So look me in the eyes and tell me what you see

[mightdoriya]

[It had been two years since the outbreak occurred. Izuku hadn't seen most of the friends he met that first year in a long, long time. He knew in his heart of hearts they were still out there, surviving just as he was. He couldn't let the burden of not knowing become too weighty to bear.

He couldn't quite explain how things ended up the way they were today. Maybe someone's Quirk went wild and created the virus, or it just...came into being, similar to the way Quirks had on their own. It was hard to say, only that within those first few months it didn't take long for Japan's society to dissolve even with as many heroes as they were. It's hard to be a hero when literally anyone is susceptible to the same fate. It didn't matter if you were a Hero or a Villain, not anymore.

At first Izuku had stuck with his class to try and help those they could. A quarantined city of sorts was quickly erected in some area of the country, and that's where any healthy person went if they could manage to go before disaster struck. Izuku knew his mother had gone, which was the only comfort he had despite not having seen her in so long...but things had become bleak. Food was becoming scarce, and fewer and fewer survivors actually roamed the wards. Mostly...it was just the dead.

Zombies.

Izuku curses darkly against the inside of the mask of what used to be part of his hero costume as he jumps up onto an overturned car, a rucksack over his back as he looks back at the cluster of zombies that had followed him up this far. U.A., the very school he'd been at when news of the first few sick broke out, was just ahead. He knew better than to lead the zombies directly to the only refuge left in their hometown, so he elected to take a longer route over the crumbling and less-than-safe rooftops. He knew his partner in all of this would bitch about how long he was out, especially seeing as it was...]

Kacchan! I'm back.

[Izuku calls out as he pulls himself in through the window of one of the classrooms, the glass having long since been blown out of it. The school itself was barricaded with the tall walls that kept it protected, so it served as the perfect stronghold despite the two no doubt wishing they weren't alone. But their class had broken apart a while ago, with the last stragglers getting separated to the point where it was just Izuku and Bakugou left.

As expected, things were...strained between them for a good while. But it wasn't like you could be picky during the apocalypse. They at least trusted each other enough to work together, and that was the main thing that mattered.]

Comments

[bombingking]

[Stuck in the apocalypse with Deku seems like the punchline to a shitty joke.

But here they are, two years later, together, just the two of them. Life was funny like that. Except for the part where a shit ton of people died and they couldn't do anything to stop it. And they'd only managed to escape infection out of luck and not any sort of power of their own. Their Quirks waned as the years went on. A result of exposure to whatever had caused this, they'd assumed, which meant they had to potential to be come infected just like everyone else.

Usually, Katsuki prefers to do the scouting, just to get out and away, and maybe take his anger out on some undead assholes. Which, knowing they used to be people, wasn't really as cathartic as he'd hoped.

But it had been Deku's turn today, so he'd stayed back, counting their weapons, food, and first aid and constructing new ones when needed. God, he can't believe he has to use this stuff instead of his Quirk. He hates it. He hates all of this.

He glances up at Deku coming in through the window and feels a funny sort of relief. Deku probably wouldn't be taken out easily, but it was always a risk. And the idea of being alone in all this...? Makes his stomach churn harder than he'd ever want to admit]

I've made med kits to bring next time. Sharpened most of the blades too. Hope you're in the mood for more fucking instant ramen because it's all we've got.

[mightdoriya]

[Other than being dirty and flecked with blood from fighting off the occasional walker, Izuku doesn't seem any worse for wear than he is normally. Just tired, but he lives a perpetual state of exhausted literally all the time these days because he doesn't think he's had a decent night's sleep in actual years.

He carefully steps over to where Bakugou is, carrying his ragged backpack with him on one shoulder as he sets it down nearby, noticably...light.]

Not like we have much choice. I couldn't find anything that hadn't already been ransacked. What was there was either contaminated or too questionable to trust.

[bombingking]

[Katsuki knows Deku doesn't sleep. He doesn't sleep much himself. He passes out early and then... wakes up before the sun rises, nightmares and paranoid thoughts tearing at his head.

Sometimes, he makes Deku get his ass to bed at the same time but he knows that Deku just stays awake in his sleeping bag, thinking as he always does. Whatever, he can take care of Deku in some ways, but he's gotta take care of himself.

He makes a frustrated noise at the sight of the light bag, running a hand through his hair.]

Did anyone see you?

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku shakes his head, finding a clear space to sit down for a minute. They're all fortunate that years of training have kept them on their toes, but even he looks winded. It's not fun dodging the hordes even if he can more-or-less outrun them...some of them crop up that had Quirks in life that make them a lot faster than you'd expect. Those were the anomalies you couldn't afford to let your guard down around.]

Wasn't followed, at least. They're getting closer, though...there's a huge horde a couple miles from here, coming in this direction. I figure they'll probably pass by and move on, but...you know.

[bombingking]

[His fingers twitch.

