Morals

Seventeen

A/n-unedited

a/n-This chapter is a filler

The scent of burnt sugar clung to Bakugou Katsuki's palms like a confession—a sticky residue from his Quirk that no amount of scrubbing could erase. It mingled with the sharp tang of ozone after today's joint training exercise, a reminder of Deku's reckless Full Cowling surge that nearly atomized the entire south wing. Bakugou flexed his fingers, knuckles white. Not Deku's power. The idiot's control. Or lack of it. One mistimed Delaware Smash, one tremor in those scarred hands, and the debris field would've swallowed Denai whole.

Denai was focusing on her elemental quirks. She wasn't paying attention to the falling debris. Bakugou didn't think. Didn't yell. Just moved. His explosions propelled him forward in a trajectory that would've shattered both their bones if he'd hesitated even a millisecond. The crunch of concrete against his shoulder guard echoed through the training ground as he tackled her sideways, his body becoming a living shield against Deku's cascading rubble. Dust choked his throat, but beneath the grit, he registered the softness of her hair against his jawline—a jarring contrast to the violence of their collision.

"What's going on?" Denai asked, her voice muffled against Bakugou's chest armor. She hadn't yet registered the avalanche that had buried his left leg. Denai used to wind at the last minute to break their fall, but their body still collided with the ground beneath. Bakugou didn't answer. Couldn't. Every ragged breath tasted like powdered concrete and Deku's fucking incompetence. He'd felt the shockwave ripple through Denai's ribs when he slammed into her—too hard, always too goddamn hard—but the alternative was her skull cracking open like an egg.

Above them, Deku's panicked "Kacchan!" cut through the settling dust. Bakugou snarled, ignoring the tremors in his pinned leg. 

"Shut your mouth before I blast it shut!" His gauntlet sparked instinctively, singeing a lock of Denai's hair that had escaped her hood. She flinched—not from pain, he realized, but from the proximity of his unrestrained fury. Her elemental summons flickered out as she focused on his face, searching for something beneath the grit and rage. Bakugou looked away. He knew what she'd find: the raw, unvarnished terror that had seized him when he saw that rubble falling.

Denai shifted, pressing a palm flat against his chest plate. 

"You're shaking," she murmured. Her eyes weren't accusing—they were wide, almost awed. That pissed him off more than Deku's fuck-up. He hadn't shielded her for praise. He'd done it because the thought of her broken body made his stomach churn like nitro-glycerin boiling over.

Above them, Deku scrambled through debris, green lightning flickering erratically. 

"Denai! Kacchan! Are you—" Bakugou cut him off with a guttural roar. 

"One more word, Deku, and I'll reduce your fucking skeleton to ash!" His gauntlet whined, charging. He meant it. The trembling in his leg wasn't pain—it was leftover adrenaline, the phantom tremor of how close it had been. How her ribs had felt too fragile under his armored forearm.

"Katsuki, calm down, I'm okay." Denai attempted to calm Bakugou's nerves.Her words were a bucket of ice water dumped over Bakugou's fury—useless against the nitro-glycerin inferno in his veins. His gaze snapped back to her, tracing the dust settling in her eyelashes like toxic snow. 

"Calm down?" he rasped, voice shredded concrete. 

"That walking disaster nearly turned you into paste!" He jabbed a sparking finger toward Deku, who froze mid-scramble, face pale beneath the grime. Bakugou's gauntlet whined louder, a high-pitched scream mirroring his frayed nerves. Every instinct screamed to vaporize Deku's apologetic expression—erase the proof of that near-miss forever.

Denai grabbed his forearm, looking into his eyes with a pleading look. Bakugou turned back to the green-haired boy, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.Denai's grip tightened, her fingers digging into the seam of his gauntlet. 

"Look at me," she whispered, raw urgency stripping her voice bare. Not pleading—commanding. Bakugou's eyes snapped open, locking onto hers. The world narrowed to the dust-caked curve of her cheekbone, the frantic pulse in her throat. Deku's stammered apologies dissolved into static. Only this mattered: the living warmth beneath his palms, the unbroken rhythm of her breath. 

"I'm okay, Katsuki," she said, as if reading the jagged script of his terror. "I'm not hurt. Thank you." She smiled briefly.

The words landed like a live grenade in his chest. 'Thank you. ' Gratitude scraped against his raw nerves, an insult wrapped in velvet. He hadn't acted for fucking gratitude. He'd moved because the alternative—her stillness, her silence—was a void he couldn't stomach. 

"Shut up," he growled, ripping his arm from her grasp. 

"Don't thank me for basic fucking survival." He shoved himself upright, ignoring the flare of agony in his pinned leg. Concrete fragments cascaded off his armor as he hauled Denai to her feet with him, her weight slight against his side. Deku scrambled closer, hands outstretched. 

"Kacchan, your leg—"

"Shut it, Deku! Watch where the hell you're aiming!"

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Bakugou POV

That bastard Deku almost crushed the pretty extra! She forgave him for the accident, but I can't help but be pissed that he was so careless. I felt her body underneath mine when we crashed into the ground. 

I don't know why I got so scared seeing those rocks falling at her. But what scared me more was...I hurt her more than those rocks would have. I actually fell on top of her. I felt her ribs underneath my elbows. I knew she wasn't fragile, but the thought of her getting hurt because of me or anyone else infuriates me. Deep inside, I know why I feel like this about Denai. That pretty extra has plagued my existence since she arrived here. Always challenging me, pushing me to do better. Although she has her own problems, she pushes through. I love her patience, her softness, her determination. I love her spark. She is compassionate and caring, a little too caring. She's beautiful, she's smart, and she's funny-sometimes. But what really ticks my clock about her is...she's not perfect. She has flaws, and she tries to hide them, but she's terrible at hiding her emotions. She's...real.

Holy shit! I'm in love with that pretty extra!