Chapter Text
Even Katsuki had to admit, these looser ass villains had at least two brain cells to rub together. They only had one quirk suppression collar for the two heroes in training they captured, so it wasn't that impressive, but they weren't complete fucking morons.
They slapped that one suppression collar around Deku's shitty neck the moment they could, and found other ways to hold Katuaki. They'd bound his hands to his chest, palms flat against his ribs so he'd blast a hole through his heart if he tried to use his quirk. That hadn’t stopped him from fighting them tooth and nail though.
In the end, they'd bound his ankles together too, and when he'd still gotten a good kick to someone's crotch, they'd hooked his bound ankles around a hook or something way up on the wall, forcing him into an awkward position where it looked like he was sitting but had forgotten which way gravity went.
He didn’t actually know what his legs were hooked on because of the other part of their shitty fucking restraints. They only had the one quirk suppression collar, but they had this weird head gear they'd wrestled him into, some nightmare of leather and metal that covered his eyes and had some kind of grate across his mouth to prevent him from biting anyone, again. Combining that with them taking his hearing aids, (which, yeah, they did double as his radio but come on! That was fucking unfair!) meant Katuaki was literally and figuratively in the dark about what was going on around him.
He didn’t stop fighting though. He'd been left alone for a while now, which was a problem because he kinda had to piss, but he was still trying to slowly loosen the ropes encasing his torso enough to free his hands. If he could just set off his quirk without exposing his insides to the fucking air, he could probably get out. He'd have to get the damn headgear off too, which was probably going to hurt, setting off explosions too close to his skin always hurt, but he needed to find Deku.
Deku was probably the one they'd been trying to catch anyway, Katsuki had just been nearby. Aizawa had been very adamant about the buddy system off campus, and both he and shitty Deku had needed something from the store, so they'd been made to go together.
Now Deku was somewhere else in this weird ass building that was who knows where, probably somewhere stupidly far away from the city, without his quirk, and separated from Katsuki! Katsuki, the guy who was going to have to get them out of this when he couldn't see or hear shit! We'll, the not hearing shit was actually pretty standard, but the point still stood.
A vibration through the building caught Katsuki's attention and he held very still, waiting to see if there was more. He was getting better at paying attention to the vibrations. The hearing loss was a long time coming, his quirk was extremely loud, but until recently he'd gotten by with lip reading, making people text, (not calling) him, and shouting all the time so he could hear himself. It wasn’t until an attempted combo move with Icyhot had literally blown up in their faces that Katsuki had lost the last bit of his hearing. Aizawa had been so fucking pissed that Katsuki hadn't mentioned the issue sooner. Apparently his husband had the same problem. While it was kinda nice to know he wasn't alone with the quirk caused hearing loss, it didn't change anything.
It wasn't technically a total loss, because the aids worked, mostly, but it was enough that he couldn't hear shit without them. So he'd started paying attention to vibrations. He could usually feel shit like people knocking on his door as long as they actually fucking knocked and didn't just tap the damn thing! Seriously! It was solid wood! You weren't going to fucking break it Deku!
Now though, the vibrations were really faint, and he had to concentrate. He closed his eyes behind the blindfold and tried to focus.
He felt the boom as the door to his room flew open, crashing into the wall. Immediately he started shouting.
“Fucking back for more!?” he yelled. Even without the ability to hear himself, it felt good to shout at these fuckers. He'd been shouting before, but he didn’t want to completely shred his voice, he still needed to yell at Deku later. “Even like this I can take you!” He thrashed against his bonds, desperately trying once more to get free.
He didn't notice whoever it was getting closer, but he did feel them touch his shoulder. He thrashed harder.
“Don't fucking touch me you useless fucking scum! I'll kill all of you!” The person pressed both hands to his shoulders and held him down. They were strong, not quirk strong, but pretty strong. They couldn't weigh much more than Katuaki though because he was still able to move under them.
Katsuki kept struggling, but then he noticed the tapping. Tap–, tap• tap• . One long, two short, over and over on his neck.
“D?” Katsuki asked, no longer shouting. They'd been going over morse code recently, it was useful in certain combat situations, like this one actually.
“Deku?” Katsuki asked. He got a squeeze on his shoulder for that. He slumped back with a deep exhale. Fuck, he was tired.
“Shit, fuck,” he breathed. “Okay, squeeze means yes, tap me for no. Got it?” Deku squeezed his shoulder again. Communication established, hip fucking hurray.