Those hordes can be hell if one of them has a decent quirk that can cause damage without requiring much strategy. Fighting off a group that big is impossible after what the virus did to the quirks of the survivors. Even if they could take down a few of the infected, a group is...

Much more troublesome. So they've had to resort to other means to fight. And Katsuki fucking hates it. But he's not an idiot. He has a nasty scar on his arm now from his time spent shunning weapons and it reminds him that here, he can't always win. He just has to do what he can.]

We'll cut the power tonight. Then we can be sure that those fuckers won't be tempted to come up here.

And we should count our ammo.

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku nods, looking towards their stockpile of weapons across the room, remembering Bakugou had mentioned he was checking up on them earlier. Izuku had to learn to fight with them similarly, even One For All succumbing to the weakening affects of the virus on their Quirks. They were lucky the airborne part of it wasn't enough to turn someone, or else the entire world would have been wiped out by this point.]

We should probably double check the barricades, too. They haven't failed us yet, but we haven't been tested by this many at once before. It's going to be a lot, I can tell you that much now.

i am so sorry for being slow

[bombingking]

We need to reinforce the barricades for any weaknesses. But... If we don't give ourselves a way out... Then we might as well just lay down and die.

[He grits his teeth, gripping the barrel of one of the guns so tightly that it threatens to snap.]

Shit, if we leave ourselves an escape route we're also vulnerable. Any potential exist is a possible fucking way for them to get in.

it's okay!

[mightdoriya]

Mm...what if our escape route is near the rooftops? They're not great at climbing, most of them...we'd just need to make sure we had a way to get down.

[Their Quirks are weaker now, but Izuku thinks that they still have enough power to keep themselves from falling off a building in an emergency or something.]

[bombingking]

...Don't fall off and break your legs, dumbass. I'll leave you there.

[WHICH MEANS HE THINKS IT'S A GOOD IDEA.]

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku purses his lips in a frown.]

Since when have I fallen off?

[He...has broken his legs though. A lot. So no comment there.]

[bombingking]

So keep it that way, dipshit!

[He never knows with you! And now that Recovery Girl isn't around...

He's not taking any chances. So this means he... cares? Maybe?]

[mightdoriya]

Planning on it.

[He'll do his best to keep himself out of situations where he might actually die, don't worry about that.]

Let's get to fortifying the barricades first. We can worry about the escape route after.

[bombingking]

[He does worry about it, you stupid idiot. But for now he just growls and goes over and grabs some of the supplies for barricading. Some barbed wire, a few slabs of wood, there's not much left anymore.]

Yeah, yeah. I know. So where should we fortify first, nerd? You must know what spot of campus the horde is gonna stumble into first.

[mightdoriya]

Follow me. There's an area in the hallway just outside of where the old support department used to be that we need to take care of before anything else. Part of the wall on that side isn't stable anymore, and I'm worried enough force could cave it in.

[U.A. used to be the most fortified structure in the entire city, but now...just like every other building, it had started to suffer damage due to the rampant threat of Quirk-bearing corpses.]

[bombingking]

...Maybe we should let it cave in. Smash some of those bastards flat when they try to get in. If we need to take other exits-

[He flexes his hands, trying to think about his power level as it is now and what he can still do.]

We might have enough of our Quirks left to escape from higher floors and

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku frowns, stepping past old chunks of debris as they make their way down.]

I don't know if we should test that theory mid-escape from walkers, though. But...we'll see. I'll let you see it for yourself, first.

[bombingking]

We end up testing more theories that way than not, nerd. It's how we do shit.

[He gives Deku a nod to lead the way. It's a small gesture but a clear sign of how what happened has changed him, their dynamic... everything. He'll let Deku lead if he needs to. Because walking in some place blind is a death sentence.]

[mightdoriya]

[It's something they've both had to sort of unlearn over the years. Sure, they'd been learning how to work together before, but now they had no choice but to depend on one another for survival implicitly literally every second of the day. Izuku trusted Katsuki, and Katsuki trusted him. They had their gripes still because their personalities still don't quite mesh, but having anyone during the apocalypse is better than nothing at all.

They make it to the barricades in question after some tense silent walking, Izuku gritting his teeth when he sees some places where the barriers they'd put up had been chipped away at. Not enough for anything to get in, but a clear sign that walkers had been here already, looking for a way through.]

[bombingking]

Shit, they've really done a number on this place.

[He can't help but wonder. Are they getting stronger? Or are the people left getting weaker... Sometimes, it feels like the strength of the walkers is insurmountable.]

We can fix it up. But then we're doing materials that probably ain't gonna even hold 'em off for long.

[mightdoriya]

[It's something Izuku thinks about a lot, even if he's not voicing that concern right now. He's just looking on at the remaining standing barricade while Katsuki talks, eventually shifting his attention back over to him.]

If this patch-job is going to end up being a temporary solution, we might need to think about moving somewhere safer.