Gówno

15

It was silent in the church.

It’d been ten hours since Izuku left.

Ten.

For a mission that had been expected to take two hours at most—even less, if Izuku only planted one gravity seed.

…But of course that didn’t fucking happen.

Katsuki dug his claws into his arms as he stood there, back turned toward the others. It hadn’t taken long for him to realize the other three seeds were missing, but by then, it was already too late.

And he knew he should’ve seen it coming from a mile away. He knew. But damn it, he just… hoped.

He hoped that Izuku wouldn’t go that far. That he’d keep his promise.

I should’ve never taken him there.

I should’ve never—

Someone cleared their throat. Kirishima.

Katsuki tensed. “What.”

“Oh, it’s… um.”

“Spit it out.”

“Right.” Kirishima said. “We just heard from Hatsume.”

Katsuki immediately turned around. “Should’ve opened with that.” He muttered. “What’d she say?”

Kirishima coughed, and seemed to be avoiding eye contact.

“What the fuck did she say?” He repeated, gritting his teeth.

“There’s no signal.” He blurted out. “It… none of the seeds are active, Bakugou. She can’t detect any of them.”

For a very long time, Katsuki didn’t respond. He just stared at Kirishima, his jaw clenched. Fighting the urge to lash out, to allow his mind to take that knowledge and follow it where it naturally led.

He took a few deep breaths. Kirishima remained rooted in place, and did not move a muscle.

After a moment, Katsuki closed his eyes. “Is there any way to activate them remotely?” He waited. When Kirishima didn’t respond immediately, he opened his eyes. “Just fucking tell me. I don’t need you to coddle me, asshole.”

Kirishima swallowed audibly. “No.” He replied. “We… asked about that already. It’s not possible.”

Katsuki took a sharp breath, and turned around again. For a very long time, no one spoke. It was dark outside. Inside, too.

Through the window, Katsuki watched as thick columns of smoke grew from the horizon, obscuring the stars.

“Uh,” Kaminari eventually said. “It’s… getting pretty late, man. Maybe we should… call it a night…?”

Katsuki shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”

“Wait, you mean you’re staying?”

He scoffed. “Obviously.”

“Man, you need to sleep.” Sero said. “And what about Triplet?”

He shrugged again. “I’ll ask my neighbor to feed her.”

Another moment of silence.

Kirishima put his hand on his shoulder, and he tensed.

“Look, man. I get it, but… at this point? It’s… really not looking—“

Katsuki turned around sharply, swatting his hand off his shoulder. “I know.” He said, through gritted teeth. “I don’t need you to fucking tell me that. I fucking know.”