“Okay, get me the fuck out of this,” Katsuki demanded, trying to keep his voice low. It was really fucking hard to tell how loud he was being when he couldn't hear himself and was used to shouting. He had to try to pay attention to how much his vocal cords were vibrating.
Deku grabbed at the ropes around Katsuki's chest, but Katsuki shook him off.
“Get my legs down first, they've fucking fallen asleep.” He scooted closer to the wall to give Deku an easier time getting his legs down. He felt Deku get up, then the nerd grabbed his shins just below his knees and lifted. Katsuki's legs came free from whatever they were hooked on, and he started scooting away from the wall so he could lay flat. Deku took two handfuls of the rope around Katsuki's chest and hauled him the last bit.
“Let em sit for a sec.” His legs were all pins and needles now and it fucking sucked. “Get this rope off me, I have some heads that need blowing up.” He squirmed to emphasize his point. But Deku didn't like that, and put both his hands on Katsuki's shoulders again.
“Fucking what, Nerd? Get me out of this!” Tap• tap• tap• . Tap–. Tap• tap• . Tap• tap– tap• tap• .
“S. T. I. L. Still? You need me to stay still?” Deku squeezed his shoulder. “What, you got a knife or something?” Squeeze. “Well shit, don't fucking cut me.” Deku bumped his shoulder with what he guessed was a fist, their agreed on signal for no.
“Thought maybe you got that fucking collar off.”
Bump.
“Well shit. Guess we're using my quirk to get us out of this shit.”
Squeeze.
Deku braced one hand against Katsuki's chest and started fucking sawing at the ropes. It definitely wasn't a knife, more likely a jagged piece of metal or…
“Is that glass!!” Katsuki exclaimed. Deku slapped a hand over the grate, (it was not a muzzle) over Katsuki's mouth. Katsuki could feel the heat and pressure of his hand. It didn’t actually silence him, but he got the message. He was being too loud.
Deku took his hand away when Katsuki didn't keep talking and went back to hacking at the rope.
“Don't cut yourself with that thing,” Katsuki tired to whisper. Deku taped him with the hand still braced on his chest so he must have gotten the volume right. The last thing they needed was Deku fucking up his shitty hands more by severing a tendon in the middle of an enemy hideout.
After ages of fucking sawing, the ropes finally broke and Deku helped haul Katsuki into a sitting position so they could unwrap him. It felt fucking amazing to be out of that, and Katsuki let a few small pops go off in his hands, just to make sure everything was working. Deku immediately slapped his hands over Katsuki's, nearly lacing their fingers together.
“Too loud?” Deku squeezed his hands. “Shit. Let's get the hell out of here. Free my legs.” Katsuki pried his hands away from Deku and started feeling around the headgear, looking for a way to get it off. He didn't find a latch or a buckle. He did find where he thought it went together, but there was no clear way to open it. It had to be radio controlled or something.
Deku finished sawing through Katsuki's legs so he kicked the rope off and clambered to his feet. He could feel Deku's body heat close to him, hovering probably in case he fell. But he didn’t touch him so Katsuki didn't chew him out for it. They were trying to stay quiet.
“Can you see a way to get this off?” Katsuki stopped tugging on the head gear and let Deku take a look at it. The whole thing had seemed like metal and leather covered cables and not something he was willing to risk trying to use his quirk on. He'd give himself serious burns and probably a concussion and it was still unlikely he'd get through the cables. He'd need to use way more fire power than was safe.
Deku finished running his fingers over every inch of the device before he bumped Katsuki's shoulder with his fist.
“Shit,” Katsuki slumped. “What about you? Maybe I can get that collar off.” Katsuki clumsily reached out, his hands landing on Deku's head, he hadn't moved away so Katsuki didn't have to try hard to find him. He slid his fingers through Deku's filthy hair, (it was like the villains had rolled him around in the dirt or something), down the sides of his head to his neck.
They'd worked with quirk suppression collars before, practicing putting them on and taking them off for when they eventually needed to slap them on defeated villains or brainwashed allies. This collar was an older model than the ones Katsuki had worked with before. It was bulkier than modern ones, and if Katsuki remembered correctly they used to chafe really bad.
Unfortunately, this collar was in great condition despite its age. The only way to open it would be with a key device. Katsuki wasn't going to try his quirk on it for the same reason he wasn't using it on his head gear. He didn't want to blow the Nerds hearing out or just straight up blow his head off.
“That's not coming off either,” Katsuki breathed, dropping his hands to his sides. Deku bumped his shoulder in agreement. “Let's get the hell out of here.” Deku took his hand and squeezed. Katsuki almost ripped his hand away out of habit, but he was going to need Deku's guidance. He was blind and deaf. Deku was going to have to lead him out of this place. The Nerd had probably taken out a few villans on his way to Katsuki, so hopefully they wouldn't run into anyone on their way out, but that was fucking wishful thinking.
