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“Isn’t it supposed to hurt?”
The silence that filled the room was deafening, but Kaminari continued chewing, completely oblivious to the atmosphere shift. The five of them were in the kitchen, catching up after dinner—a Wednesday tradition that Kirishima really cherished with his housemates. It was a time they could really wind down and goof off, especially after a long day at U.A. University. But this—
Bakugou was glaring at Kaminari while Mina and Sero both blankly stared at the blonde. Kirishima swallowed thickly and squirmed in his seat.
“The fuck did you say?” Bakugou broke the quiet with a monotone inquiry that rang across the dining room table.
“I mean,” Kaminari shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s like jawbreakers, right? They’re supposed to break your jaw. Just like how nerds are supposed to make you smarter and Laffy Taffy makes you laugh a lot—”
“The fuck kind of…” Bakugou muttered lowly under his voice as Sero spoke up.
“Wait, you’re meaning to tell us that you haven’t been to your dentist in three years?!”
“Um,” Kaminari laughed awkwardly. “Yes? Maybe four? But, it’s not a big deal, guys.”
“It is a big deal?” Mina shrieked, snatching the Kit Kat from Kaminari’s hand. “It’s not normal for your teeth to hurt every time you chew!”
“Not every time—”
“But enough times that you notice it, right?” Kirishima added, clearly concerned. “I dunno man, that sounds pretty bad. I don’t like doctors as much as the next guy, but I at least go once a year.”
“Twice a year,” Sero grinned, showing off his impressive set of teeth. Kirishima mirrored the gesture, bumping fists with his bro.
“Two’s standard, you dumbass,” Bakugou spat.
“Guys, who cares how often you go—our Denki is dying!” Mina wailed.
“I’m not dying, oh my god —”
“Wait, can you die from a cavity?” Kirishima mumbled.
“Probably?!” Mina sobbed.
“I’m fin e—give my chocolate back—”
“Set up a dentist’s appointment right now!” Sero pushed, sliding Kaminari’s phone to him, at which, Kaminari bolted out of his seat, panic in his eyes.
“Nuh-uh, man!”
“Huh?”
“Wait, dude,” Kirishima squinted at him. “Are you scared of the dentist?”
“It’s not natural, okay?” Kaminari fidgeted. “Like, back when we were cavemen and stuff, we didn’t have all these things to dig around your mouth with?! It’s weird and strange and I boycott it!”
“Bro,” Kirishima stared at him blankly. “You are literally the most tech-savvy out of all of us—”
“Yeah, and people died of like mouth fungus or whatever back then,” Mina added.
“That’s different!” Kaminari replied with a pout. “I really thought that was normal, guys!”
“What? Mouth fungus?” Sero sighed.
“No, like,” Kaminari gestured vaguely with his hands. “It makes sense that if you’re eating chewy food you need to work harder to chew so your teeth are going to hurt no matter what! Same with candy! People say it’s bad for you so of course it’s supposed to hurt? I thought that was part of the fun!”
Kirishima and Sero stared at each other. Bakugou still seemed lost for words. Mina started choking up.
“Oh my god , our boy is a masochist!”
Kaminari bristled. “What the hell, no!”
Kirishima wiped away an imaginary tear as Sero cackled in the background. “It’s okay bro, your secret is safe with us.”
“Screw you guys!”
“You wish,” Mina winked, and Kaminari shot her a dirty look.
“Okay, but in all seriousness, haven’t you been to the dentist in the past?” Kirishima asked tentatively as everyone started to settle down. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“Listen,” Kaminari squinted, and uh oh, Kirishima knew that face—that face was the betrayed Kaminari face and he was about to go off . “Dentists are all liars .”
“Oh boy,” Sero snorted.
“I did go in the past, but no more,” Kaminari clutched a fist dramatically and Kirishima could feel the desire to facepalm escalate in the room, particularly coming from Bakugou. “After you become a teenager, they stop giving you those little baggies. No candy, no toys, nada . What’s worse is that they give you toothbrushes and fakes as replacements.”
“Are you telling me you dislike the dentist because you didn’t get enough freebies?”
“No!” Kaminari glared at Sero as if he had punched him in the gut. “I’m talking about fake candy! They promise you sweets after, but instead you only get the round, gross little peppermints without sugar. Without sugar ! How could they even —”
“Because they’re trying to make sure your teeth don’t rot?” Kirishima supplied helpfully.
“Then, why—” Kaminari clenched his fists. “Do they give you the sugary ones when you’re a kid?! They’re hiding something and I don’t trust them.”
“Bro,” Kirishima laughed. “Just go, man. I’ll go with you if it helps. I think if you’re tasting iron every time you’re biting into a Gusher, there’s a problem.”
“Yeah, your gums must be pretty messed up at this point,” Sero winced.
“We just care about you!” Mina chimed in.
“I brush my teeth every day!”
“I mean, so do I, but I still get cavities! It happens,” Kirishima shrugged. “I’m worried about you, man—"
“I’m an adult, guys!” Kaminari pursed his lips. “I decided to never go back to a dentist ever since I left high school and I’m not going t—"
“Dunce-Face.”
Bakugou’s voice rang out strong and clear, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. The room relapsed into silence and everyone turned to face him.
“Sup,” Kaminari smiled nervously.
