Chapter Text
I’ll be remembering you
Whatever else I do
Midnight with the stars and you
- Ray Noble, ‘Midnight, The Stars and You’
-
Shouto can’t breathe.
After such a painful rejection by Eraserhead, he managed to find his way back to the empty rooftop, where he sits trying to pretend that he isn’t hyperventilating. It’s difficult, surprisingly.
“I don’t know you, kid.” Five minutes ago he had.
“I’m afraid I’ve never heard of you.” That is potentially even more alarming.
The Invisible Vigilante’s identity is unknown, yes, but the whole concept itself? Everyone has heard of it. Everyone is trying to solve the mystery.
It’s so dark, up here. He can hardly see a few metres in front of his face.
He can’t breathe.
Somehow he collects himself, although he has no idea how long it takes. He’s not calm by any means, but he tries to think rationally. He can’t just sit here freaking out forever. He has to figure out what is going on. To what extent all his progress has been undone…
He makes his way to Hawks’ apartment, slipping in through the window.
It’s suspiciously quiet inside, and empty. As he listens for any sign of life, he gets the distinct feeling that someone else is listening to him.
He steps forward onto a creaky floorboard, and barely hears the bedroom door slam open before he is knocked painfully to the ground, red wings looming over him, and a feather pressed against his throat.
“Who the fuck are you?” Hawks is hissing frantically. “How did you find this place?”
“Hawks-”
“You can’t be here. What the fuck?”
“I’m the Invisible Vigilante, you should have a note somewhere-”
“Never heard of you. And I don’t know what you mean by a note. If you don’t tell me why you’re here-”
A husky chuckle comes from the hallway. “Who’s this? Getting the birdie all flustered?”
“Oi, I told you to stay back there, Dabi.”
“Yeah, I don’t answer to you.”
“Five minutes ago you were singing a different tune,” Hawks mutters under his breath.
Touya saunters into the room, looking more dishevelled than usual. He looks at Shouto with mild interest. “Why don’t you just kill this brat?”
Shouto stares up at him, nausea building in his stomach. This isn’t right. “Touya-”
Whoosh.
He is nearly blinded by the blue flames as they scorch the floor where he once lay. He only just rolls away in time, thanks to instinctive reflexes, and his arm stings where it was caught.
That wasn’t a warning shot. Touya was aiming to kill.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are but you’re about to breathe your last fucking breath,” He stalks forwards, palms ablaze. His eyes, illuminated in the fire’s light, are consumed by bloodthirst.
“Why did he call you that-” Hawks is pale.
“He didn’t call me anything, and he won’t say a single word again, not once I’m done and his corpse is on the floor.” Touya hisses.
Everything seems to come into focus. All at once, Shouto understands.
“You really don’t remember me, do you? Not even you…” He tries to fight the tears welling up in his eyes. His vision starts to go blurry.
All he sees is the hazy blue, the glint of staples. His brother gives no verbal response, just pushing him up against the door, fingers tightening around his throat in a searing chokehold. Shouto desperately taps into his right side to counteract it, trying to create a barrier.
Eventually, from his foot placed on the floor, he sends a wave of ice out into the apartment, trapping both of them. He wastes no time booking it out the door, knowing Touya can melt the ice in a split-second. He has to get out of here, he has to figure out what to do…
Everything he worked for has been erased. No one remembers him at all. That much is certain… There’s only one person he can turn to now. And even then, there is no guarantee.
It’s horrible to even think about the possibility. But maybe he ought to expect the worst.
Maybe he ought to resign himself to being truly invisible again.
His feet lead him back to the rooftop, of course they do, and he doesn’t expect anyone to be there. He just wants to be alone, he wants to stare at the stars until his eyelids droop, and then maybe he can pretend it all was a bad dream. The stars won’t forget him, not like people do. They’re always there.
The rooftop isn’t empty, though.
Bakugou is sitting on the ledge, and he glances up at Shouto, “Thought you’d be here. I couldn’t sleep, so I…” He seems to falter a little. “The fuck is wrong with your face, Icyhot… Why do you look like that?”
Shouto could melt with relief, and yet his insides are still painfully knotted together. He can still feel the heat of Touya’s flames, he can still remember vividly the way that everyone looked at him like he was a stranger. Bakugou doesn’t, though - he’s glaring at Shouto, the same look he always looks at him with, slightly soft around the edges. There’s something else there along with the anger, but it’s something Shouto can never confidently identify.
He still remembers.
“Bakugou…” He says quietly, and the dam breaks. Everything he’d been holding inside comes spilling out, along with his tears.
A warm hand is on his shoulder. He leans into the touch, it’s the only thing that’s real, the only thing he has left. And he’s not naive enough to think that it can’t be taken from him too.
It’s all a fucking game, playing with his emotions. He’s so tired of being played with, of living a half-life.
“No one remembers anymore…” He explains through his tears. “Not Hawks, not even Touya… They all… You’re the only one I have left.”
Bakugou is quiet for a moment, but then his other hand gently cards through Shouto’s hair, and pulls him closer. “I’m not going anywhere.” He murmurs.
