Katsuki's POV:

I wake up to a sharp pain on my chest. I wake up gasping. I feel a pain in my arms and when I look up, I see that they're still cuffed and everything comes rushing back to me. I start crying and then another sharp pain hits me. I look down and see that it's Shigaraki. I cry harder and he smiles. "Oh so you're awake. I'm glad. You passed out while we were having fun, but don't worry I finished anyways," he says. I feel like everything is wrong.

He has a knife in his hands and cuts my chest deeply. I open my mouth to scream out in pain but nothing comes out. I just gasp as he cuts again and again. He cuts all around my chest as I just cry silently. I still don't have any clothes on and I'm still so ashamed. He soon runs out of space to cut on my chest and I've lost so much blood. He smiles at me and says, "Oh these cuts are so pretty, don't you think? I made them so that even your sweet Recovery Girl wouldn't be able to heal them. They'll be on your skin for the rest of your life." I let out a chocked sob and my whole body wracks with it.

It hurts so I wince and he laughs. He uncuffs me and I don't have any strength to move at all. I feel so dizzy and I look down at my chest to see blood all over my torso. The cuts are deep and scattered everywhere and some overlap each other. The pain is so excruciating and I just want to pass out. My wrists also hurt from where I was pulling on the cuffs. There's dry blood running down my arms. I grab my wrists and he pulls my hands. I groan in pain. "Agghh. I-I ca-an't brea-athe anymore," I breathe out. He's about to cut somewhere that would be more noticeable like my shoulders and arms when he stops suddenly. "Hm, should I cut here?" I shake my head quickly. I don't want people to be able to see the scars besides the ones that I've already made.

My crying and labored breathing sound so loud and my ears are ringing. I feel like everything is so much louder. He gets up and flips me around. My cuts are pressed down to the mattress and I scream out in pain. My breathing is mostly gasps for air and he starts cutting my back. There's blood everywhere. How have I not passed out from this yet? Please let me pass out. Or just end this all right now. Just please. I can't take this anymore. Let me die. I'm sorry for everything I've done, but right now, I just want this all to end.

There's a quick knock on the door and Shigaraki groans in annoyance. I sigh and stay still. I'm scared to move. It hurts so much. Shigaraki opens the door and it's that guy with the weird black and gray body suit. I think his name is Bubaigawara or something. "Um there are heroes attacking. You have to go now. They're asking for the Bakugo kid. They're really pissed and there are even two students here to fight," he says frantically. Shigaraki grunts and turns to me. "You! You piece of trash! You're nothing. They're only here for you to get publicity. They don't really care for you. You're a freak and you'll have scars on you for the rest of your life. Do you really believe that they like you? That they actually want to save you? If you do, you're delusional!"

He had crawled on top of me and flipped me around. "When they come in, they'll see who you belong to and just how weak you really are. You're disgusting. You whore," he spat. I winced at everything he said. He's right though. I am disgusting. They don't really care for me. Why would they? I've been nothing but terrible to them ever since I met them. There's no way that any of them like me. He smiles as he sees me. I think my face told him that he was completely right and that I had given up. There's no point. But I don't want them to see me like this either way.

I heard crashing and screaming in the distance. There were a lot of bangs and the other guy had run back to join the fight. The door was closed and Shigaraki took off his pants again. I squirmed and tried to take him off me. "No! You stay still," he said as he put the cuffs back on me. I was still bleeding a lot and my vision was getting blurrier. I felt like I was going to pass out any minute. I tried to fight him off, but I was too weak. I felt like the room was spinning as Shigaraki took off his underwear. The screaming got closer and it sounded like Kirishima.

"Bakugo! Where are you!? We're here for you!" I sobbed harder at his voice. It sounded broken and strained. He couldn't fake that, could he? I tried to yell, but all that came out was a rasped breath. "I'm here," I tried to yell, but it came out as a mere whisper. Shigaraki scowled and then positioned himself on top of me. I tried to kick him away but he just held my legs down with his. I wasn't very strong right now since I lost a lot of blood. I couldn't use my quirk or I'd get shocked. "S-stop. P-please, I don't w-want them to s-see me like th-this," I gasped out, hoping to get some sympathy out of him. He just smiled and shook his head.

