Pro hero Red Riot gets hit with a quirk called “sleeping beauty” that sends him into a full coma. The villain knows how long their quirk will last, but they never tell. They just enjoy watching the emotional downfall of Ground Zero far too much to give it up.

It’s the best moment of their life when they get to see the pain and desperation in his eyes as they tell him they have the ability to reverse the quirk before the time is up. They /love/ the agony that follows when they swear to him that they never will.

there’s tv in the prison, so they get to witness the hero get more reckless. they laugh when he finishes off a villain by himself and lets out a heartbreaking roar while the camera zooms in on his crying face. he never took a new partner. he works with eijirou or he works alone.

they get kind of pissed with how the media adores the gruff hero with the tragic love story and his rankings shoot through the roof when he tears up during an interview where he’s asked about Red Riot’s condition.

they get put in solitary for their annoyed outburst when a very determined Ground Zero looks straight into the camera and says “I’ll never give up on him. He can stay asleep for the rest of my fucking life and I’ll stay by his side.”

about two years after the initial incident, kirishima’s parents hold a wake of sorts. they aren’t giving up on him waking up, but one of the first people affected by this villains quirk is /still/ asleep, over twenty years later.

the media covers it, and the villain gets off on how wrecked Ground Zero looks. sure, he keeps a brave face when he’s working, but if the paparazzi photos are anything to go by, he’s not doing well at all.

they wish their quirk wasn’t so kind to the victims, it’s named sleeping beauty for a reason. anyone effected by it doesn’t age or decay the way a regular comatose patient would. they would’ve loved to see Ground Zero deal with Red Riot becoming only a shell of himself.

but they have to settle for watching the explosive hero himself grow in strength and ability as the passion in his eyes dims.

Red Riot’s been asleep for nearly four years when Ground Zero shocks everyone by allowing the most popular hero magazine publish a photo of him kissing his husbands forehead while tears run down his face.. on the cover.

he does a fully candid (and vulgar) interview on his marriage and how he’s coped without him, or really /hasn’t/ coped. gives a large fuck you to the villain in the form of a new promise that he will /never/ give up on him.

Ground Zero’s heartfelt interview goes down as one of the most iconic and genuine glimpses of the other side of the life of pro’s and his ratings boost even more. if he had known he’d have to lose eijirou to become number one, he would’ve given up that dream years ago.

the villain enjoys seeing the disappointment that plagues every hero lover and most of the country on every anniversary of Red Riot’s fall, all hoping that this year will be the year it finally ends and he wakes up.

none of them understand it’s a matter of days, not years.

they take extra enjoyment in the five year mark when Ground Zero nearly levels a skyscraper when he lets his grief get the best of him. they have to appreciate this year as much as possible, the 2000th day is coming up.

katsuki isn’t going to give up, ever, but everyone around him almost wishes he would. they see the way it kills him to watch eijirou laying nearly lifeless every day, and yes, he does see him /every/ day.

he still spends ridiculous amounts of money on birthday and anniversary gifts for him, he still cooks enough for two because he doesn’t want to get out of the habit before eijirou comes home, and he still wears his wedding ring on a silver chain around his neck.

no one wants to tell him to move on, but everyone else in eijirou’s life has accepted the fact they may not even live to see the day he opens his eyes again. katsuki won’t live to see the day he ever accepts that.

eijirou was the first person to truly love him for who he is, to stand by him and support him, to make him a better person just by existing, if he believes he’ll never get his husband back he won’t believe in anything. he won’t believe in living.

not that he’d kill himself, he’s not blind to the positive effects his career has on the world, and he still has other things to live for, but situational depression is a bitch and he hasn’t truly lived a day without eijirou by his side.

he contemplates putting himself in a coma when eijirou doesn’t stir on the five year mark. he’d been so hopeful, so desperate, that this year would be the year ei comes back to him, and losing that hope felt like a knife in his chest.

he replays the fight in his head a million times. he could’ve been stronger, he could’ve taken it more seriously, if it’d happened now he could’ve easily saved him. but it didn’t, it happened when he was a stupid kid who thought too highly of his own abilities.

he has nightmares almost every night of watching that scene over and over again. the way eijirou’s body jolted like he’d been shot, the way his quirk deactivated the second he was hit, the way he fell to the ground like a lifeless doll. it’s haunting.

but ei is still warm, he’s still breathing, his heart’s still beating. and as long as even /one/ of those things stays true, katsuki will never lose hope.

