𝙰𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 - 𝙺. 𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Eighteen

Rokuda woke with a startle and her eyes darted around the room as she scanned it for any signs of fire. After lifting up her blanket to confirm that she hadn't activated her quirk in her sleep, Rokuda tried to focus on calming her racing breaths. Tears stung her eyes as she rolled onto her side and hugged her knees to her chest, concentrating on breathing in and out.

After a few minutes with no improvement, Rokuda didn't know what to do or how to calm herself down. When she usually awoke from her nightmares she just couldn't fall back asleep as her mind would race with negative thoughts, but right now those negative thoughts were running a million miles per second and her breaths were seemingly in sync with it.  Her eyes flickered over to her nightstand and saw her phone. She reached out for it and sent a message, a lifeline, to the one person she thought might be able to help.

Red: You up?

Katsuki: I am now.

Katsuki: Something happen?

Red: Kinda?

Katsuki: Nightmare again?

Red: Yeah...

>>>Incoming call from Katsuki Bakugou<<<

Rokuda panicked even more, it felt as if her heart was stuck in her throat. She'd never talked to Bakugou on the phone before and she certainly hadn't expected him to call, she barely expected him to return her text at all seeing as it was two am on Monday morning.

After taking a deep breath, Rokuda swiped up and answered the call. "H-hey."

"Hey, Red," he replied, his voice still gravely from sleep. He could hear her quick breathing over the phone and he was instantly more alert. "You need to calm down, alright?"

Rokuda sniffled and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out everything that wasn't Bakugou's voice but her thoughts continued to race. "I-I can't."

"Don't be dumb. You know you can, Red. Take a deep breath."

The redhead did as instructed and slowly let out her shaky breath.

"Again."

She repeated the process a few more times as Bakugou listened on the other end of the line, laying on his back and staring up at the stucco ceiling above him.

When her breathing was regulated, Rokuda sighed as embarrassment and guilt quickly flooded through her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he stated, no annoyance or aggravation present in his tone. In fact, he found comfort in the fact that she felt she could call him for help, that she trusted him enough to do so.

Silence fell between them for a few minutes as Rokuda continued to focus on her breathing and Bakugou simply listened. "Katsuki?" She whispered, wondering if he was still there as he'd been so quiet.

He hummed. "Yeah, Red?"

"I think I've calmed down now... thank you."

"Tryin' to get rid of me already?" He asked as he stifled a yawn.

She smiled softly and rolled over onto her other side. "Well, at least one of us should get some sleep."