As he was about to enter me again, the door opened. I was crying and trying to get Shigaraki off of me, when Mr. Aizawa entered the room. Shigaraki flew off of me when Mr. Aizawa threw him hard. I closed my eyes, embarrassed that he's seeing me like this. He quickly throws a blanket on top of me before going back to Shigaraki. As they're fighting, I'm gasping for air. I'm so out of breath and I'm about to pass out. My eyes are fluttering shut when I hear footsteps running towards the room at full force. Then there's yelling, "Katsuki! Hey Kirishima I found him! Oh my god! He's in here!" It's Shoto. My eyes shoot open and I turn to look at him. I try to pull my arms so that I can pull the blanket further up my body, to cover my chest.

He runs to me and takes off the cuffs. I wince and pull the blanket to my chest. It hurts and I wince, but I don't want him to see me like this. I immediately stopped myself from crying. Then Kirishima runs in, tripping over his feet. When he sees me he starts crying and runs towards me. "Oh my god, Bakugo. I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I look at him. Then I look at Shoto after he let's out a sob and he falls to his knees. "I promised you I'd keep you safe a-and look. You're in pain and I'm s-sorry. I'm sorry Katsuki!" Kirishima goes to help Mr. Aizawa who is already winning on his own. He had already trapped Shigaraki and took away his quirk. Kirishima just punched him with all his force and knocked him out. Shigaraki fell with a thud and Kirishima sighed in relief.

Then another pro came into the room and looked at me. When he did, he gasped. I'm still trying not to cry and then I look back at Shoto. "It's okay," I rasp out. He looks up at me and shakes his head. "No it's not. I told you that I'd protect you. I promised. I couldn't get here before they did anything to you. What did he do to you? D-did he-" He couldn't finish his sentence without letting out a sob. "W-we have to get you to a hospital. We need Recovery Girl. Where is she? I know she came with us," he said frantically. He ran out and not even a minute later, he was dragging Recovery Girl with him. "H-he um, he has cuts all over him. Can you heal them?"

I'm still sitting there. I don't know what to do. Everyone is looking at me. I feel small. They're all just looking at me. Another pro comes in and runs over to us. "Hey are you alright?" He puts his hand on my shoulder and I flinch. I start gasping for air again. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. That's all I can think. I rock back and forth, pulling at my hair. "Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me. Please don't touch me. Please, no. No. No. No. I can't," I breathe out. I feel everything. All the cuts, each and every one. The pain in my butt and back. How each breath is so hard to take in.