“I’m not fucking leaving.”

“Dude, do we seriously /still/ have to have this argument? You need to go home.”

“They said there was a spike in brain activity. I’m not fucking leaving.”

“That was almost a week ago! You’ve been wearing the same clothes, you haven’t showered, you’ve basically grown a full beard! You have to go home, Ei wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself.”

“Tough shit, he has to wake up and tell me himself.”

kaminari hates hearing tears in bakugou’s voice, but he’s almost gotten used to it over the past five years.

“Dude, please. Work needs you too, you know he’d rather you be doing that than sitting in a hospital room staring at a heart monitor.”

it takes another fifteen minutes of arguing before katsuki agrees to go home in the morning, and that’s really as soon as denki could hope for.

katsuki does his full routine before leaving, which includes playing eijirou’s favorite song, kissing his head, and reminding his comatose husband how much he needs him back.

——

it’s an empty hospital room that gets to witness kirishima eijirou fall out of his bed and groan on the floor.

“What the /fuck/?”

the nurses all stare at each other with horrified expressions. the heart monitor in room 502 just flatlined.

it’s not that they don’t care about their other patients, but almost everyone in the /country/ has a soft spot for the pro hero tragic love story, and a few of them had even met Red Riot before his downfall.

it doesn’t take them long to rush to the room, but it’s long enough for their hearts to break for Ground Zero, who they’ve all come to love like a dear friend.

imagine their surprise when they burst into the hospital room to see a redhead standing on wobbly legs, trying to clip the heartbeat detector back on his finger.

“Oh, fuck. I’m sorry, I kind of fell off the bed and it came off, didn’t mean to scare anyone!”

they all stare at the bright, shark toothed smile no one expected to witness again.

“Is my- uh, is Ground Zero here? Is he alright?”

eijirou understands why katsuki prefers to keep their relationship under wraps, he wants people to know him as a hero before they know anything about his personal life.

he’s a little uncomfortable with how the nurses are staring at him, and kind of confused as to why one of them sprinted from the room like she was on the most important mission of her life.

his heart drops when they don’t answer his question for a full minute. if something happened to katsuki after he was knocked out-

they seem to notice his fear, and one of them blurts out

“He’s fine! We’ll call him right now! Holy shit.”

he’s never really heard a nurse curse before. she’s kind of cool.

“So, uh, why am I here? I feel fine, just a little hungry.”

he chuckles a bit at the end to try and lighten whatever this weird mood is. again, a nurse runs from the room on a mission.

“He’ll get you a hamburger.”

“Oh hell yeah, I love those!”

“Yeah, we know... Kirishima told us a lot.”

kirishima? but he’s- wait.

“You know about me and Katsuki??”

“Oh man, um, kind of the whole world knows? It’s a super complicated story, I’ll let Kiri- Ground Zero tell it when he gets here, it’ll probably be about five minutes.”

five minutes? but they don’t live anywhere near a hospital.

“Did he not go home?”

“Oh uh, no, he did. He lives in the building next to us. Yeah, I’ll- I’ll let him explain everything.”

-
getting a call from the hospital is always nerve wracking. it’s usually nothing serious, like asking if katsuki gives the go to run some tests or that they’ve gotten test results back. but with how frantic the nurse sounds, he can only think of the worst.

“He’s- He-“

“He’s fucking what?!”

“He’s awake!”

katsuki thinks his heart may have stopped for a second. he’s awake? he’s /really/ awake?

he can’t stop the loud sob he lets out and he honestly doesn’t give a shit. he’s running as fast as his legs can take him before his brain even catches up to what’s going on.