Deku led him towards what Katsuki guessed was the door. Before he opened it though, he pressed his free hand to the grate over Katsuki's mouth, his ‘be quiet’ signal from before. Katsuki rolled his eyes behind the blindfold, but made a ‘zip it’ motion with his free hand to show his understanding. Deku squeezed his hand, whether that was agreement that Katsuki needed to shut up, or just a reassuring squeeze Katsuki didn't know, and didn't have time to sort it out because he could feel Deku opening the door.
Katsuki was pulled through the door and immediately almost ate shit when his foot collided with something weird. Deku kept him upright, and Katsuki bit his tongue to keep from swearing. He tried feeling around to find out what he'd run into, but Deku was stupidly strong even without his quirk, and he hauled him up and away, trudging determinedly down the hallway. Katsuki let himself be tugged along, trying to stay mostly behind Deku so he didn't kick the shit out of something again.
They stopped suddenly, Katsuki almost slamming into Deku's back, but the Nerd didn't seem to notice. He was talking, Katsuki was pretty sure. He could feel the vibrations from where he was nearly pressed up against Deku's back.
“What's going on?” Katsuki hissed. Deku let go of Katsuki's hand, gripping his wrist instead. He guided his hand so Katsuki was touching a door handle. He tried it, but it was locked. Deku shook his wrist, clearly he wanted something.
“What?” With his other hand, Deku started tapping on Katsuki's arm. B. O. O. M.
“Boom? You want me to blast it?” Deku squeezed his wrist then tapped on the back of his hand. Katsuki grinned. He was good at this, even without his sight he knew how to modulate his quirk. He knew how much force to put behind it.
He felt the heat and pressure as he blasted the door knob. Something, probably the knob, hit Katsuki's boot.
Deku yanked open the now permanently unlocked door, dragging Katsuki behind him as he broke into a run. Deku must think there are more people in the building then, that noise was going to attract their attention. Katsuki focused hard on keeping up without kicking the backs of Deku's legs, his wrist still firmly in the Nerd's grasp.
Suddenly, they stopped and turned to the right, Deku holding out Katsuki's hand like he was aiming it at something. He tapped the back of Katsuki's hand and he got the message. He let loose. They were still in the building, so he didn't go all out, but whatever, or more likely whoever, Deku was aiming him at wasn't going to get back up again any time soon.
As soon as Katsuki was done, Deku turned back the way they'd been running and took off again. It wasn't long before Deku aimed him at something in front of them and tapped the back of Katsuki's hand. He didn't need the extra signal this time, he understood now. He fired, and Deku didn't stop, barreling through what Katsuki now realised was a fucking wall!
He stumbled a bit on the rubble, but made it as they broke outside. He could feel the temperature change, it was warm, and humid, perfect weather for his quirk.
They kept running, the ground uneven and covered in sticks and rocks. They definitely weren’t in the city anymore. Someone must still have been on their tail though, because Deku was pushing them harder, faster, too fast!
Katsuki went down hard, his foot catching in a dip and dragging him down. He lost his grip on Deku as he fell, and laying there in the dirt, he felt fear rush through his chest.
“DEKU!” he screamed, not caring if he sounded frantic. He didn't know where the Nerd went! He scrambled to his feet and reached out blindly, trying to find him. Shit if they got separated, if Deku couldn’t come back for him–
Something slammed into him, a rock or a fist or, or something. It barreled into his stomach and took him back to the ground. It knocked the wind out of him too, all the breath rushing from his lungs as his diaphragm spasmed.
Then, someone was standing over him, bare feet touching either side of his ribs. Why bare feet? Surely the villains could afford boots, unless…
Katsuki wrapped a wrist around the ankle and squeezed. The foot nudged him back. It had to be Deku, but what the hell was he doing? He wasn't facing Katsuki's head to help him up, he was facing away… Towards whatever hit him!
Suddenly, Deku lunged, one of his feet leaving Katsuki's side. Deku was fighting someone, probably with that stupid piece of glass. Katsuki scrambled to get up, to get air into his lungs, to get back into the fight and actually do something! He stood behind Deku, pointed his hand around him, hopefully in the direction of whoever he was grappling with, and fired.
