Tabula Rasa (BakuDeku)

49

Long Live the Reckless and The Brave

When Izuku comes to, he's not sure where he is, or how long he's been out. Seconds? Hours? Days?

It takes him a moment, but the comfortable warm bubble of unconsciousness pops when pain spikes in his right leg. The greenette winces, what happened?

Looking around, he absorbs the carnage around him. There are two support beams shaped in a V keeping the ceiling from collapsing on him completely. He got lucky. A dry cough wracks his throat, the thick air going unnoticed until now. A steady beam of sunlight spotlights the dust particles that swim through the air like fish.

Then he remembers: All For One. Katsuki. Collapse.

Katsuki.

In a panic, Izuku lifts his head, lowering it back down to the cracked cement when he's overwhelmed by the dizziness. Through the bright light, the greenette struggles to see anything else around him, but makes out a dark body a few feet away. He recognizes that hair, it's hard not to, so he reaches a hand over to the boy next to him, "Hey," he tries to get out, but his voice scratches worse than his mothers old Queen vinyl. So he tries again, "Hey."

This time, he's able to reach Katsuki's limp hand, feeling relief wash over him when the explosive teen still feels warm. That's a good sign, right?

Izuku army crawls to him across the cement, ignoring the constant throb in his left leg and the way his arms scrape against the ground. Once he reaches the other, he pulls himself onto his butt, making sure to keep his bad leg straight, and shakes Katsuki by his dusty chest. "Get up, Kacchan. We have to find the others."

Still, nothing.

Izuku takes a deep breath. He shouldn't worry, right? He was just unconscious a few seconds ago, Katsuki will wake up soon. So he lets himself lay with the ash blond for a few minutes, but nothing happens. He doesn't even flinch.

So maybe Izuku's getting a little worried now.

His clammy hands scramble to Katsuki's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. His own heartbeat only quickens until he finds it, at the very base of the ash blond's neck. Thank All Might he actually pays attention during class.

Izuku lets out a shaky breath, "O-okay," he says to calm himself. What should he do now?

He can't just wait.

Izuku's eyes shift down to his injured leg. He can't get somebody either.

So he takes it upon himself to do a full body assessment of his unconscious boyfriend, running his unsteady hands in the areas he can't quite see with his own eyes. His hands skirt down Katsuki's sides, and that's when he feels it.

Directly across from where he lay, there's something wet. And sticky. And then there's something hard. So Izuku takes a deep breath as he removes his fingers from the area in question, and—

It's blood.

It's fucking blood.

Panic alarms go off in the greenette's head, and he knows he shouldn't, but he looks anyway.

There's a chunk of cement pillar is stuck like a thorn in Katsuki's left side. Biting his lip until it blanches, Izuku whimpers. What is he supposed to do?

He takes the bloody hand, and feels for Katsuki's pulse again. His hearts still beating, but the wound looks deep. Like, really, really deep.

Quickly, Izuku remembers a hero protocol and feels around in Katsuki's ears, letting out a sigh of relief when his slippery fingers finally grasp the tiny communication device. He presses on it, there's something specific he's supposed to say in this situation, right?