-
what a weird way to tell him why he’s in the hospital. why does katsuki have to explain it? is it like, something intimate? if his clothes got blown off it’s really not that big of a deal.. maybe katsuki’s mad at him for acting recklessly? but he really wasn’t..

he’s sitting on the side of the bed, halfway through coming up with a third scenario when the door nearly flies off it’s hinges. hot damn what’s up with him?

wait, really, what the hell is up with him? why does he look like-

eijirou can’t even finish his thought before he’s fucking tackled off the bed by his sobbing(?) husband. he doesn’t fall out of bed for years and then twice in one day..

“Kat, what’s going on? Hey, look at me.”

he only gets more confused when katsuki pulls back and looks at eijirou with a much more rugged face than he had a few hours ago.

how the hell did he get that scar? and what’s with all the stubble? there’s no way his muscles actually grew /that/ much since their fight.

suddenly his crying husband is kissing him like he needs it more than anything and eijirou doesn’t have the heart to tell him it’s kind of gross with all the tears and snot on his face.

“I missed you so fucking much, Eijirou. I can’t- I can’t believe you’re awake. You did it, you finally fucking came back to me.”

“Katsuki.. Please tell me what’s going on.”

“You were in a coma for five and a half years, asshole.”

“I was WHAT?!”

“Jesus christ Eijirou, right in my fucking ear.”

“Sorry, just- What?”

“That villain, some fucked up quirk that knocks you out but keeps you young, didn’t know how long it’d be, can we go back to making out now?”

“What the hell?! And not until you wipe your nose.”

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too, Kat.”

he wasn’t expecting that to make katsuki sob harder and bury his face in eijirou’s neck, but if he really was out for /five years/ he can definitely understand him being emotional.

“Say that again, fuck, say that forever.”

“I love you so much, Katsuki.”

they just lay there for a while, with katsuki crying about how much he missed him and eijirou crying because katsuki’s crying.

it’s bittersweet, eijirou missed five whole years, and he did this to his husband. he’s the reason katsuki’s nearly having a breakdown from his relief. if only eijirou had dodged that-

“I fucking knew you’d wake up you piece of shit.”

“Oh come on, is that really a way to talk to your newly resurrected husband?”

“Don’t fucking say that. You didn’t die, you never died.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Katsuki.”

“Don’t apologize to me, you fucking came back, you don’t need to apologize for shit.”

“I love you so much, Katsuki, and I really hate to ruin the moment, but can we move to the bed? My back hurts.”

“You’re so annoying.”

eijirou doesn’t miss the pure affection in katsuki’s eyes when he looks at him. it was always there before, and he’s always loved it, but he’s never seen it so.. condensed. like he’s trying to convey all of his love from the past five years in a single look.

“I have a better idea, let’s go home.”

checking out of the hospital isn’t even that hard, there was enough evidence that the quirk’s effects all end at the same time without any lasting issues, so he’s basically free to go.

he’s changing back into his regular clothes when he notices the ring hanging from katsuki’s neck. it makes him smile for a moment before he realizes it’s unfamiliar to him and his stomach drops.

“Katsuki, d-did you get remarried?”

he feels a bit guilty when he looks at his husband’s(?) incredibly offended expression. he watches katsuki follow his line of sight to the ring and make a quiet “oh”.

“It’s the same fucking ring, you dumb bastard. I just got it engraved.”

he’s visibly uncomfortable removing it, but he still hands it over. eijirou can feel tears running down his cheeks when he reads what’s on the slightly damaged ring.

“It has to be you.”

-
his first stop once he’s home is the kitchen.

“Fuck, dude, I am /starving/. That guy nurse was gonna get me- Where’s all the food?”

“I um, I don’t live here anymore.”

“What?”

“I moved into an apartment closer the hospital. It’s not a big deal, I bought new shit for the other place, everything’s the same here.”

eijirou wants to cry again. katsuki really left their house exactly how it was when he was around. he can’t imagine how horrible it must’ve been for him, he would be a wreck if their roles were reversed.

he feels horrible about what katsuki must have gone through, all because he let himself get hit by some dumb quirk. he’s going to spend the rest of his life making it up to him.

starting with something that’s definitely more of a mutually beneficial activity.

“So does that mean the bedroom’s still.. stocked up. Like, with the sex stuff?”

