Don't Be Afraid of Shadows (BakuDeku)

◅ Chapter 2 ▻

'You must know that love will always uncover the truth'
Delano Johnson

After Katsuki had told his story and answered his friends multiple questions, he watched every member of the Squad invade the shadow's space and come away with tear stained faces.

His friends knew that Katsuki was no liar, but if they'd have wanted to question if his story was true or if he was having some sort of mental break, then their own experiences put to bed any doubts they may have had.

They came to the conclusion that Katsuki must be living with a bona fide ghost. The blond had 'tch'd' telling them he knew it was crazy but what other explanation did he have? However, Kiri insisted that of course they believed him, how could they not?

Plus, what the fuck else would something like that be called? Spirit? Ghost? Spectre? An apparition? A remnant? A shadow? Katsuki told the Squad he had called it 'shadow' his whole life, so they agreed to keep referring to it as such. 

it sounded bat-shit crazy, but they all agreed that Shadow had to be a ghost. A ghost with a lot of emotional pain. Mina had also helpfully decided for the group that Shadow was not an evil spirit. She listed off her reasons for this decision, the most compelling of which being that if it could move objects, slink around his house, and make Katsuki sleep like shit, it could probably just kill him dead anytime it wanted. Katsuki didn't actually find that statement reassuring. 

Sero had piped up wondering if maybe there was a way they could help Shadow, so it could perhaps move on. Katsuki wondered, huffing internally in annoyance, if after all these years it would perhaps be easy to get rid of the shadow afterall. 

The Squad finally left late that night, all turning to bow and say goodbye to Shadow, while promising Katsuki they'd discuss this further the next day and help the blond to put the shadow to rest.

When Katsuki finally got into bed he frowned at Shadow, hoping he made a good choice in sharing this with his friends. They had all handled it well, no one really freaked out... too much - Mina was probably a bit too excited about the whole thing to be honest. They saw the evidence themselves so it was hard for any of them to remain skeptical. 

The blond laid on his back, staring into the corner as he'd done on many other occasions.

He nodded, and mumbled a "Goodnight" to the shadow before turning away from it and slipping quickly into a weary slumber.

The shadow didn't affect Kastuki at all that night.

Over the weekend the Squad's group chat was full of chatter about Shadow, shared links to articles about the paranormal, and YouTube videos about putting spirits to rest or cleansing them from the home. Katsuki put a firm 'No' against the cleansing idea - What if they displaced Shadow and ruined any chance of it moving on? Katsuki couldn't help but sympathise with it after years of feeling its pain. 

By the time Monday rolled around, Katsuki had had three good nights of sleep and was looking much more rested when the Squad met up in the cafeteria at lunch.

"Maybe it knows," Sero reasoned as he sat at their usual table with his lunch tray, "I mean it was in the room with us so it knows what we were planning. It knows we're gonna try and help it."

"Great, so it's been emotionally torturing me for years to get my attention?" The Squad all hummed in agreement, "Fucking figures." Katsuki scoffed.

"Could be bro, like Mina said, it doesn't seem evil, just hurt." Kiri frowned, "It probably really wants to move on. I wonder what happened to it."

"It's gotta have died badly to get stuck here. Unfinished business and all that," Mina nodded thoughtfully, "And the poor thing is probably sick of having to live with your grumpy hoe ass."