Out of Breath (Patreon)

Out of Breath

Something was wrong

Noises weird noises awoke him out of a pleasant dream 

The noise a weird hammering 

After that 

He could barely hear the muffled sound of his own scream as the coffin was being covered with dirt 

You awoke 

Screaming sweat was pouring down your face and your pillow was damp

The culprite for this was your quirk 

It allowed you to witness the moment a person gives up on life 

Simply by sleeping as long as you at least saw the victim once be it in a photo or in real life as long as they would lose the will to life or die before you would go to sleep 

Afterwards your quirk would grab hold of these cases until there are solved by forcing you to relief that nightmare over and over becoming more vivid each time 

For an outlet of these unnerving feelings you had picked up painting

And there you discovered the second ability of your quirk

As it turns out 

While your general drawing abilities are quite lackluster 

Under influence of your quirk you could draw what happened in your dreams almost perfectly this lead to you not only becoming a famous artist but also a sought after detective for difficult cases 

The only reason why many murders were still unsolved despite your effort was that quite simply your quirk could not see behind masks and shadows meaning if a victim was attacked by a masked assailiant or from behind your quirk was quite useless outside of drawing a rather pretty yet morbid picture that you weren’t allowed to sell until the case was solved

However at the moment you did not have any cases to solve 

Yet your quirk kept activateing 

Worse than it ever did 

You had gotten used to almost daily nightmares 

So one that affected you like this was rare 

Infact the last time it happened was while you were investigateing a group killing 

You had dashed into your bathroom 

Leaned your head over your bathtub and began running cold water down your neck 

This was your personal meditation technique 

To be able to think straight again after a nightmare 

Eventually your mind was able to focus again and you shakily sighed 

While getting back on your feet

He screamed until his voice was hoarse. his fingernails were torn and bloody from where he had tried to scratch the top of the coffin to pieces.  At this point he was trying to calm himself down.  He no longer could hear hammering, or dirt pounding the coffin. That meant either he was too buried to hear anything else, or they had quit.

You headed straight to your art room 

The painting you weren’t allowed to sell or haven’t sold yet were lining the walls 

But for three days now one of them repeated over and over again 

The exact same image 

Usually each painting would have detailed added onto it 

So whatever your quirk was telling you 

This was all the information you would get 

You took your colors and your brush 

And started painting 

Once you were half way done drawing your phone rang 

A smile danced across your lips 

Maybe it was bakugou 

He and deku had been chaseing after a group of ruffians who called themselfes the jackles 

They were small time drug dealers and robbers not big enough for the police to launch a large investigation but not small enough to be completely ignored 

Your simle turned into a frown when you heard dekus voice 

“is kacchan with you?” he sounded worried 

Diddnt even have time to say hello

“Eh … no? let me check” 

Without hanging up you switched to the chatroom app you used to talk with Bakugou while hes on the job 

“Three days ago he sended me a selfie with you in the backround saying “Sorry babe gotta stay at the office for a while”

Deku gasped

“What?” 

It wasn’t unusual for bakugou to sleep at the agency when he was having a roguh time on the job

“That was the last day I saw him”

Slow your breathing. Slow. Slow.  he tried meditating.  The faster he breathed the more air he would use up think think think.  How many hours could he last? Was this going to be his grave. Probably 

In truth he had given up hours ago but something seemed to be holding him

Your heart felt like it was going to jump out of your chest 

“Hey are you there?” 

“deku … what case are you working on” you asked very slowly as you were prepareing for the worst

“Well we were working really hard on this case with a group of gangsters he said he was going to scout out their hideout but came back empty handed then he said he was going home to you and that he needed a break”

Deku went quiet 

He knew just as much as you what was happening but he was too afraid to say it 

So you gulped loudly as tears began to wallow up in your eyes

“I have been drawing for three days now deku” 

Non of you said a word for what seemed like hours but it were just mere minutes 

He tried to take his mind off the opressive darkness around him. he pointlessly closed his eyes desperately hopeing he would awake out of this nightmare  where did he make the mistake? How long was he knocked out? And why was his quirk not working. 