“You have no fucking idea how long I’ve waited for you to say some stupid shit like that.”

cw: nsfw
i’ll mark when it’s over for if you wanna skip that

eijirou is tugging his clothes off and jumping into bed before katsuki even gets in the room. sure, it feels like he was just here yesterday, but he and katsuki have just been so busy and- basically, he’s horny.

he’s in his boxers, digging through the nightstand drawer, when he feels the warmth of his husband latching onto his back. he still manages to grab the lube with his arm that isn’t trapped in the death grip katsuki has on him.

“These are nice, Kat. Did you change the sheets?”

he feels katsuki tense behind him.

“No.”

“Babe, you totally did. I was here like, yesterday. I’m just saying these are some nice sheets.”

“I didn’t change the fucking sheets!”

ah, so he hasn’t lost his stubbornness in the past few years.

“Yeah, sure. Wait, did you get new lube?”

“No.”

“Katsuki, dude, it’s literally more full than it was last time I was here. It looks like it’s been used maybe twice.”

as soon as he’s said it, he realizes he never wanted to know that. new sheets, new, slightly used lube..

“Kat, did you- did you ever.. date?”

“What? Of course I didn’t fucking date, I’m married.”

“Well, okay, maybe not date.. Just- Like, did you ever have a, uh, physical relationship with anyone?”

he doesn’t like how uncomfortable katsuki seems behind him. he wishes they were facing each other, but then again, could he watch him say-

“It’s totally fine if you did! I understand, really dude, five years is a long time and I-“

“I come here to fucking jerk off, Eijirou! Fucking hell, you embarrassing asshole...”

“Stop laughing at me you dick!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m not laughing at /you/, I’m laughing at how you just lied twice to keep from telling me that.”

“Shut up, it’s weird.”

“What? It’s not weird of you to do that, masturbating is norm-“

“That’s not what I meant. Just, I don’t even live here anymore, but I- I can’t get off if I’m not in this bed, okay? It’s fucking weird.”

eijirou’s heart breaks at every reminder of how much he made katsuki suffer, but it’s so hard to wrap his head around when he feels like he was waking up in here less than a day ago.

“Kat, can you let up a little?”

“No.”

“Come on, babe. I wanna look at you.”

“Fine, but it’s not free.”

he gets enough wiggle room to turn around and face his husband, who has that look of awe on his face again.

“What’s the price?”

“Kiss me, shitty hair.”

•
“Oh that sounds like more of a reward than a payment..”

“Just shut up, Eijirou.”

it doesn’t feel real. none of it feels real.

and that’s exactly how he knows it is. in his dreams where eijirou is awake, he never questions it. he always just exists in ignorant bliss until his alarm comes to rip his heart out. but not today, not now.

in katsuki’s dreams, he was only an actor playing the part of himself. the fake eijirou couldn’t improvise, he couldn’t go off script.

which is why it’s so incredible to watch the dumbass next to him squirt too much lube on his hand, say “whoops”, wipe it on the bed, and then proceed to realize he wiped a glob of lube on the sheets and give katsuki a guilty, apologetic smile. holy fuck, he missed him so much.

“Katsu? You okay?”

“I’m fucking fine, just glad you’re home.”

he didn’t even understand the extent of happiness he’d feel when he finally got to see that bright grin again.

“Aww Kat, when’d you get so sappy?”

“When my husband went into a fucking coma and I had literal years to think about how much I love him.”

eijirou looks surprised right before he tears up a bit. hah, probably didn’t expect katsuki to admit to becoming a sap.

he lets out a little “mm” and katsuki’s suddenly hyper aware of where eijirou’s arm is.

“Have you been fingering yourself this whole time, you freak?!”

“Multitasking, Katsuki, I wanna sit on your dick as soon as possible.”

fuck, he almost forgot how little eijirou has to do to get him hard.

he’s never cried during sex before. okay, maybe once when he was like, sixteen, but it was fucking overwhelming to actually have sex with the person he was painfully in love with. sue him.

anyway, he never cries during sex, but laying on his back, watching eijirou sinking down on his cock while making the sounds even his memory had lose, may or may not be making his eyes water.

“Oh fuck Katsuki, do you have any idea how hot you are like this?”

