Cold Case

I'll Be Right Here

BAKUGO'S POV

"Can't sleep?" Midoriya's voice echoed from somewhere in the dark. Since I had darkening curtains covering every window, there was hardly any moonlight seeing in, but I knew he was still near the bedroom.

"No," I said. I haven't been sleeping well since I came back from the hospital. Well, I didn't sleep well there either. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is those kids in that damn cell.

I barely remember being shot. The only thing I remember is falling to the ground, with the image of freckles and bright green eyes filling my mind. After that, I was in a hospital, and my partner was yelling at our bosses—which they deserved.

The cushion next to me dipped down before an arm gently slid around my shoulders. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"How do you do it?" I asked. "How do you do missions like this all the time? I can barely handle cold cases sometimes. I'm going to miss working with you, but I can't fucking wait to go back to following someone who has been accused of having an affair."

He pulled me into his chest with a sigh. "When I was a kid, my best friend's parents were murdered, and he had gotten kidnapped." My eyes shot open. "I saw the crime scene when they were investigating and collecting evidence. Since half of it was on the front porch, I stared at it all day. My friend was gone, and nobody could find him. As I grew up, I studied their case. I knew anything and everything that was released as soon as it was available to the public."

His voice cracked as he continued his story. "I watched their family members fight and fall apart after their deaths. I know how bad it can tear a family up and how terrified my friend must have been, being ripped away from his family like that. I don't know what he went through, and I most likely never will. He and his parents were voiceless in the matter. Nobody could testify to what had happened or how it happened."

My mom used to tell me only the dead know everything. I never understood how true that was.

"Doing what I do, investigating, doing missions, risking my life like this, is me trying to give a voice to the voiceless souls."

"What happened to your friend?" I asked.

He squeezed my shoulder tightly. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to make me uncomfortable. "They never found him. He became a cold case."

"Izuku, I'm sorry," I mumbled. I could never imagine sitting there every day, waiting for something you know most likely won't happen. "I'm so fucking sorry."

His lips pressed against the top of my head. "It is what it is. One day, I know he'll get the justice he deserves."

When he was a kid researching that case, he triggered something inside himself. When he saw the crime scene for the first time, his future career was already set in stone. It probably started as an infatuation. The more he kept going, it probably turned into an obsession. Then one day, it was probably all he knew.

"Do you want to try and go back to sleep?" He asked quietly. His voice had calmed down and was, in return, calming me down.

I shook my head. "After that grim fairy tale, I think I'm good right now."

"Well, can I take you somewhere else?" He asked.

"Where do you plan on taking me at one in the morning?" Other than some late-night diners and bars, there wasn't much else to do in the city this late.

"It's almost three in the morning. Have you been sitting out here for two hours?" I couldn't exactly see the outline of his face in the dark, but I knew he was showing me a look of disapproval.