chinanigans | I dreamed a dream in times gone by

I dreamed a dream in times gone by

[The holidays came slowly and went by too fast. It seemed that everyone was excited to go home for Christmas time to spend it with their families, especially since the mandatory dorm system meant that they couldn't see them through the normal school year. All of the students of 1-A had enjoyed a Christmas party together as they chatted excitedly about their plans for Christmas. When Izuku had been asked, he had said that he and his mother usually kept Christmas simple...they'd make sweets together and have hotpot on Christmas Eve before opening presents in the morning. He was eager for the quiet and peace of time spent with her more than anything.

That night was the last that anyone heard from Izuku throughout the rest of wintr break. Of course his closer friends, like Iida and Ochako, had immediately been wondering why he wasn't returning calls or texts, until eventually they got a single response from him. Only one, and only to them. It stated that he'd gotten sick and probably wouldn't be responding until school started back. It was a weak cover, but they believed it. It was the best that Toshinori could think of in a pinch without coming up with a worse lie. He couldn't tell even his best friends for fear of the young boy's own safety.

The news of why he really never called or texted hit the first morning everyone returned to classes, and the entire campus was alight with mutterings about it. Izuku wasn't at school at all, of course...and the specifics of the news were left rather vague, probably to protect him further. When Kirishima had heard, he couldn't even believe it until he saw the news report on TV in the common room and realized...it was true.

Kirishima had been trying to unpack his things like everyone else on the first day back since classes wouldn't start until the next day, but he hadn't seen Bakugou come in yet. So when he finally does, Kirishima comes running up to him before any of the others can, breathless.]

Bakugou!

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[If the silence was obvious before, it's absolutely scathing, now. Kirishima grits his teeth, his complexion going ashy as he realizes he's going to have to be the one to tell him.

He doesn't even know how he'll react. Will he even react that much?]

It...it's his mom, man.

[He hesitates, a clear waver in his usually even and confident tone.]

A Villain got her.

["It's his mom. A Villain got her."

Honestly, Kirishima not knowing how Bakugo would react to that kind of news is.. completely fair. He was Deku's childhood friend, but everyone knew they weren't actually best friends or even close, really. He could just not care and shrug it off, telling Kirishima that that kind of thing happens and Deku will either get over it or let it consume him. That's probably what would have happened... if it happened at the start of the year.

That said, Kirishima doesn't even have to elaborate for Bakugo to know what he means. He turns his face towards the other students-- the television. Where he can barely see the headline between Denki and Mineta: "Midoriya Inko, murdered in her home the night of the 20th."

Murdered.

A Villain got her.

Slowly Bakugo turns his face back towards Kirishima and he ends up the only one seeing it. How his face absolutely pales, his eyes shake a little bit at the news. Just two blocks away, someone was murdered and it was someone he knew since he was a little brat. It's not like they were best friends but he still did have days where he went to Deku's house when they were really young. He remembered Inko being nothing but sweet-- even when he ran into her at the market after he started bullying her son. She would still greet him with a smile and call him Katsuki-kun, ask if he's doing okay in school. And even though he acted like he hated being doted on, of course that wasn't really true and even if it was... she didn't deserve this.

Neither of them did.]

...what the fuck?

[He says that in a voice very low, very quiet. It's all he can really even say.]

[Yeah, he sees it, and it's...harder to take than he was prepared for. Especially since he's never seen Bakugou look like that, not since the day everyone realized that All Might was no longer the Symbol of Peace. This here, though...this was deeply personal in a way none of them could properly comprehend. Maybe they all felt so shocked simply because it was Izuku and nobody else. He'd touched all of them that much.]

N...nobody knew until this morning. They must've kept it off the news.

[He doesn't have to explain why. The Villain had yet to be captured more than likely, and it wa possible it was targeted due to Izuku being so prominent as an up and coming hero. There was no way for them to know either way, not when they had no other information and hadn't heard from Izuku at all.]

That's why I asked you. Nobody's heard from him.

I never even saw the goddamn police in our neighborhood.

[The way Bakugo says that almost sounds... angry. How did he not even notice something had happened? He only lived a couple of blocks away. He should have done something-- but what? What could he have done? What would he have done if it was his family that had been targeted? What if his is next?

Fuck. Fuck. There's too much fucking shit to think about with this and it's obvious that it's freaking him out a little bit. How couldn't it? Bakugo's a tough cookie but he's still... a kid. Things like this are still scary even to him.]

[Kirishima grimaces, balling his hands into fists at his sides. He can't even imagine being so close to that kind of crime...and they still didn't even fully know how bad it was. The news only disclosed what they knew, and the investigation was still ongoing.

Heads turn back to the television as the anchor suddenly brings up Izuku, a picture of the boy coming up on the screen as they mention that he's her only surviving relative sans his father doing hero work overseas. Nothing else about Izuku specifically is mentioned, though...how he's doing or anything.

Kirishima looks back to Bakugou.]

They probably kept it under wraps...yaknow? It must've been pretty bad.