“What? Where’d that come from?”

trying to talk while panting is.. difficult. but he never wants to hear eijirou be completely silent again.

“Just, ah, you’re fucking ripped. You, ah fuck, you’re almost bigger than me, still got that waist though. The stubble is really hot too.”

“Fuck no I’m not, you brute, if I was as big as your heavy ass I would be stuck on the ground like you are.”

“That’s not fair! My weight has nothing to do with that. Why do you always brag about flying, asshole.”

even just watching his husband jokingly pout with his dick inside him is perfect.

“Will you fucking move? You’re killing me, Ei.”

eijirou gives him that smirk that says he’s about to get his brains squeezed right out of his dick and he is /ready/.

he wasn’t expecting ei to go so slow, but he’s certainly not complaining. it’s as if eijirou can see how much this means to him right now, how much it means to be so close like this again.

he probably /can/ see it, he’s always been so good at reading katsuki. apparently, he still is, even with how much he’s changed.

“I love you so much, Kat. You have no idea.”

alright, maybe he /does/ cry during sex now.

eijirou doesn’t tell him to stop crying, just smiles down lovingly and pulls katsuki’s hands to his hips. he hasn’t touched him in so long.

of course he hugged him and held him sometimes when he was out, just to feel his warmth and pretend he was only napping or something, but he hasn’t touched his skin like this, or felt his muscles actually moving.

he’s barely even focused on coming, he’s just so preoccupied by all the other strong emotions and sensations. feeling eijirou actually touching him back, feeling his kisses again, feeling calloused hands gently wiping the tears from his cheeks.

god, they’re both such crybabies. to eijirou, it’s only been hours since they last saw each other, but he’s still definitely following katsuki’s overly emotional lead.

he’s glad eijirou’s riding him. not that he doesn’t love it in every other position too, but he’s had too many nightmares where they’re having sex and suddenly he’s comatose underneath him. far too many.

“Kiss me.”

he’s barely finished saying kiss by the time ei’s leaning over him to lock their lips together. katsuki can’t even put it into words how much he appreciates the leisurely, intimate pace.

there’s no way eijirou doesn’t understand how important it is for katsuki to have them connected like this again.

it reminds him of their “honeymoon”, when they were still new heroes and didn’t want to actually leave the city in case something happened, so they just took time off and spent a week relaxing together.

a week that definitely included a lot of very emotional sex, and also quite a bit of intense fucking but that’s unimportant right now.

“Hey, Kat, look at me. I’m right here.”

he hadn’t even realized he’d nearly started sobbing while repeating “I missed you” out loud.

he’s surprised he’s even been able to stay hard, but that’s just the power of feeling eijirou around him and hearing his deep, sweet moaning again.

“You make me feel so good, Katsuki. Fuck, so perfect.”

he doesn’t even care if he’s putting them in kind of a weird angle by caging ei to his chest, he needs to be close.

apparently it’s not a /horrible/ angle, based on how eijirou’s moans are growing in volume with every thrust. oh fuck, he just realized how much he’s /dying/ to make his husband come again.

ei’s being held so tight he can only get access to katsuki’s neck to kiss and suck on, but they both know how sensitive he is there.

maybe it’ll only last a second, but he’s going to try and pretend eijirou never left. that they’re just a regular married couple, having sex in the bed they bought together, only focused on loving and getting each other off.

it works well enough that katsuki’s brain moves to his other head. he’s picked up the pace to a point that he can feel the burn his thighs, but he’s not slowing down a bit with how many pretty sounds he’s getting eijirou to make.

“Holy shit, Katsu, I’m close.”

just what he wanted to hear, especially now that he doesn’t know if he can last much longer. to be fair, he’s basically been blue balled for five years, it makes sense he’d be a little bit.. premature.

he holds eijirou even tighter as he starts thrusting up into him with everything he has. he can feel ei rubbing against his stomach to get the friction he needs to finish.

“Come on, baby. Come for me.”

the way his husband shudders in his arms as he spills over both of them with katsuki’s name on his lips is more than enough to have him pumping his own come deep inside eijirou. he just fucked his husband. in real life. wow.