The pro who touched me, had stepped back. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Wait, what happened to him?" Shoto had stood up with Kirishima and blocked the guy's way to me. Recovery Girl was still by the bed. "Can you let me heal you? Can I touch you?" I looked at her as I kept rocking back and forth. Everything hurt. I nod at her. She gets closer to me and goes to kiss my chest. As she does so, she notices the collar on my neck. "What's that?" I look at her and start crying. "It's um, it's to p-prevent me f-from um using my quirk," I say. She nods and then kisses my chest quickly. I feel the drowsiness take over my body and I pass out.

~~~~~

Shoto's POV:

We took Katsuki to the hospital and he's been out for about a day. Recovery Girl had come in to heal him a few times, but she concluded that most of them couldn't be healed. I've been sitting here, next to his bed the whole time. I've been holding his hand, I haven't even slept or gone to the restroom. I'm scared that he'll wake up and I won't be there. Kirishima has been here since Katsuki got here too. He went to go get us some food and also went to grab a change of clothes.

I'm still thinking about everything that Katsuki went through. He hadn't had a huge panic attack in quite a while. He'd had some, but none that were very big. He freaked out yesterday and I completely understand why. If only I had gone to his house to pick him up. I could've been there to stop the League from taking him and prevented him from ever getting hurt again. I'm such a screw up. How can he feel safe around me now? I'll be more cautious. I'll go everywhere with him. Even if he doesn't want to be with me anymore. I'll be there for him. No matter what.

Kirishima comes back with a bag of food, some coffees and another bag. He puts the food down on the table and hands me the other bag. "Go change or shower or something. At least change," he says softly. He sounds so sad and broken. I know this hurts him just as much as it hurts me, but he's actually doing something. He's making sure that we're both doing as best as we can without Katsuki. He's making sure I'm okay. I nod and take the bag. I run out the room, I can't waste any time. I can't let him wake up with me not there. I find a restroom and run in. I quickly get into a stall and change. Then I put the clothes in the bag before doing my business. I haven't gone since before we raided Shigaraki's hideout.

I flush and wash my hands. Then I quickly throw some water on my face. I run out and back to the room with the bag in my hand. I open the door and see that he still hadn't woken up. I sigh and go to sit down with Kirishima. "How are you doing?" He just shrugs and hands me a plate of food. "I'm alright I guess. I mean I just feel like shit because this never should've happened. He's already been through so much and he really doesn't deserve any of it. He's an amazing person," he says as he starts crying. I nod as a tear escapes my eye. I hear a sniffle and I look at Kirishima, but it wasn't him.

I jerk my head to Katsuki and he's there. Awake. Crying. "Katsuki!? Oh my god. You're awake, I've missed you!" I get up quickly, almost throwing my food on the table. I walk over to him. "Can I hug you?" He looks at me and cries harder. I continue looking at him for approval and he finally nods. I hug him and he breathes in deeply. "You came for me," he whispers out. I pull away, shocked. "What?" He just looks at me and then Kirishima who's still dumbfounded. He snaps out of it and walks over Katsuki. He looks relieved as Katsuki opens his arms for him. "You guys came for me. Does that mean you really care?" I look at him sadly.

He's looking at his hands now. He's playing with his fingers. I look at Kirishima and he hides his face in his hands as he tries not to let out his sobs. "Katsuki, look at me," I say. He looks up slowly and he looks nervous. "Of course we care. We've always cared. Why would you think we wouldn't?" He shakes his head as he looks down sadly. "It's- I- Cause Shigaraki told me that you didn't. That you only dated me because you felt bad and the same thing with the rest of the class. That they were only being nice because they felt bad," he said quietly, as if saying it any louder would break him.

"What did he do to you Katsuki?" He freezes and then starts shaking violently. His breathing is heavy and broken. He starts sobbing and pulling at his hair. Kirishima looks at me frantically and I crouch down so that Katsuki can see me. When he notices, he looks at me as he's still hyperventilating. "Breathe with me. Remember? Just breathe with me," I say gently. I take a deep breath and after around 5 minutes, he gets his breathing back to normal. He's still crying and it makes my heart twist.

The door opens and Mr. Aizawa walks in. "He's awake, thank god. We're sorry Bakugo, we should've been there sooner," he says sadly. A tear escapes his eye and he walks towards Katsuki. "Can I hug you?" Katsuki nods and Mr. Aizawa hugs him warmly and thankfully. "I'm so glad you're okay. You really freaked us out. You were hurt pretty badly," he tells Katsuki. Katsuki doesn't talk. He just nods. I look at Mr. Aizawa and I see that Kirishima is too. Mr. Aizawa gets this pained look in his eye and stands up. "Well, do you want to hear what happened?" Katsuki looks up and nods.

