Deaf Bakugo AU

Chapter 11

Content Warning: Nightmare with some creepy and unsettling aspects, mild gore/blood, implied death, and very bad self-deprecating thoughts. If any of that is triggering or upsetting to you, you can skip to the next line similar to the one right below this paragraph (the ~~~~~ line).

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He sat up in his bed, looking around what seemed to be his room at first glance. Though, when he looked out the window, he saw nothing but pitch black, not even an outline or silhouette of the balcony beyond. That in itself unsettled him.

He heard the door to his dorm room creak open slowly. His heart began to pound in terror, loud enough that he heard and felt the drum-like beats within his ears. He tried to calm himself down so he could hear whatever else was going on, but nothing worked particularly well. He did manage to hear one thing, however.

"Katsuki...?" A familiar voice murmured, accompanied with a frightened tone.

"Eijirou..?" He called back.

He saw Kirishima peek around the doorframe leading to his bedroom, briefly hesitated, and then shyly made his way towards him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked his boyfriend. Kirishima's hair looked disheveled, his eyes baggy, and overall expression gloomy.

"I don't want to talk about it right now..." Kirishima answered quietly, before moving on to his purpose for coming here, breathing shakily. "...can...can I sleep over with you tonight?"

"Uh- yeah, of course you can."

Kirishima climbed under the covers with Bakugo, snuggling up to him. He put his arms gently around Kirishima's torso.

After a minute he heard Kirishima's breathing start to tremble and become shallow.

His hands felt the clothes on Kirishima's back start to dampen. Bakugo removed his hands from his partner's body and saw that his fingertips were stained dark red.

Bakugo's breath hitched and shuddered in horror, before he pulled back from Kirishima to look at his face.

In place of Kirishima's eyes was nothing but a sickening black void. His eye sockets, nose, and open mouth had what seemed to be blood dripping out of them.

Kirishima then spoke; his voice tremored but it had a deep, almost demonic undertone. It echoed as if they were within a much more expansive space.

"What will you do now, Katsuki, now that I'm gone..?"

All of a sudden the rest of the dorm room disappeared into a similar void as there was outside the window, if not the same void as Kirishima's absent eyes.

Bakugo quickly moved back from Kirishima, or whatever this thing was, hyperventilating and letting out an involuntary cry or yelp with every terrified gasp.

Kirishima's limp form was eventually consumed by the thick, unending darkness.

Bakugo saw a different figure emerge. It looked like his father, but it was made of an inky, black slime that seemed to be made from the pitch-dark that surrounded them.

The creature's gaping crater of a mouth opened, and spoke in Bakugo's father's voice without any further movement of said mouth. "You will never be good enough. You will always be a disappointment, someone the world will remember with nothing but resentment." It then dissolved into the encompassing void.

Another one that looked and sounded like his mom growled, "You don't deserve any of the good things that happen to you, not with how you act. Your incessant pride and arrogance make you weak."

A Midoriya-adjacent creature said "You'll forever remain in second place, never satisfied with yourself."

"You always try to play the hero but you never act like one," an All-Might creature told him. "Your toxicity corrupts you, along with everyone around you. It's no wonder the League of Villains wanted you in their posse, we all see you as a villain already."

These entities kept appearing and disappearing, each with their own piercing dialogue. Every one of his classmates and friends berated him harshly.

"You cause everyone to hate you as soon as you open your foul mouth."

"How could you ever think you deserve the glory and prosperity of a hero when you're so inherently cruel?"

"What could possibly satisfy you in life when you have such an unquenchable thirst for power?"

"All you've ever cared about is yourself. No one will love you when they see your true colors."

"Even pro heroes know you're hopeless. Why do you still believe in this delusion of success?"

"You'll never be worthy."
"You'll never be worthy."
"You'll never be worthy."
"You'll never be worthy."
"You'll never be worthy."

"You'll never be happy."

This went on in a cycle that felt as if it went on forever. Bakugo's head pounded like drum beats so loud that it caused him pain. He felt tears cascading down his cheeks. He tried to cover his ears to block out the cruel voices, but they only got louder and more vile.

Finally, he saw Kirishima emerge from the darkness. Not an eldritch imitation, not even with black eyes, just... him. He too had streams of tears on his face, though less of them; other than that, his face had little to no emotion.

Kirishima then spoke again. But not in his own voice. That earlier demonic undertone was now the only voice that could be heard coming from his vocal chords, a voice that could make anyone's blood turn to ice water.

"The only thing you deserve is death."

The humid, rotten blackness began to envelop Bakugo, choking and devouring him as he let out a piercing scream.

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Bakugo woke up to the sensation of his body being shaken violently, and the muffled sounds of Kirishima yelling his name. His eyes shot open as he gasped for air, his blurry vision seeing the rough outline of his boyfriend in front of him. As he regained his senses, he realized that he was covered in sweat and his face was drenched with tears.

"Katsuki!" Kirishima cried, immediately pulling Bakugo into a tight embrace. "I-I heard crying coming from your room, an-and I came here and y-you were having a nightmare, and you were s-screaming..." he could barely manage to speak through his sobs.

Bakugo was still in shock from what had happened in his dream. He had his arms loosely wrapped around Kirishima's torso, and most of his muscles were limp. He didn't look at Kirishima's face; he wasn't really looking anywhere... he was just seeing, simply having his eyes pointed in a given direction.

Kirishima pulled away from the hug. "...a-are you okay? What happened??"

Bakugo had no change in his neutral facial expression, but he felt more tears flow out of his unfocused eyes. He had heard Kirishima's question, but he had no answer that he could put into coherent words. He wasn't quite sure if he even had the physical ability to talk in that moment at all.

Despite this, Kirishima seemed to perfectly understand the meaning of his silence.

He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Bakugo and himself. With both their backs against the wall, Kirishima sat next to his partner, wrapping an arm around Bakugo's shoulders and holding him securely.

His face still stained with tears, Kirishima leaned his head against Bakugo, the blond's head resting in the crook of the redhead's neck. Kirishima held Bakugo's hand within his own, lacing their fingers together.

"You're safe now," Kirishima whispered in a comforting tone. "It'll be okay. I'm here for you... always."

Bakugo found it a bit difficult to utter his next words. ".....Do.. you... promise..?" He murmured, his voice raspy from crying.

"Unbreakable promise."