“Holy fuck, Kat, the new muscles aren’t just for show, huh?”

he pulls out but doesn’t let go. he never wants to let go, luckily, eijirou doesn’t seem to have any complaints with that.

“Hey, Kat?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we like, call my moms?”

oh shit, they probably should’ve done that a while ago.

—

“EIJIROU?!”

“Hey Mama.”

he can hear some muffled yelling on the other side of the line that he knows means she’s calling to his mom.

his suspicions are confirmed when he’s put on speaker phone.

“Eijirou, say something.”

“Uh, hi?”

his guilt is renewed when both of his parents start crying on the phone. he hurt so many people..

“This isn’t some fucked up joke? It’s really you?”

“Yeah, Mom, it’s me I promise.”

“Say something only Eijirou would know.”

“Uh, oh! When I first dyed my hair and I went downstairs to show you, you screamed because you thought someone broke in.”

“I did not /scream/, you just surprised me. Oh my god, Eijirou. I can’t believe-“

“Tell Katsuki we’re coming over.”

“Mama, right now? It’s a long train ride from Chi-“

“We live in your city now Eiji, we’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

he jumps about a foot in the air when something or rather, someone, bangs into the door like they’re trying to break it down.

“KIRISHIMA KATSUKI OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

he’s pleasantly surprised with katsuki’s affectionate chuckle at ei’s mom’s screaming. he always got along with eijirou’s parents, but ei never saw them this close. it’s /really/ nice.

he’s nearly tackled for the second time that day when he opens the door. luckily, he’s still got his strength and they’re still quite a bit shorter than him, so catching his flying mothers is still something he can do.

it’s a very emotional night for everyone, but eijirou feels out of place, even though he’s the center of attention.

he hasn’t been here, this doesn’t feel like his life. it feels like he’s standing in for an older, stronger version of himself.

his husband is so different from the man he was with yesterda- no, five years ago. five. years.

his mothers have aged so much, probably even more than they would have if they weren’t grieving.

the pit in his stomach only grows when he thinks about what happens now. katsuki’s probably outgrown him.

oh god, he’s still so young and stupid there’s no way a mature katsuki will want to stay with him, he was lucky enough to rope him in when they were almost equals, now he’s probably so strong and he’ll see how weak and useless eijirou still is and he’ll regret waiting for hi-

“EIJIROU.”

he blinks away his tears to look up at his very concerned husband and his equally concerned parents behind him.

“I’m sorry, I- I need to go to the bathroom.”

he gets a few minutes to breathe and cry quietly in the master bathroom before there’s a soft knock on the door.

“Ei? Can I come in?”

he wants to say no. what if seeing him like this only makes him realize how disappointing the real eijirou is? what if he’s only been awake for a day and katsuki will already decide to leave?

“Okay.”

he hates how worried katsuki looks when he opens the door. why is eijirou always hurting him?

“Hey, it’s alright. Sorry, today’s probably been overwhelming for you.”

“Did they leave?”

“Yeah, but they’re coming back tomorrow. Come here.”

he melts into his husband’s arms that feel so different from what he’s used to.

“I’m not your equal anymore.”

“What the fuck? Of course you are.”

“I’m not, Katsuki. You’ve grown so much and I’m just- I didn’t get to grow with you.”

“Stop it. That shit doesn’t fucking matter, Eijirou. I waited five years for /you/, not for your god damn fighting abilities.”

“But I’m- What if new you doesn’t love old me?”

katsuki makes an offended noise.

“I never stopped loving “old you” so that’s a fucking stupid question. I don’t want you worrying about this shit, okay? I love you, I’m just glad you’re home.”

he’s carried to bed and he knows damn well katsuki wouldn’t have been able to hold him like that before, so there’s definitely some plus sides to his new strength. eijirou’s still sad he wasn’t there to witness it form.

—-

he’s woken up by katsuki lightly slapping his face.

“Hey, cut it out.”

“Fuck, Eijirou, you can’t scare me like that.”

“What, by sleeping?”

