My Savior

Chapter 36

Bakugo awoke with a start nearly two hours after he'd fallen asleep. Panic coursed through his veins as his boyfriend thrashed beside him, groaning loudly.

"Deku," Bakugo said softly, trying to wake him up gently. "Deku, baby." He set his hand on his chest and shook him lightly. When he thrashed again and almost smacked his boyfriend, Bakugo sighed and said, "Izuku," louder than he intended.

Midoriya shot up, panting and sobbing. "I-It burns," he cried out.

"Take a deep breath," Bakugo said. "Calming your heart down will help."

Midoriya cried louder while reaching for the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head. "It burns!" he cried out again.

Bakugo's eyes widened when he realized he wasn't talking about his chest burning because of his rapid heartbeat. He was talking about his back.

Bakugo grabbed Midoriya's shirt and tossed it on the floor before running his hand over his back, making sure it wasn't physically burning. When he got checked, he didn't have any quirk traces on him, but he wanted to make sure.

He wrapped his arms around Midoriya's waist and pulled him into his lap. "You're okay," he murmured. "You're alright."

Midoriya reached for his back, and Bakugo moved back to let him feel his cool skin. He knew that feeling that it wasn't burning would help him snap back to reality quickly. He'd had enough nightmares to know what would help quicker.

"See?" Bakugo said softly. "You're alright."

Midoriya nodded and leaned back, relaxing against his boyfriend. He was still sobbing and panicking, but he felt safe now as Bakugo held him tightly and whispered reassuring words between soothing hums.

Eventually, his sobs quieted, and his breathing evened out. He had always been there for Bakugo when he awoke like that, but he never understood how he felt until then. Midoriya had bad dreams about things in his past, but he'd never had such a vivid nightmare that he wasn't sure whether or not he was awake.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya croaked.

"I'm here," he said, squeezing him tighter in my arm.

"Kacchan, I remember."

Bakugo sighed. He was so afraid that he'd remember and had been hoping and praying that he never would. "I'm so sorry."

Midoriya curled further into Bakugo's chest, needing warmth and comfort. It didn't matter that they were fighting a few hours ago or that they hadn't sorted things out before bed. They still loved each other and had each other's backs.

"Kacchan?" He hummed in response. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Bakugo tightened his hold on him. "Me too."

"I do trust you. I trust you with everything I have. It's me that I don't trust, Kacchan. If things were to go south, I wouldn't think about myself. I would protect you with everything, including my life." When they were patrolling, and there were civilian lives on the line, he knew he and Bakugo would be able to put their protectiveness for each other aside to save them. But here, it was just them and other heroes. They couldn't afford any mistakes.

Bakugo sighed because he felt like it was a lose-lose situation, no matter what happened. If he left and Midoriya got hurt, he would never be able to forgive himself. However, if he stayed and Midoriya got hurt to protect him, he would hate himself even more.

"Let's see what the others think of the plan, and we'll go from there, okay?" Bakugo kissed his head. He didn't like the idea of Midoriya putting himself in danger, even though he knew it would help their situation.