Chapter Text
The two of them spend the next few days in the hospital to recover from their injuries.
Both were in pretty bad shape, with Bakugou suffering a concussion and some broken bones, and Kirishima being badly bruised and broken as well.
Kirishima watches sadly as his friend rests soundly in the bed next to his.
Despite Bakugou’s words before he passed out, he still couldn’t shake the guilt that was beginning to fester.
‘It‘s still all my fault...’ he thought, ‘This never should have happened to you...’
Between Bakugou always sleeping from painkillers and having friends, family, and classmates constantly visiting to send well wishes, they had no time to talk, and Kirishima was completely left alone with his intrusive thoughts.
If only he had listened...
If only he wasn’t stubborn…
Kirishima should be the only in a hospital bed right now, but Bakugou is too and it was all because of him.
~~
However, unknown to Kirishima, Bakugou was also hiding his own feelings of guilt for having Kirishima get so hurt trying to save him.
Even though Kirishima was an idiot for getting tired too quickly, Bakugou still felt like he could’ve done something if he had been just a little bit stronger.
If he had been stronger, then Kirishima wouldn't have risked himself out there, and neither of them would be stuck in a shitty hospital room.
Instead, he can’t even beat one fucking villain on his own, and his best friend almost got killed protecting him...
...because he was too weak.
~~
They still don’t talk to each other until the night before they were clear to check out, lying in their beds, unable to sleep.
After some awkward silence, they decide to finally speak up.
“Hey-“
“Oi-“
Kirishima and Bakugou looked at each other.
“You first, Shitty-Hair.” Bakugou offers, and Kirishima hesitates a moment before taking it.
“Look, Baku-“
“Katsuki.”
Kirishima blinked in surprise. “Eh?”
“You called me Katsuki out there. You might as well call me that now.”
That left the redhead kinda flustered.
“Oh, um...okay. I guess you can call me Eijirou too, then.” He said, blushing slightly. “But anyway, I’m sorry for being stupid and not listening to you.”
“Hah?”
“If I hadn’t been so stubborn, I wouldn’t have gotten tired so fast, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt...” He looked at his bandaged hand, frowning.
Bakugou looked at him incredulously. “That’s what you’re apologizing for?” He spat, “You still think it’s your fault that I’m hurt?”
Kirishima looked away. “Well, that’s not really all...” he said sadly. “I did nothing but hold you back because of the nightmare I had...” He could feel his eyes watering. “It’s all my fault you’re stuck in here with me!”
“The hell does your dream have to do with any-“
“You fucking died, okay?!” Kiri cut him off. “You got killed in my dream while all I did was just stand there scared!” He pressed his hand to his face, still trying to hold back tears and failing miserably. “When that villain punched you so many times when I couldn’t move...I thought I was so useless! You got so beat up so badly and I couldn’t do anything to stop it!” He could barely hold back his sobbing.
“Every time I try to improve myself and get stronger, it’s never enough! How can I call myself the wall that never fails if I can’t even save my best friend from getting hurt?!”
Bakugou was wide-eyed at Kirishima’s confession.
He had been keeping this in all this time, and he had no clue...
...and that pissed him off.
He was angry that Kirishima was an idiot, but he was even angrier at himself for making Kirishima want to hide this from him so badly. Weren’t they supposed to be friends?!
“You asshole...” he started low, “Why the hell didn’t you want to tell me?!”
“I didn’t want you to think I was weak...” Kirishima sniffed, wiping his tears away, “I wanted to try and fix this on my own. I didn’t want it to look like I depended on you for everything. You’re gonna be an amazing pro, and I didn’t want to hold you back from that worrying about me.” He gave a sad chuckle. “Guess that was just wishful thinking, though...”
Bakugou gave an exasperated sigh, “God, you’re such a dumbass.”
Kirishima laughed dryly, “Heh, guess I am...”
The blonde shakes his head, “Look at me, Eijirou.”
Kirishima, stunned by the sound of his given name, did his best to look Bakugou in the eye, crimson eyes meeting intense red ones.
“Did you already forget what I told you?”
Kirishima blinked, “W-what?”
“If you refuse to go down, then that means you’re stupidly strong.”
Kirishima immediately felt the tears starting to return, but he let Bakugou continue.
“Despite everything that happened, did you still go down?”
“Katsuki...”
“Answer the damn question.”
Kirishima blinked the tears away, “N-no, I didn’t...”
“Even though I got hurt, did you still continue to fight?”
“Y-yeah...”
“If you didn’t fight back, would I still be here talking to you right now?”
Kirishima felt more fresh tears roll down his cheeks. “N-no.”
“Then what the fuck does that make you?”
Kirishima could barely get it out as he started to cry, “I-it makes me stupidly strong...”
Bakugou gave a ghost of a nod. “You’re damn straight it does.”
The blonde allowed Kirishima the time to cry as he tried his best to keep his own expression neutral.
After a little while, Kirishima seemed to have finally calmed down his crying.
“You done yet?”
“Y-yeah, I think so...” Kiri replied, smiling genuinely for the first time since they’ve been in the hospital. “Thanks a lot man, I really needed that.”
Bakugou looked away, trying to hide the flush on his face. “Whatever. It would’ve sucked spending the night dealing with you sulking and shit.” He sighed, “Besides, you weren’t the only one that felt helpless out there...”
Kirishima looked confused, “Eh?“
“If I hadn’t had so much trouble taking down one shitty villain, you wouldn’t have had to risk your life to save me in the first place.”
Kirishima blinked. “What do you mean? Of course I’d protect you! You’re my friend! I wasn’t going to let him kill you!”
Bakugou shook his head. “That’s not what I meant...”
“Eh?”
“I couldn’t even beat one stupid villain on my own, and because of that you almost...” he trailed off, clenching his fist. “If I had been stronger, you wouldn’t have gotten so hurt out there.”
“Katsuki...”
“I wasn’t strong enough to get to you and stop that bitch from keeping you still, and now you’re stuck in this shithole doubting yourself because of it. I fucking hate that I couldn’t do more.”
Kirishima was left stunned at his words.
All this time, he had been blaming himself for Bakugou’s injuries, not knowing that Bakugou had been feeling guilty for his.
This realization, as well as Bakugou’s earlier actions, finally started making sense, and seeing just how much Bakugou really cared about him touched Kirishima greatly.
But Kirishima has had enough emotion for one day, so he’d keep that to himself for now.
“Looks like we’ll both just have to get stronger then.” He sighed, laying his head back down.
Bakugou nodded, “Yeah...”
“But...” Kirishima reached out his fist towards Bakugou. “...maybe we could do that together.”
Bakugou looked at the fist for a moment before returning the gesture with a smirk.
“‘Che, idiot.”
~~
After they get checked out, everything slowly returns to normal.
Kirishima’s no longer overworking himself, and quickly goes back to being his old, happy self again and hanging out with friends, and while he won’t admit it, Bakugou is also happy to see Kirishima being himself again.
One night, Kirishima has the dream with Rappa again.
This time though, he’s able to break through his fear and protect Bakugou without breaking...
...and together, they win.