[That. Doesn't help him feel better, Kirishima. Though he declines to say as much-- he already feels like shit, everyone does. There'd be no point to bringing anyone down even further right now.

Bakugo catches his own arms starting to shake as he thinks.. way too deeply about this and he lowers his face to sneer at his hands, as if he'll be able to just scare himself into not shaking anymore. The last thing he wants is to show that he's upset about this around the other students, though, so he clenches his left hand into a tight fist and snatches the handle to his suitcase with the other and just... silently pushes himself past Kirishima without saying another word. Presumably to give him something else to focus on other than this.]

[Yeah, after that...Kirishima doesn't bother Bakugou anymore. None of them do. None of them really know what to do right now, actually...it was assumed that Izuku would come to school since it had actually been some time since the attack, so where was he? Was it that dangerous for him to be in public right now? Or was there something else going on?

It's a bit of both, it would turn out.

Izuku doesn't show up to school at all that week. No one sees him...no one hears from him. It would also come to the students' attention that Toshinori wasn't visiting the school at all right now, either...and it isn't until the weekend that Ochako nearly shrieks in the lunchroom because of a sudden text message from Izuku. Or, rather, him replying to one she sent weeks ago, worried about him.

He'd be coming back to school Monday. That was all he wrote.

Nothing else of substance happens that day, not until the very end when Bakugou's cellphone rings.]

[That week was. Rough. For everyone.

Class resumed, as one would expect but it was kind of obvious that no one could really focus. Everyone was having a hard time with tests, not even Yaomomo was able to get a full 100% like she usually did on any of the tests they had taken in the middle of the week to jog their brains for the rest of the semester. People got injured over stupid mistakes during combat battle. Bakugo was called on for a question in the middle of Present Mic's class and didn't even hear it the first time.

Everyone was just... worried. Not only for Deku, but for their own families, too. Of course hearing that a Villain attacked one of their classmate's family would cause panic to rise in the rest of the students as well. It's not a stretch to think that it could happen to them, too.

So the week has been.. a mess. A complete and utter mess, until it ended with Uraraka suddenly jumping up, exclaiming that she got a text from Deku. That he'd back on Monday. There was an audible sigh from everyone in the room when the news hit, and the rest of the day went.. a little bit better because of that.

Bakugo of course is the first out of the school and back to the dorms, so he could have alone time to think some more as if that's not all he'd been doing this week. He lays around in his dorm for the rest of the day, pretty much save for dinner and was honestly going to try and sleep at seven pm today. So when he gets a phonecall at the end of the day, it startles him straight up in bed-- not that he was really able to sleep anyway.

He picks it up, and looks over the caller ID before anything else.]

[When he looks, he'll notice something strange. In that...there's nothing to recognize.]

Unknown Caller

[OKAY. THAT'S NOT ALARMING WHEN MURDER HAPPENED A WEEK AGO. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

Bakugo stares at his phone for a couple of rings before he decides-- fuck it. If something happened and he misses it because he didn't answer, he'd kick himself in the ass for it later.]

What?

[He answers the phone with a voice that's stone cold and wary, doesn't even bother asking who was calling.]

[There's silence for a tense moment on the other end until finally, a very tired sounding voice answers.]

Bakugou-shounen.

[Just hearing that voice has Bakugo sit up a little bit straighter, and his tone completely shifts. From wary and a little annoyed to quiet and more attentive. On alert, as if he's ready to head out and fight if he's asked.]

...why are you calling me this late?

["What happened?" Bakugo wants to ask, but opts to just let him explain. The question is pretty obvious without him having to ask it in the first place, anyway.]

Because...Midoriya-shounen wanted me to talk to you myself in his stead. But more than that, you are the closest to what happened.

[He doesn't even explain what, he knows Bakugou knows by now.]

You have a right to be properly informed about this.

[Oh god. Deku wanted Bakugo to be the first to learn about the grizzly details of his mom's death? He.... doesn't even think he could properly handle hearing it, honestly, and a part of him that still lingers is pissed that Deku would be thoughtful enough to let him know. But he knows why. He gets it.

So he swallows against his throat that feels impossibly dry, reaching to his bedside table for a water bottle he kept there to take a sip from it first before he gives All Might a reply.]

That fucking nerd... I heard about it on the news already. I know what happened.

I thought you might. I heard they were allowing the press to comment today...but no. It is more than just that.

[Another pause.]

For the undetermined future, he will be staying with me under my care and responsibility. His father is currently unable to be relieved from his duties overseas.

The attack on his mother was pointedly targeted.

[There's the distinct sound of something falling on Bakugo's end of the call, and a pause before a soft "shit" can be heard from him as he bends over to pick his water bottle off the floor. Of course he had expected it to be a purposeful attack-- even if he didn't know about One for All he wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it was. And yet for some reason, All Might confirming that just has him unable to breathe.

Maybe because in the back of his mind, he'd been worried about his family being next. Not just because he lives nearby, but because he's already been targeted by the villains himself. Maybe they'd get kidnapped. Used for a bargaining chip. Those kinds of things have been plaguing him all week and this just prods at those thoughts even more, causing him to feel a little dizzy from the stress.]