“No, you- you didn’t wake up when I said your name. I thought-“

“I’m up! Sorry, Kat.”

he gives his stressed out husband a quick kiss on the nose and katsuki forces a smile. this is going to be difficult.

he gets a little uncomfortable with katsuki’s constant staring, but he can see why he’d be like that, it’s just starting to make him feel like he’s more of a guest in his own house.

“I’m going to get groceries. You coming?”

“Uh, actually I was thinking maybe I could take a nap? I didn’t sleep much last night.”

it’s a lie, but katsuki doesn’t question it, just gives him a long kiss and lingers a bit before heading out.

perfect, time to do some research.

-
according to the internet, the documentary “Ground Riot” is pretty well regarded and most likely his best bet on catching up on everything, considering katsuki was actually involved in it’s production. lucky for him, it’s on netflix.

he knows he’s made a mistake putting it on two minutes in. all they’d done was show a few pictures of him and katsuki together in high school before he started tearing up.

“The young heroes were quickly embraced by the public, but their partnership went far beyond professional.”

if eijirou had any doubts about katsuki’s involvement, he doesn’t now. there’s no way they’d have footage from their wedding if his husband hadn’t given it to them.

“Everyone knew they were into each other, they didn’t even hide it well when we were like, fifteen. I don’t think either of them had connected to anyone the way they did to each other.”

mina’s in this too? shit, he probably needs to call her too, huh?

“The duo were quickly climbing the ranks. They took down more villains than anyone could have expected, and they were incredibly popular among fans, only making the ultimate fall of Red Riot more devastating.”

the screen reads “The following footage may be upsetting to some viewers, please watch with caution.” and eijirou contemplates turning off the television.

before he makes up his mind, he’s looking at himself fighting alongside katsuki. it’s always odd to see his battles from a different visual perspective, but that’s not what’s bothering him this time.

what’s bothering him is how oblivious they both were to what was about to happen. he wants to reach out and tell them, scream at himself to get out of the way, but he can only watch them treat it like any other fight.

the most upsetting part of the video isn’t even watching himself fall. seeing himself go from unbreakable to vulnerable in a second, seeing himself crumple in a way that he’d assume meant he’d been killed if he didn’t know better. it’s surreal, but not painful.

no, what’s painful is when his name is screamed loud enough to be heard over the overbearing sounds of the fight, and when the camera quickly pans from where he lays on the ground to katsuki screaming with the most agonized look on his face that eijirou’s ever seen.

“The villains were quickly apprehended, but many would say it was already too late.”

he feels sick to his stomach watching his husband sobbing and screaming while holding his bloody, limp form to his chest.

he can understand it, neither of them had ever been seriously injured like that before, he would’ve probably been even more of a mess.

“However, if Ground Zero hadn’t caught them that day, Red Riot’s status of “dead on arrival” would have never been receded.”

wait, what?

“Had they not learned of the villains quirk, there would have been no explanation as to why the hardening hero’s heartbeat was undetectable.”

so that means.. holy shit.

the video skips to a scene of the aftermath, a scene where katsuki is holding tightly to eijirou’s hand, even though the rest of him is zipped up in a body bag.

he turns off the tv.

he stares at the black screen for a good five minutes. if katsuki hadn’t caught them... eijirou could’ve been cremated. or worse, he could’ve woken up in a coffin yesterday.

but he looked dead, everyone thought he was dead, katsuki thought he’d watched his husband die. no wonder he was so adamant eijirou “never died”.

but would that really have been worse? if him dying would’ve meant katsuki could have grieved and moved on instead of being stuck watching him in a coma..

no, that’s a shitty thing to think. he’s alive and awake now, and if he’d really died that wouldn’t have been possible. there’s no way katsuki would give up that possibility for the option to move on.

he turns the tv back on.

“Days later, Red Riot’s heartbeat and breathing became strong enough to confirm the fact he was still alive, but it gave a false hope that he would be waking up soon after.”

they show pictures of him in the hospital. he looked weird, completely asleep and hooked up to that many machines, but at least he didn’t look dead anymore.

he watches for a while with the expected amount of tears running down his face. there are so many interviews with his friends, and short quotes from katsuki, but he doesn’t start fully bawling until it gets to the first interview his husband gave.

it must have been recorded a year or two later, he looked similar but rough enough that it was obvious he’d been dealing with a lot.

