nodding. Todoroki slowly helped him sit up and went back to removing his damp shirt. It was a slow, and painful process, but he finally got the garment off, and tossed it to the side. The left side of Midoriya’s chest was painted with deep bruising. Todoroki winced at the sight of it. “This will hurt, I’m sorry,” he warned before pressing his fingers up and down the bruised flesh. Midoriya took in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. Todoroki was painfully thorough, checking every single rib. His friend let out a low whimper, biting his lower lip, his face scrunched up in pain. “I know, I’m so sorry,” he apologized quickly. “Definitely broken. Most of them are okay, but one is pressing inwards, so we’ll need to be careful and keep an eye on it. If at any time, you have difficulty breathing, let me know.” Midoriya nodded. “Now your leg.”

Midoriya’s already pale skin lost a little more color at that, and nodded reluctantly, unbuttoning his pants. Todoroki had thought that the shirt was hard remove. Turns out that pulling off soaking wet jeans from someone with a broken leg is much, much harder. Pulling the wet fabric down his thighs was a struggle due to how the soaked jeans clung to his skin, but it was a painless struggle. Getting them off the rest of his leg was not going to be painless. He helped Midoriya get his uninjured leg out first. Then he carefully took the broken one into his lap and began to very slowly pull the jeans off of the broken limb. He had to stop a number of times to give his friend a few breaks from the pain. By the end of it, Midoriya was sweating, gritting his teeth, and whimpering as he bit back sobs. Once he finally got the pants off, and tossed them to the side, it was easy to see why.

His leg, to put it lightly…was an absolute mess. It was covered in bruises that were far darker than the bruising on his ribs. They were so dark that they were almost black. They started at his ankle, and stretched all the way up to his knees. Todoroki wished that was the worst of it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Taking up a fairly large part of the limb was an area where the skin was pressed downwards, creating a large dent in his leg, as if the limb had been crushed or something. It was no wonder than Midoriya was in agony. Todoroki’s mouth was parted in shock at the sight, his eyes staring at his friend for an answer to a question that didn’t need asking.

“When I got caught in the landslide, I managed to get up onto a boulder. Then a tree fell on me, and I smacked my head. When I woke up, my leg was between the boulder that I was on, and the tree,” Midoriya explained as Todoroki looked over the damage, and pulled out a bandage wrap. “It was pinned, and I couldn’t get out. The ground was too unstable for me to use my quirk. I tried to pull my leg free, and ended up blacking out. When I came to, Kacchan was holding me, and the tree was gone.”

Todoroki listened closely and nodded slowly. He grabbed some sturdy padding from the first aid kit, and placed it along Midoriya’s leg. “How did he find you? He was in Kirishima’s group, wasn’t he?” he asked, as he gently wrapped the bandages around the broken limb.

Midoriya nodded. “Yeah, but I ran into them after Aizawa radioed for everyone to turn back. I was walking back with them when we heard the rumbling. The Kacchan yelled for us to run. Mina had injured her ankle earlier so he picked her up and started running. We followed, but I had been several feet behind them, and didn’t make it out of the way in time like they did. After it was over, I guess they realized that I was gone, so Kacchan came back to look for me. He used his quirk to get back to where I was, due to the landslide blocking the way. He couldn’t get back over while carrying me, and we were next to a cliff, so we had to go this way to try and get down.”

So that’s what happened, Todoroki thought, being careful not to jostle his leg too much as he wrapped it. There was still something bothering him though. “Bakugou went back for you?” he asked slowly, to which Midoriya nodded in response. “Why?”

Midoriya gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just…” Todoroki looked down, thinking over his next words. “I know that the two of you grew up together, but…well he’s always angry at you for something. It seems as though you two are always fighting, and the he doesn’t like you, and finds you annoying. Quite honestly, I had thought that he hated you. But…why would he personally go back for you, and do everything he did, if he hated you? Not only that, but his whole demeanor was different when he showed up with you, unconscious in his arms. He was-…it…it was like he was genuinely concerned for you. He went back for you, carried you through a storm…I mean, he even gave you his jacket, allowing himself to get hypothermia just to keep you warm. And don’t think I didn’t notice his arms shaking like they do when he overuses his quirk, and the warm, dry spots on the jacket and your pants perfectly lined up to where his hands were when he was carrying you. Even though he has hypothermia, he overused his quirk, just to keep you warm as he carried your through a storm. No doubt putting himself through a considerable amount of pain. Why did he do all of that?” Todoroki questioned with a deep sigh.

He hadn’t meant to go off on a tangent like that, but Midoriya was someone whom he truly considered to be his first real friend. And he had been so sure that Bakugou hated the excitable nerd. For crying out loud, Midoriya went through the trouble to help save him as Kamino, and afterwards, Bakugou started a big fight with him. It had always bothered him how Bakugou treats Midoriya. Especially since they had apparently known each other for their whole lives. Hell, Bakugou even refers to Midoriya’s mother as Auntie Inko. But today. The look on Bakugou’s face when he’d opened the door. Soaking wet, and pale with red rimmed eyes, clearly crying. The way that he practically cradled Midoriya in his arms, being so very gentle, and caring in the way he handled him. It was the complete opposite of how Todoroki saw him, particularly in regards to Midoriya.

Todoroki finished tying off the splint, only to look up, and see Midoriya giving him a sympathetic, yet amused smile. “…What?”

Midoriya laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Todoroki…Kacchan doesn’t hate me. He never has. Not really. I know that it doesn’t always seem that way, but he does care. We were best friends when we were little. Things changed after he got his quirk, but I know that he still cares. He’s just…he’s really bad with his feelings. I know that it seems like he hates me to everyone else, but I know that he doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, he still surprises me sometimes, like today, but I do trust him with my life, and I know that he’d do anything to protect me. Today just proved that,” Midoriya explained, still smiling brightly. “I’ll let you in on a secret. The key to Kacchan is to not take him so literally. Often, what he really means is subtextual, or the exact opposite of that he says. Example; when he says to Kirishima ‘Fuck off, extra,’ he really means ‘let’s hang out’. He’s weird like that.”

Todoroki nodded after a moment. “I’ll try and keep that in mind. That’s all I can do for your injuries. Aizawa knows that you’re both here, but the storm is interfering with the rescue crews, so it’s going to be awhile. Bakugou managed to delay hypothermia for you, but you’re still at risk for it. So get under those covers, and keep warm. You and Bakugou need to share body heat. I’ll toss your clothes in the dryer.” Todoroki helped him get under the blankets without hurting his leg. As he took Midoriya’s wet clothes to the dryer, he watched with curiosity as Midoriya snuggled up close to the blonde and gently took hold of one of his trembling arms and massaged it gently. A known method for countering the effect of his quirk overuse.

He noticed that Bakugou was starting to shiver, meaning that he was finally warming up. The blonde unconsciously moved closer to Midoriya, resting his head on his shoulder. A couple of minutes later, he heard a quiet “Deku?”

“I’m here, Kacchan,” the smaller teen responded, still massaging the blonde’s slightly shaking arm. “Thanks to you, I’m here. I’m okay. Thank you, Kacchan.”

“Shut up, you fucking nerd,” Bakugou replied, earning a small laugh from the smaller teen that he was snuggled up to. “Don’t get emotional.” Todoroki remembered what Midoriya had said about Bakugou and smiled gently. Bakugou did care. In his own way.