bkdk winter week, day 4: scarves ft. protective Kacchan :D
Just a small silly comics that took me way longer than I wanted (originally I planned to include also an animation buuuuut), but I learned a thing or two from it! I need to work on my comics abilities a lot, haha.
(I’m switching styles faster than Izuku manifests new quirks lmao, sorry)
For Bakudeku Winter Week. Hypothermia prompt. Angst 🏔
“Kacchan no!!!!!”
Katsuki heard Izuku scream, but it was too late to stop his momentum as he sent a large explosion towards the villain. In his zealousness, he’d failed to notice the tenuous snow bank perched on the cliffs above the plateau. Like a slow motion movie, all he could to do was watch in vain as the snow drift cracked in a deep, rumbling roar and rushed towards their positions. But instead of running away, Katsuki ran towards his partner who was closer to the wall of snow gunning for them.
“Fuck!!!” Katsuki screamed Izuku’s name, but the sound of the snow was too loud and drowned out his hearing. The last thing he remembered was seeing his friend over taken, seconds before he too was buried alive.
He didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious for, but when he awoke, the first thing he did was scream Izuku’s name. His body was shivering, with freezing stinging pains, lips chapped and dry. Damn how long had they been under?! Katsuki couldn’t move any part of his body because the snow was so compact, it was like being encased in cement. Fuck no, he wasn’t dying here! He fought against the cold bindings, screaming and cursing, wriggling but it was no use. Adrenaline kicked in. His temperature was dropping too quickly to produce sweat, but thankfully one gauntlet had not been ripped from his arm. Katsuki created a flurry of tiny explosions, each one melting the snow around him. First his arm, torso, and as he created more space, he could add body movement to fight against the enclosure until finally, he could see light.
With a last desperate push, he dug himself out and popped out the top of the snow drift, heart dropping the instant he broke free. The entire landscape had changed. Where once they been standing was a deep layer of snow and only tops of trees remained visible. Katsuki screamed for Izuku as he scrambled on top of the dense snow field. Over and over, praying to find his friend before hypothermia set in. Izuku’s body didn’t have the same reserves as his did, so he knew the man’s chances were lower for survival.
“Izuku?!?!? Talk to me!!!!”
Fuck this was all his fault! If his friend died, it was his fault! His own stupid reckless behaviors taking the life of Izuku would kill him too.
And that’s when he sees it a few yards away, two gloved fingers barely sticking out of the snow that weren’t moving.
“Izuku?! Fuck! Fuck!” Katsuki trudged towards the man’s position, slowed considerably when his legs sunk into the white powder. He screamed and blasted little explosions of heat in his path to melt what he could. It was excruciatingly slow! “Izuku! Izuku!”
Once he reached the location, he dug furiously at the snow encasing Izuku. Tossing clumps of white left and right, growing more and more angry and frustrated as it collapsed back into the hole he dug. Katsuki got as far as the man’s waist and started to tug with all his might to pull him out. But as precious minutes ticked by, even this took a herculean effort. Izuku was an unconscious dead weight whose legs were pinned by the compacted snow.
He tried not to focus on the bad signs, the blue tinged lips and ears, cold— cold skin and shallow breathing. So instead, Katsuki keyed in on how serene the man looked in the sleep-like state, or how the ice crystals sparked on the tips of Izuku’s eyelashes. “Don’t worry, Izuku, I’m gonna get you outta here. Y-You’ll be fine. Y-You’re gonna be fine, I promise to god you’ll be fine! So stay the fuck with me! Do you hear me Izuku, don’t you dare die on me or I’ll... I’ll...” Katsuki couldn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t even know why he was talking to an unconscious man, maybe it was for himself? To be like Izuku, right? Think positively! They were heroes! And heroes don’t give up hope!
Okay, now what? Katsuki quickly assessed the situation. He’s only got one gauntlet, so he hoisted Izuku onto his other shoulder and used the free hand to blast his way into the air. It was a bitch to stick to a direction, but through sheer determination he kept going. They’d been close to the mountain summit and the nearest town was at its base 3 miles down. When he sensed his reserves hit the half way point, Katsuki switched tactics and found a fallen log to use like a snowboard. “We’re almost there,” he talked as he glided, “so stay with me Izu!” The man had started to shiver on his shoulder. Was that a good sign since he hadn’t been earlier? Fuck, he should have paid better attention during disaster training. “Hold on Izuku...”
The hospital kept Izuku in a semi-induced coma while his body healed. He had a couple of fractured ribs, tissue damage in his neck along the vertebrae similar to whiplash, as well as the lingering affects of moderate hypothermia. The doctors told Katsuki, his quick actions had saved the man before the affects could have been worse, but that didn’t make the hero feel any better. It was his recklessness that put Izuku in this predicament in the first place.
For two days Katsuki stayed by Izuku’s bedside holding his hand, waiting for any change. On the morning of the third day, they’d taken the man off the respirator and sedatives but he remained asleep. Doctors assured Katsuki that this was normal and he’ll be okay. It still hurt to see Izuku like that, wrapped in thermal blankets with tubes and wires, all the monitors beeping in an otherwise silent room like a judgmental siren. Always reckless... how many times had he been berated and chastised by teachers, mentors, media for charging in without thinking.
Late that evening after Katsuki had started to doze off in his chair, he felt it, the soft squeeze of his hand. He lifted his head to see no change in Izuku’s position, eyes still closed. But there it was a second time, a little stronger than the first.
“Deku?” Katsuki squeezed back.
“Kacchan...” it was faint from Izuku’s lips like a whispering breeze.
“I’m here, Deku,” Katsuki squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the building tears. It felt so damn good to finally hear his friends voice again.
“I heard you... Kacchan. You called me by my name... it was so nice. I knew I’d be okay when I heard it.”
Katsuki thought back to the things he’d said back on the mountain. At the time it was all about getting his friend to safety that he hadn’t realized, that’s right... he didn’t call the man Deku for once— he’d called him by his real name. He squeezed Izuku’s hand tightly as the trapped moisture spilled from the corners of his eyes. He grit his teeth as he spoke to hide the fact he was crying. “Y-Yeah, I did. You know I always got your back.”
“Mmhmm,” Izuku smiled as he settled back into his slumber.
