I Will Never Find Another You {Kiribaku - BNHA}

say anything that can make this all okay

i apologize for such a long wait. long story short, things have been kind of a mess for me lately, haha. i hope this (angsty af) chapter can make up for it.

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The next day or so is filled with stupid tests Katsuki doesn't give a shit about doing, and he can't even keep track of most of them. They let him walk, fortunately, rather than get pushed around the place in a fucking wheelchair like a goddamn cripple, and Ei stays beside him whenever he can. They change his bandages several times, too, and his stomach churns at the sight of his wounds—particularly the one on his left side, all stitched up and weirdly puckered.

By the end of it, all he wants is to go the fuck home and sleep in a bed that doesn't feel like a block of fucking cement. And though Ei is allowed to stay with him as long as he wants (which, to no surprise, is all the time), he's not allowed to sleep next to Katsuki, which pisses him off. He won't say it, though, but he doesn't have to—as he sometimes does, Ei says it for him.

"Dude, it sucks not being able to sleep next to you," he mumbles in the morning. "I'm so used to it and when I wake up and you're not right there it's... weird."

"Yeah, you're fuckin' telling me," Katsuki grumbles. After that, though, Eijirou threads his big, warm, stupid fingers through Katsuki's, and it helps.

It's not long after that when a familiar face emerges at the heels of a nurse Katsuki met the day before—All Might, someone they haven't seen in months. Needless to say, they're surprised to see him.

"Good afternoon, boys," he says upon entry, giving them that soft, friendly smile.

"Hey, All Might!" Eijirou greets cheerfully, immediately going for a fist bump, which the ex hero responds to easily.

"I'd ask how you are but I suspect I can guess the answer," All Might says once he's seated. The nurse remains quiet as he moves to check Katsuki's IV bags.

"I'm fuckin' annoyed that I'm still here," says Katsuki. "This bed sucks."

"I'm sure, but it's good to see you're sounding like yourself, Bakugou," All Might says. "Everyone's been talking about how you've taken a pretty hard hit."

"'S nothing," Katsuki mumbles.

All Might doesn't smile as expected. Instead, a grim frown sets across his brow. "Unfortunately, that isn't so true," he says, the tone of his voice resembling his expression.

At the sound of it, Eijirou's face falls, his forehead wrinkling into a frown. "What do you mean?"

"I've been speaking with the doctor who's been working with you," the man explains, speaking more to Katsuki than Eijirou. "And... we have some... unfortunate news. We wanted to wait and tell you until you were feeling yourself again, and I thought it might help to hear it from a friend."

While Katuski's jaw is tense, Eijirou is the one who speaks despite his wide eyes and tightening fingers in evident fear of whatever All Might is about to tell them. "What... kind of unfortunate news?" he asks, almost cautious.

Still, All Might's gaze stays on the one occupying the hospital bed, though he's clearly speaking to both of them. "After the autopsy on the nameless villain you stopped, we've discovered that... there was more to her Quirk than simply the tentacles, which is how she managed to kill so quickly and easily and cause the entire city to go on lockdown."

As the nurse is on her way out, Eijirou jumps in. "But we already knew that, didn't we? 'Cause of the way all of her victims shriveled up," he justifies. Katsuki can hear the false kind of hope that's snaked his way into his voice—hope that that's all it is. Hope that it's something he already knew. And yet, with the grim look never so much as faltering in the dark eyes of the ex hero across the room, Katsuki knows better. He, too, tightens his grip on the redhead's hand. Feeling this, Ei spares him a glance he doesn't return.