“Does it ever feel hopeless, given how long the quirk can stay in effect?”

“F*** no. He’s /going/ to wake up. Doesn’t f****** matter how long that dumb*** quirk lasted on other people, they aren’t Red Riot. He /will/ wake up.”

it only gets worse from there. seeing the videos from his wake, seeing katsuki look so, so miserable, and when they show the magazine cover that apparently became so famous..

“So what it’s been four years? I’ve been with that shithead since I was /sixteen/, I don’t even care if it gets to a point where I’ve known him asleep longer than I’ve known him awake. I’m not going anywhere and if that fucking villain thinks they can ruin my marriage-

They’re fucking wrong. My stupid husband would wait for me until he died if it was the other way around, and I’ll do the same damn thing if I have to. But I won’t have to, he’s gonna wake up.”

eijirou is wailing by the time katsuki’s minor meltdown on the five year anniversary is shown. he’s never known katsuki to be reckless like that, but he overused his quirk to a point he had to take a month long leave of absence. because eijirou was too weak to just wake up.

there’s only one more clip of him before the credits roll, and this one hurts more than any. it was obviously filmed specifically for the documentary, and it’s katsuki sitting in a chair, flipping through a photo album of them and reminiscing on every single picture.

the last picture he shows is one of them eijirou feels like was taken only weeks ago. they’re sitting in their “squad’s” regular bar, kissing with their friends laughing and making faces at their very public lip lock.

katsuki calls them all idiots with an affectionate look in his eye before a sob sneaks up on him and he covers his face as he starts crying.

“I just miss him so much.”

the screen fades to black.

eijirou can’t even see through his tears at this point. katsuki said all of those things, katsuki let other people hear all of those things. he /knows/ he shouldn’t be beating himself up over it, but he can’t help hating himself a bit for hurting him so much.

he just lays on the couch curled in on himself and sobbing for a full half an hour. where’s katsuki? he needs katsuki.

he fumbles around for his phone to call him, but it opens to a notification about a news story on Ground Zero. he almost forgot he flagged that.

web article “Ground Zero moving on?”

eijirou feels new tears budding. was katsuki lying when he said he didn’t date? no, he wouldn’t lie about that, right?

he’s even more anxious when he sees that the article was posted only minutes ago.

“Ground Zero seen out looking happier than he has in years, nearing the five and a half year mark of Red Riot’s coma. Some are speculating his good mood can be attributed to a new relationship.”

followed by a few paparazzi photos and several pictures and videos obviously taken on cell phones. holy shit, katsuki’s fucking /famous/ famous now.

eijirou’s heart swells when he sees how good his husband looks. he’s genuinely smiling in half of the pictures, his cart is full of eijirou’s favorite foods, and he even buys some old couple’s groceries for them. he looks adorable.

ei isn’t a fan of the twitter screenshots of different people’s guesses as to who he’s started dating, but he doesn’t let that shit on his mood. he’s had such a rollercoaster of emotions this morning, he’s going to hold on to this positive one.

[hey kittykat you almost home?]

[do not fucking call me that and yeah, just grabbing a few more things, won’t be more than a half hour. Love you.]

[love you too kittykat ]

[shutup]

holy /shit/. when did they get so many followers? he fell asleep with less than a million! damn, katsuki’s manager must’ve worked overtime.

Kittykat
[Eijirou, what the fuck did you just do?]

[ lol ]

[ don’t “lol” me! I’m standing in line at this dumb bakery and I just got twenty calls and fifty texts asking if you were hacked or it was some joke you little shit. ]

[ wait are you at THE bakery? ]

[ yes, Eijirou, I’m at the fucking bakery you’re obsessed with but I might not be able to get a god damn thing with how many people are trying to talk to me. ]

[ IM SORRY PLEASE GET MY TREATS ]

[ are you a dog? I’ll get your stupid pastries. we’re dealing with this shit when I get home. Love you. ]

[ what!!! how did you already get more likes than me??? ]

[ ... ]

it’s another thirty minutes for katsuki to get home and eijirou spends the whole time giggling at the replies to his little announcement.