Awkwardly, Shouto brings his arms up to hug him. It feels clumsy and crosses an unnamed boundary, but he needs to hold him. He needs to hold onto the only person he has left. If he holds tight enough, maybe Bakugou won’t slip away.
“I don’t… I can’t lose you.” He sobs.
“And I said I’m not fucking going anywhere. I mean it.”
The world around them seems to fade, as they cling onto each other, breathing in sync.
Shouto sways on his feet a little, jostling Bakugou in the process, who pulls away and looks at him pointedly, “Sit down, you idiot, you look like you’re about to fall over.” His voice is softer than usual, like all of the sharp edges have been sanded down.
“Would you catch me?” Shouto asks, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
There’s a shove to his shoulder, throwing him off-balance, and he has no choice but to lower himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged. Bakugou sits beside him, eyebrows raised, “What now, then? How do we make them remember again?”
Shouto’s breath catches in his throat, “I don’t… I don’t know if we can.” He stares out at the city, and blinks frantically as it threatens to blur again.
“Won’t know if you don’t try,”
“Am I just going to spend the rest of my life trying?” The words spill out of him like oil into the ocean.
Bakugou doesn’t say anything, but his eyebrows furrow.
“I mean, what if my curse doesn’t break?” Shouto continues, quietly, firmly. “What if it can’t be broken?”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to give up after all this fucking time? Thought you were smarter than that.” Bakugou’s eyes are fixed upon him, but he’s not glaring. He almost looks concerned - Shouto belatedly realises that this must be what it looks like, on Bakugou’s face.
“I don’t want to...” He shakes his head, looking down at the ground, before lifting his head to meet Bakugou’s gaze once more. Hesitant, but unwavering, all at the same time. He takes a shaky breath. “But… you said that you weren’t going anywhere. If my curse can’t be broken, would you really continue to suffer through yours for my sake?”
“Yeah, I would. Guess that makes me pretty stupid, huh?” Bakugou’s voice is strained, cracking on every other word. “But I can’t….” His voice becomes quieter, “I can’t just give up on you.”
Shouto swallows thickly, his heart pounding. “Really?”
“Do I have to fuckin’ repeat everything ten times for you to understand it?” Bakugou’s mouth twitches, no venom behind his retort.
It’s almost fond, the way he says it. Every slight inflection is weighted with emotion that Shouto has learnt to untangle. Each syllable resonates heavily with the gaps between them, echoes of the words left unsaid.
But he doesn’t need to say it.
“No,” Shouto replies, “The message has been received.”
He leans forward, and kisses him. It’s brief, just lips gently touching. Yet it feels like it lasts for a century, time seems to fall away, it’s forever and it’s over too fast.
Once he pulls away, Shouto says, “I hope I didn’t interpret that wrong.”
Bakugou grins, “Nah, you got it. Loud and clear.”
He grabs Shouto’s head, gently pulling him in for another kiss. Shouto feels disorientated, light and floaty, like he’s in a dream. And yet he can feel every second of it, it’s like fireworks are going off at every point of contact. Even when they break apart, the feeling lingers.
For a moment, they just sit with their foreheads touching, breathing in sync. Bakugou takes Shouto’s hand, holding it carefully, as if it were an explosive in danger of blowing up. Shouto tightens his grip, smiling weakly.
“I’m not leaving you,” Bakugou repeats.
Shouto’s chest twists and ties itself into knots, but it doesn’t feel bad anymore. It feels warm, oh so warm, like sunlight breaking through on a cloudy day. The kind that you’d want to bask in forever.
“Bakugou… As long as you still remember me…” He murmurs, “I don’t think I care about the curse anymore. As long as I can be with you.”
Bakugou moves away slightly, his jaw tensing, “That ain’t fucking good enough. What about your stupid friends? You just gonna up and leave them?”
“I’m tired of this,” Shouto says, despite the pang of guilt it sends through him, “I’m so tired of trying when it gets me nowhere. You don’t… you don’t understand what it was like, before I met you. I had no one. And I’m just… I’m scared that if I keep trying, if I push too hard, I’ll end up like that again. I’ll lose you, too.”
“Not gonna happen, dumbass.” Bakugou says firmly, “That demon fucker can try to get rid of me all he likes, I ain’t budging.”
Shouto knows it doesn’t work like that. In a battle between Bakugou’s stubbornness and this creature of shadows, he knows who would win. But he’d like to believe otherwise.
“I know. And that’s enough for me. You’re enough.”
“Just because I’m the only bastard left standing-”
“That’s not why!” Shouto cuts him off, “If I could choose only one person to remember, it would always be you. I think I’ve known that for a long time.”
Bakugou sighs, shifting uncomfortably, “That’s why you’re stupid,” He mutters.
“You don’t have to do this for me. You don’t have to stay. But I’d like you to.”
“Asshole, I just said I would.”
Shouto still can’t quite believe it, but he inhales slowly, “Okay.”
“But this doesn’t mean we’re giving up, you understand? This isn’t giving up.”
“How so?”
“Because we’ve won,” He lifts their entwined hands, “We’ve already fucking won.”