...heh. He must be feeling pretty great right now. The hero he's admired since he was a brat gets to take care of him from now on.

[It's said completely dryly, without the teasing tone that usually would come with words like that in the first place.]

[While Toshinori knows Bakugou is just...reacting the only way he knows how, he only wishes this were something Izuku were excited about. He sighs a bit on his end.]

While it is true he will be returning to classes Monday, he has...not been doing well, Bakugou. I feel that it might be in his best interests to see someone he trusts before meeting with his peers at large. I understand he is close to young Iida and Uraraka, but they would likely only increase his upset, unintentionally.

What I am saying is that he asked for you, first. I think you should come see him tomorrow.

....the hell?

[That. What? That doesn't actually register to Bakugo very easily. He.. asked for Bakugo to visit him before his two best friends? What? Why? They we're getting along a bit better, sure, and he knew his secret about OFA but that was just because Deku took pity on him and wanted him to know he wasn't tricked. That wasn't out of friendship. So.. why?]

If those two would just upset him more, why the fuck does he want me?

[He's aware that his attitude upsets people easily. He's aware it's a problem he needs to work on-- and he's been trying. Slowly but surely, he's been trying. But he's not someone known for being good at comforting other people. In fact, he'd be the last person literally anyone should ask for comfort.]

[The answer Toshinori gives, ultimately, is simple. Quiet.]

You knew her.

[...fuck.

Fuck.]

....text me your address.

[Bakugo's answer is quiet as well, and hesitant as if he wasn't sure how to even reply to begin with. Of course, that makes sense. Yeah, it does. But it also... it's heavy. This whole situation is heavy. But in a way, this was also something heroes had to deal with wasn't it? Comforting the victims or whatever. He'd have to face something like this eventually and he knew his ways of just yelling at everyone-- telling them to deal with their problems on their own were what were causing his failure right now.

And... as much as he hates to admit it.

He and Deku are friends. He can't just deny a request like that. He couldn't.]

One moment.

[There's a pause before Bakugou's phone dings as the address comes up. He doesn't tell Bakugou to keep it secret; he knows well enough that he will.]

I am sorry to have to burden you with this, young man.

Whatever. If the dumbass nerd wants to see me tomorrow, he'll get his fucking wish.

[He hangs up after saying that, feeling as though there's nothing else to really say. After that, he lays awake until four in the morning, thinking too hard about what was to come the following day. About how much he didn't want to go just to have Deku crying on his shoulder. Just to have to deal with the gravity of death for the whole day.

He leaves the dorms at eight am, ignoring anyone who tries to ask where he's going. For Deku and All Might's sake. Though he stops into town on The way there, so he shows up around nine. He knocks on the door with one hand, his other holding a bag of an assortment of donuts. Mostly... because he feels awkward visiting All Might's home for the first time without some kind of housewarming gift.

....also for Deku. Not that he'd admit it.]

[When Bakugou knocks on the door, there's a pause for only a brief moment as Toshinori checks through the peephole to make sure it's him before he pulls the door inward and steps aside for Bakugou to come in. He's the same, gaunt form as he's been since his fight with All For One, though somehow he looks even worse than he has in some time. Possibly for sympathy's sake. For Izuku's sake.

Of course Izuku wouldn't be staying here for the rest of the term. He'd actually be safer at the UA dorms than a house that anyone could break into, despite how discreet. It seems though that he'd been staying here for some time just to have somewhere to be, having been completely displaced since the incident. There are suitcases lining the wall near the door, presumably all Izuku's belongings and other things recovered from the Midoriya home as well as his familiar yellow backpack. After the door is shut and locked behind them, Toshinori nods his head towards the back of the small apartment towards a room that's had its sliding door shuttered off.]

He is back there. I will be out here if I am needed. I have some phonecalls to make.

[God.. poor All Might. He somehow looks far worse than he ever had, and Bakugo wonders if he's even slept since the incident occurred. He nods his head a little at All Might's directions before taking off his shoes and walking to the back room. For some reason he feels.. nervous. Nervous, and Off.

Even so, he knocks on the wall beside the sliding door before sliding it open enough to lean against the doorway.]

You rang?

[When Bakugou enters, he'll find an unsettling image. There's a futon spread out in the middle of the room, but the blankets on it are tousled and no one is actually in it, showing that whoever was using it probably tried to sleep but couldn't. There's a trash can near the pillows and a bottle of water that's barely been touched. As for Izuku...he's sitting up against the wall with his knees pulled halfway to his chest, staring at some point on the floor between his legs with his arms folded atop them. His cell phone is on the floor near him, though it's hard to tell whether it's off or on with the screen darkened.

When Bakugou enters, Izuku slowly rolls his eyes to look up at him, staring at him like he'd seen a ghost. His face is very pale and the color beneath his eyes is more green than anything, his fingertips trembling once he realizes that Bakugou actually showed up.]

K...Kacchan.

[That expression pretty much says everything. He didn't think he'd come.]

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