"We arrested Shigaraki and he's locked up. He got a life sentence and we locked up the other villains at the hideout. There were around 10 including Toga, Dabi, Bubaigawara, and the others who had a hand in taking you. There's also some bad news. The cuts on your torso and back were deep and almost killed you. They won't be able to heal. They're going to be scars now. I'm sorry," he says sadly. Katsuki just nods. "I know, he told me they wouldn't heal," he says, voice breaking at the end. Kirishima just sobs and I look at him. He's so sad and guilt is clouding his eyes. "We'll help you Katsuki. We'll help you get better, okay?" Katsuki looks at him and tries to smile. It fails, so he just nods.

I take a look at Katsuki and his eyes seem so dull. So lifeless. As if he's already given up. It's worse than last time and he was getting better. He was getting better and then this happened. I'll never forgive myself for not keeping my promise. This wasn't just any promise, it was the most important promise I could make. There's no way he'd trust me ever again, but I'm going to try. He will trust me and I will live up to my promises. I'm going to make sure nothing happens to him. Absolutely nothing. "Hey bro, everyone came to visit you multiple times and they're all waiting in the waiting room. Do you mind if they see you?"

Katsuki looks Kirishima's way, but does make eye contact. "I-um I can't right now," He says as he shakes his head. Kirishima tries to stop crying. He takes a deep breath and let's out a shaky one. "I'll go tell them, okay?" Katsuki nods and looks back at his hands as tests silently fall. "Were they really all waiting for me?" I look at Mr. Aizawa and Kirishima stops in his tracks right at the door. He looks at Katsuki and says, "They really were waiting for you. They care too. Don't you ever doubt that okay Bakubro? You're always going to be important to us. All of us." Katsuki had looked up at him and actually smiled.

"Bakugo, you're eventually going to have to talk about what happened, okay? You don't have to tell us, but you'll have to tell someone. We're going to get you help and we're going to help you too. Is that alright?" Mr. Aizawa waited for an answer and what he got was, "Okay." I sigh in relief. I thought he'd absolutely refuse. "Can you leave? I want to be with Shoto," he says. Mr. Aizawa nods and Kirishima does too before they are both out the door. Mr. Aizawa closes the door behind him. Katsuki lets out a little sniffle. "Can I hug you?" He nods and scoots over on his bed for me to be with him. I get in and we lay down. He faces me and continues crying. I pull him into my chest and I hug him tightly. I rub his back gently and he hugs me too.

I just hold him as he cries and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't crying either. I missed him. I missed him so much and I thought I was going to die if he didn't wake up. I'd never felt so lost in my life. He's an important person in my life and if I lost him, I don't think I'd ever be able to recover. "I missed you so much Katsuki. I thought I'd die without you. I love you," I said. He stiffened and stopped crying. I realized what I'd said and we both looked at each other. His eyes were wide and filled with hope? "W- really?" I look down at him and nod. "Yes. I'm in love with you Katsuki. I am, and I have been for a long time. I'm in love with you," I tell him. He hugs me tightly and sighs into my chest. "I can't believe this. Shoto Todoroki is in love with me."

He seems so excited and I had no idea that me telling him that I loved him would do that. It makes me feel all warm inside. "Yes I'm in love with you. Katsuki, you're one of the most important people in my life. I've become accustomed to seeing you every day. I live to see you every day. When they took you, my whole world stopped. I had no idea how to function. You... You are worth everything. Don't let anyone tell you that I don't care about you. Especially not someone who hurts people because all he was trying to do was hurt you. He lied about everything he said. All of us care about you, okay?" He was crying again and held me tighter. I squeezed him and he nodded. "O-okay. Also, um Shoto?" I kiss the good of his head. "Yeah?" He pulls away and looks at me with his tear-stained face that breaks my heart into a million pieces.

"I'm in love with you too," he says with a smile. I swear I couldn't breathe at that moment. I let out a breath that I was holding and smile widely. "I thought I could never understand what love felt like. I thought that I never earned the right to know what it feels like. To be loved and to be in love, but you make me feel butterflies every single time I see you. You could be with me for a whole day and then go to the restroom for 3 minutes and when you come back, I get butterflies all over again. You still make me feel safe. Do you know that? You weren't with me when I got taken, so you really couldn't have done anything. You couldn't have predicted that they would take me on that day. I didn't either. I wasn't thinking about it, I was thinking about getting to you. Being around you makes me feel like eveything is right. I need a lot of help to get better, and I will tell you what happened. I just need time to calm myself down first though, okay? I will go to therapy or whatever I need to get to feel better, but I want you by my side," he says.

A few tears fall from both of our eyes. "I'll be here. I still can't forgive myself for letting you get taken. I promised you, and even if I couldn't predict that they were going to take you, I should've been there. I told you that I'd protect you, that means even if I couldn't predict that this was going to happen. Just know that I'll be there, right by your side always. No one else is going to touch you. If anyone bad so much as breathes wrong your way, I'll get them. I don't ever want you to go through something so horrific. I'll be here to hear what you have to say. Whenever you're ready to talk me about what happened," I tell him. He hugs me and I hug him back. He has his head buried in my chest.

