15 Izuku Breaks Free

Izuku woke up feeling sore and hot. He felt like he was sweltering under the blazing sun on a hot summer day. He also felt like he went a few rounds with All Might and lost horribly. He tried to roll over, but he was stopped by some kind of external force.

His thought processes went through things slowly, disjointed and unconnected in his mind. His brain was still sluggish from excessive sleep. He was slightly puzzled. He had never been the kind of person to oversleep, so what…?

Izuku wriggled a little, trying to make sense of what was happening. He struggled to open his eyes. The teen expected for his vision to focus and give him an idea of what was happening, but he only saw a blurred mass of green.

What.

His brain took this as a cue to wake up. Then, a part of his brain jumped to conclusions and immediately screamed that he'd gone blind. His panic levels spiked, but before he could descend further into panic, another part of his brain rationalized that was impossible. Who'd ever heard of someone going blind and only seeing green?

He craned his neck, trying to see if he could somehow get free of whatever was holding him. What was happening? The last he remembered was saving that girl from the UA Entrance Exams. What could possibly have led up to this?

Izuku froze when he realized he could hear deep, heavy breaths. The entire time, he hadn't realized there was another person in the room. In fact, the breathing sounded suspiciously close. It was quite loud, even. He frowned, realizing how short-sighted he had been. Had he already grown dependent on his Quirk?

Based on the loudness of the breathing as well as the direction… the person was… behind him?! Wait. The breathing was deep and spaced out. The other person was sleeping!

Izuku's struggles subtly increased. He was tempted to use his Quirk to get free, but would that be overkill? He wriggled his body in an imitation of an earthworm, then tried some moves he saw a tantrum-throwing toddler pull off. After a moment of struggling, he felt a brief sense of vertigo before he hit the… ground?

He winced a little at the dull pain that spread through his body, his breathing stopping. He hoped that person didn't wake up from the sounds he was making. The breathing had a little hitch before evening out. Izuku let out a silent sigh of relief.

Whatever was binding him felt looser now.

What was happening??

Izuku felt the faint stirrings of something. He felt like he was on the cusp of reaching a great revelation. He was almost there, but not quite yet.

The green-haired teen rolled linearly in the direction away from the breathing, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.

To his great delight, whatever was binding him seemed like it was unravelling himself. Yessss, he hissed in the confines of his mind.

His vision returned to him. Izuku blinked his eyes rapidly as they watered, unused to the bright light.

This room looked familiar. Where had he…?

Oh.

This.

This was Kacchan's room, wasn't it?

Izuku wriggled free from the last of his bindings. He sat up and looked at what was trapping him. It was a fluffy green comforter. The shade sort of reminded him of his hair.

Izuku was baffled. What was going on??

He glanced in the direction he woke up.

On the same bed that he'd seen even in his dreams for years and years, Kacchan lay, his features held in sleep. His blonde hair looked like spun silk. He looked peaceful, like he seldom was in awakening.

Izuku traced Kacchan's features, drinking in every detail. He frowned when he noticed the dark purple under Kacchan's eyes. That hadn't been there ten months ago. What had happened in the time he was away?

Was someone making trouble for Kacchan? Did some of their schoolmates shift their bullying to Kacchan?

He felt the slow-stirrings of rage build up within him, just as worry and concern bubbled up. What had Kacchan gone through in the time he was gone?

Did someone dare?

Something rang false in his mind about this.

Izuku ran through things in his head. Kacchan wasn't the type to allow himself to be bullied. He also wasn't the type to lose sleep over it even if it did happen. He would curb stomp them into the ground for even entertaining the thought that they could get one over him.

So, what…? Izuku's brows furrowed. Across the room, Kacchan's features reflected his.

Kacchan's hand twitched in the empty space, seemingly looking for something. Izuku crawled nearer to him, stopping near the bedframe.

Izuku smiled, watching Kacchan's sleeping face. He'd missed him during these ten months. He'd thought of him every time his training got hard, every time he faced a difficulty. He'd thought of Kacchan before he fell asleep and saw him in his dreams.

Not being able to feel Kacchan's feelings was something that had deeply disturbed him. It felt like part of his Soul was missing. It was almost like a person who had fully functioning limbs suddenly finding himself missing one. It was unbalancing. Disconcerting.

They say, ignorance is bliss, and Izuku had to concur.

He had been dangerously dependent on being able to feel Kacchan's feelings. In the absence of all feelings, even having the rage, disgust and contempt that Kacchan had for him was better than this void of feelings.

Of course, he could now feel other people's feelings, but it felt unnatural. Strange. He could always tell the difference. He would never be able to mistake their feelings for being one of Kacchan's.

He placed his hand within Kacchan's, and the blonde teen settled down. Kacchan's fingers curled lightly around his own, his features smoothening out.

Izuku felt a guilty thrill. The fact that he, Izuku, Useless Deku, could somehow bring even a little bit of peace to Kacchan made him deliriously happy.

The green-haired teen rested his cheek on his arm, looking at Kacchan in the throes of sleep. He could feel light, fleeting emotions from Kacchan. They were muted, but they stood out like a beacon to him.

He hoped Kacchan was having a happy dream. He didn't look like he had much sleep recently. Izuku would have to help him some way.

Izuku's lips curled into a guilty smile.

He'd been sick since he was three, and he'd only gotten worse from that point on.

Addiction, obsession. Call it what you will, but Izuku had never once regretted anything.

He thought about the kiss they shared in front of so many people. He went pink in shyness. He thought about the feelings Kacchan experienced in that brief duration. Izuku felt tears well up.

"You're so cruel, Kacchan," he whispered, burying his tears on his arm. He squeezed Kacchan's fingers lightly before letting them go back to the loose state they were in before.

There was no way Kacchan had changed so suddenly in the ten months he'd been gone. It was some sort of shock he'd received that caused him to react that way.

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, more tears leaking out unintentionally.

He was sick, and he loved it.

He loved it and hated it.

He breathed, and he ached.

A brief taste of heaven, before it would all be ripped away.

How much crueller could he be?

He craved Kacchan's love, but he would never have it.