How much time had passed? Not much. How much was left?

You had quickly thrown on a shirt and jeans and drove at unnerving speed to the agency Deku was leading together with Bakugou 

All 4 paintings were stored safely on your passanger seat

The final painting finally was different from the others and it gave you hope

It was the same image 

A picture of a clearing in a forest or park 

Except now a hohle with a coffin was laied out in the middle of it 

The fact that bakugou must have been alive before being put into it had three implications all of them were bad 

Your heart felt like it was going to explode when you dumped the paintings on dekus office table while he was frantically going through papers filled with texts 

“Crap crap crap” he sputtered clearly he was just as panicked as you

“look” you shouted at him and he stopped and turned

With an open mouth he stared at the pictures 

“can you work with this” 

He reached over to grab his phone not giving you a second look

“Sir its me deku” he nervously barked into the phone 

“I need a rescue team at Okami forest”

He paused

“its … its deku… no no im calling from my office… no sir sir listen” he sighed annoyed

“Sir we need a rescue team pronto or else the blood of my partner will be on your hands!” 

Silence

“yes sir … his girlfriend … yes the one with the art quirk … y-yes the one with the … she is right behind me sir I really don’t wanna…” he sighed

“The chief says if your … pretty ass gets him into trouble for this you are in big trouble” 

You blinked

“what?” you were in shock deku raised his hand and you kept quiet 

“The rescue team will be there in 10 minutes we need to be there before them so we can show them the way” 

My girlfriend he thought. Who would take care of her? How sad was it that that was what he worried about? He managed to smirk maybe deku would take good care of you 

He felt his eyes become heavy 

Atleast he woudlnt starve 

There was shouting 

Lights everywhere 

You had met with a small police force at the outskirts of the forest and oyu had split up in three teams 

Each equipped with one of your paintings trying to find the right location when suddenly it started raining

“Oh no nonononono” you cried

The rain would destroy the paintings and with that any hope of finding your boyfriend 

The colors were already mixing from your tears 

Deku was right behind you 

He was sobbing quite loudly clearly he was making himself responsible 

And then your foot hit a rock at the wrong angle 

You were catapulted into the air by your own speed 

The painting leaveing your hands 

Splat 

You had landed face first in the mud 

Dekus shaky hands quickly picking you up 

“are you alright?” 

You whipped the mud of your face and stared at the ruined painting

However

It wasn’t a scream of terror that left your mouth 

It was a scream of triumph 

“LOOK” you shouted

With a dumbfounded expression deku looked around

“this is… GUYS SHOVELS!” 

“yes sir” replied the other offices with a salute 

You had reached the spot 

The mud you fell into 

Was the dirt mount 

Bakugou had to be below you 

He just had to 

You helped digging 

Frantically digging 

In the cold rain 

And then 

The sound of metal hitting wood 

In this moment all fatigue you had felt before was washed away

You fell on your knees and began digging with your bare hands as all thought and reason left your body 

Meanwhile deku had contacted the rest of the resucers 

A team of paramedics was standing by

And then you opened the wooden box 

There he was 

Bakugou 

his breathing was shallow but as the rain trickled onto his body 

soaking him and the coffin with water he slowly opened his eyes

without much thought you threw yourselfe ontop of him 

pushing the air out of him

“Hey” he coughed

“I was about to be suffocated now I don’t need your fatass finishing the job” 

His voice was hoarse and weak 

you ignored the insult and buried your head into his neck

“Hey hey im still kicking…” he whispered into your ear

“ill probably have to go to the hospital for a few days for a check huh” 

You replied with a teary eyed

“yes”

He exhaled dramatically and the chuckled

“hehehe fine… but only if after that… we go back to Italy for a few weeks”