Deku didn't give him a chance to recover, just recaptured his wrist and took off running again, so he must have hit his target. They ran, the ground quickly becoming more rocky, loose stones slipping under Katsuki’s feet. He had the sudden thought that Izuku was definitely not having a good time without shoes on this terrain. Then suddenly, the ground was gone . Fucking Deku had taken them over a cliff!! Deku latched onto Katsuki, wrapped his arms and legs around him like the Nerd was pretending to be a fucking backpack.
This was fine. They were just falling off a fucking cliff and Katsuki had no idea what was at the bottom. Well, he wasn't about to become a fucking greese stain on the side of a mountain.
Katsuki pointed his hands down and let loose, stopping their fall as they awkwardly tried to hover. He was going for a slow descent, but it was really a dangerous stutter stop. They could still end up crashing into the ground.
Deku was doing morse code on his neck again, but in his adrenaline rush he must have missed the first letter. A T E R.
“Water?” Katsuki guessed. Deku squeezed Katsuki with every limb he had wrapped around him. “What kind of water? A river?” Another squeeze.
“Is it below us?”
Squeeze.
“Is it safe to drop?”
Squeeze.
So Katsuki dropped. They fell for longer than Katuaki was comfortable with, before hitting the water hard. The cold was a shock, and the river was fast. Despite that, Deku held on for a while. Unfortunately, there were also rocks in the river. They slammed into one. Deku was ripped off Katsuki's back and thrown to who knew where.
The river seemed to take particular pleasure in throwing Katsuki into as many more rocks as it could. His head was mostly spared, thank fuck, but by the time he managed to reach a rocky bank, everything hurt.
Katsuki lay there, cold, slimy boulders digging into his back and hips, trying to catch his breath. The moment he could he screamed in rage and frustration and fear. He'd lost Deku again, this time way worse than before. Who knew how far that river had carried them before Katsuki managed to drag himself out! Who knew if Deku wasn't still in the river, struggling to get out!
Katsuki hauled himself up, one knee creaking already from its high speed introduction to a rock. That was going to suck really bad in a few hours. His clothes were soaked, his boots full of water. The head gear felt heavier, weighing him down.
“DEKU!” Katsuki yelled, trusting that their fall off the cliff and swim in the river had pushed them far enough away that the villains weren't able to hear him. He didn't get a response, but he wouldn't have heard one if he had.
“Deku!” he tried again. He couldn't just stand here screaming all day, he had to find the Nerd. He wasn't getting off this mountain without him. He tried to think, how was he going to find Deku? He'd have to do some kind of search grid, that's what they'd taught them at school. Usually you didn't help in a search when you were deaf and functionally blind, but he didn’t really have a choice here.
He needed a way to know where he'd started though. He couldn’t plant a marker, he wouldn't be able to see it. So he counted his steps, which turned out to be a seriously flawed system as the river bank was made up almost entirely of slippery ass boulders which made even steps impossible. Still, he tried, counting his steps as he stayed close to the water, heading down river. He figured that since Deku had taken the brunt of that first rock that separated them, he'd be in worse shape than Katsuki and so would take longer to get to shore. Assuming he picked the same shore… that wasn't something Katsuki wanted to think about. No way he was going back in that river.
…
“Deku!” he called and called, his voice going hoarse. He flexed his hands to stop their shaking and his palms ached, scratched from catching himself on the rocks. He'd given up counting steps a while ago, it was a useless waste of concentration. He was wet, and cold, the sun no longer shining down on the ravine they'd fallen into.
He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was scared. He was really fucking scared. He didn't know where he was, didn't know where Deku was. For all he knew he could have stepped over him half an hour ago, just stepped over his broken, unconscious body and not realized it. He wasn't dead though. No way was that Nerd dead. Katsuki refused to even think that.
“IZUKU!” Katsuki screamed , he could feel his voice cracking on the word, even if he couldn't hear it. He was used to not hearing shit, but this quiet, this darkness, was so much worse. It pressed in on him from all directions, wearing him down. His thoughts got louder in the quiet, whispers of how he’d failed, how he lost Izuku, how he should have tried to hold on to him when they hit the water, not just trust that Izuku, quirkless Izuku, could hold on on his own. Izuku could be dead, and it was all Katsuki’s fault!
Katsuki ignored the water leaking from his eyes, wetting the still soaked leather on the back of the blindfold. He clenched his hands again, feeling the pain, trying to ground himself, trying to stop them shaking. Trying to distract from his spiralling thoughts.
Izuku wasn't dead. Katsuki just hadn't found him yet. He was further down the bank, or back the other way. He'd double back soon. He'd find him. He wasn't dead. Katsuki hadn't killed him…