"Are you okay to see the class now? I'm sure they're still waiting," I tell him. He takes a deep breath and nods. "But I want to see the scars first," he tells me. He sounds sad. I pull away and get off the bed. He sits up and takes off his shirt gown thing. He has some shorts on, so he's not naked or anything. I look away until he says I can look. I hear a sob and then he says, "O-okay, you can look now." The way he said it, broke my heart. I turn slowly and I see that his chest is covered in white scars that look horrible. I don't even want to know how bad it hurt when he got them. I gasp. I didn't expect for them to look so bad. "Um, do they hurt?" He shakes his head.

"Getting them did. It felt like I was being torn apart. I never thought it would end," he said shakily. "I hate them. They're so ugly. I-I don't want to live with these. I can't live with these. I don't want you to see me with these," he sobs out. My heart feels heavy and I want to carry all of his pain. "Katsuki, you'll be okay. Those scars aren't who you are. I'll make sure that when you look at them one day, you'll see how far you've come. You've gone through so much and scars won't destroy you. You're stronger than that and I know it. They also don't make you ugly. You're the most handsome person I've ever met. You're breathtaking," I tell him. He turns to look at me as tears stream down his face and he holds out his arms for me to hug him.

I do just that and I kiss him too. It's filled with passion, and after a while we both pull away. He sighs happily and says, "I'll never get used to that." I nod and say, "Me neither." We laugh and then I stand up. "Okay I'm gonna go call the class. Put on your shirt, I don't want anyone else seeing those nice abs," I say and wink at him. He blushes and I smile. His blush is so cute and I love making him flustered. He grabs his shirt as I exit the room with a small smile on my face. I'm going to help him get better. I'll do it over and over and over again if it means he's happy. That's all I want for him.

I walk into the waiting room and see everyone sitting and waiting. They're all worried and when they see me with a smile, they all get hopeful. "How is he?" "He's okay right?" "Is he okay?" "Can we see him?" There's a whole bunch of questions and I can't even understand all of them. "Okay!" Everyone goes quiet. I smile, satisfied with their reaction. "So Katsuki is okay right now. He said you guys can come in, but don't stay for too long, he needs his rest. Also, don't bombard him with questions. If you got that, then follow me," I tell them. I start walking down the hall and when I get to the room, I knock.

I hear a quiet, "Come in." I open the door and the class enters behind me. They all look so happy to see Katsuki up and moving. Well, he's not walking around or anything, he's just not unconscious which is a big deal. They're all quiet and then Kaminari says, "Dude we missed you so much. We were all so worried. We're glad you're okay." The class agrees and they just look at him. Kirishima pushes past them and sits at the table with the food on it. He opens a plate and passes me one. I grab it and walk to Katsuki. I motion to the food and he nods. I grab another fork and he scoots over. The class just watches as we get comfortable.

"Thank you guys for caring. I really appreciate it. It makes me feel... important. You know?" The class is just shocked by his response. It sounds so, just not like him. It's heartbreaking. "Kacchan, we care about you a lot. You're a part of our class and you're so important. You've helped us all be better heroes. The way you always strive to be the best makes us all try harder. Even if it was just an act, you were the one that did it. You were strong enough to make us better," Midoriya says. The rest of the class adds in stuff, agreeing with Kaminari and Midoriya. Katsuki looks really greatful and I can tell he's trying his best not to cry. He just keeps moving the food around the plate, trying to distract himself from the fact that he wants to cry.

He just nods at their comments. After a while he takes a very deep breath and looks up. "You have no idea how much this means to me guys," he says. Some people start crying and others nod. "We're always here for you dude," Kaminari says. The class nods and after a while, they all leave. Katsuki has eaten and he looks lost in thought. We both split half and Kirishima had also left after making sure that we'd be okay. "What's on your mind Katsuki?" He looks up and me and smiles brightly. "You're in love with me."

***
Word Count: 4725
Ahhh so ik I'm SUPER DUPER late. It's 4:12 in the morning and yeah, fuck me. I'm so sorry, I just couldn't write because my friends were around me the whole weeked and I didn't have enough time to write. I had to find time to get away from them just to write. Ik, excuses excuses, but I'm really sorry. I hope you all had a great new years eve and happy new year!! It's crAzy. This year passed my pretty quickly. I also celebrated Christmas today cause we couldn't on actual Christmas. It was really fun and yeah, but every time I tried to get away to write something really quick, I'd get caught so I had to be there. I love you all and thank you guys for the comments and votes. I'll fix typos when I can and idk if they're really bad, so I apologize for those. The next chapter will go up on Friday <3