Kirishima felt his heart go out to his bro. It’s been a while since Kaminari has been on the receiving end of Bakugou’s wrath, but this time, it was completely warranted.
And honestly, not being on the receiving end of Bakugou’s anger made his boyfriend even hotter.
Bakugou’s eyes shut, lips quirking up ever so slightly. Everyone at the table backed up a little. “You’re going to the dentist’s office immediately.”
“But—”
“ There ,” Bakugou cut him off roughly, rage flashing in his eyes. “There are no ifs ands or buts about it. You either go or I will yank out your fucking teeth myself with a screwdriver.”
Kaminari swallowed, his voice coming out higher than normal. “Doesn’t that seem… counterproductive?”
“No,” Bakugou responded as everyone else nodded solemnly. “ This is an intervention.”
If death threats worked with Kaminari, then he wouldn’t be Kaminari Denki.
Over the next few days, everyone in the house was determined to get the blonde to the dentist, but Kaminari himself was just as determined to avoid it like the plague.
Thursday morning, Sero called out a reminder for Kaminari to make a dentist’s appointment as he went to class, a message which was unheard (or ignored).
During lunch, Mina shoved a ringing cell phone into Kaminari’s hands which he immediately chucked into a nearby tree like it was a ticking time bomb. Mina refused to talk with Kaminari for the rest of the day because of it.
Kirishima tried to sit and talk with him at dinner during one of their bro bonding times, but Kaminari refused to talk about anything but the newest video game release and the redhead was quickly roped into the blonde’s excitement over it.
Bakugou didn’t do or say much, but that was mainly because Kaminari refused to stay within five feet of the spiky-haired boy for more than a minute.
It was surprisingly smart of him to do. Kirishima knows that usually, Kaminari was either too dense to realize Bakugou was upset with him or he straight-up didn’t care enough.
Low self-preservation is what Sero had called it.
Meme or flight was what Mina said.
“Absolute fucking stupidity,” Bakugou growled, dropping his books to the floor. Kirishima sat up in his bed, watching the blonde trudge over to him. “He’s a coward who knows I’d kill him before any dentist gets to him.”
Kirishima chuckled, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend snugly. He’s seen enough of Bakugou’s emotions to know that the blonde was only threatening Kaminari out of concern. It was a little indirect, sure, but Kirishima could see that Bakugou was honestly worried about Kaminari’s health.
“He’ll come around,” Kirishima hummed as Bakugou grumbled into his shoulder. “It’s sweet of you to care so much—”
“Fuck him,” Bakugou responded. “I hope all his damn teeth fall out.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“You wanna bet?”
Kirishima laughed. “I’d win that bet and you know it.”
Bakugou huffed, turning away from him. “Fuck off.”
“Okay, okay, my bad,” Kirishima twisted his body to spoon his boyfriend. He wrapped his hands around Bakugou’s waist casually. The blonde leaned back into his touch. “Honestly though, I’m also worried. Not going to the doctor when you’re healthy is one thing, but he’s been saying his teeth have been hurting for forever now. What if he has a hundred cavities or something?”
Bakugou snorted. “You can’t have a hundred cavities—you only have 32 teeth.”
“Okay, what if he has 32?”
“Then he’s fucked.”
Kirishima sat up, squinting down at Bakugou. “Are you just saying that or is Kaminari actually doomed?”
“I don’t know—I’m not a damn dentist,” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “But at that point, he’ll probably need some serious surgery.”
There was a moment of tense silence before Bakugou sighed, grabbing the blankets off the foot of the bed and pulling them over his head.
“Stop that,” he mumbled.
“Stop what?”
“I know you’re doing it—that shit with your teeth.”
Kirishima stopped biting the bottom of his lip.
“It’s only Thursday—one of you will get him to go eventually.”
“You’re not going to help?”
“Honestly, it’s a plus I don’t have to see him all the time. If the moron wants to have fake teeth going into his mid-20s then so be it.”
“ Katsuki ,” Kirishima pouted, shaking the mound of bedsheets that was his boyfriend. “I’m serious.”
“So am I,” Bakugou grunted. “Now unless you plan to study, turn off the damn lights so we can go to bed.”
Kirishima complied reluctantly, then joined Bakugou under the covers. But even if it was late, he wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to sleep with this issue hanging over his head. He wanted to help Kaminari face his fears and support him like any good friend would do.
He just wanted to make sure his best friend was alright.
Bakugou sighed, turning back to face Kirishima and hug him.
“Sleep,” he murmured.
Kirishima’s freaking out only lasted so long before the comfort of his boyfriend’s warm body against his lulled him to sleep.
It was Sunday evening and Kirishima was (still) worried out of his mind.
He had tried everything to get Kaminari to go to the dentist from bribery to begging and even calling Kaminari ‘unmanly’ for not going.
Honestly, that last one was a bit of a low blow, even for him.
Sero, Mina, and he had had several meetings to figure out what to do next to help the blonde face his fears, but no matter what they came up with, Kaminari derailed their plans in an instant.
It was honestly impressive how well he avoided his responsibilities.
Mina had even locked Kaminari in a broom closet and refused to let him out until he agreed to go see the doctor. He stayed there for over six hours until the janitor asked if he could get his cleaning supplies out of the cupboards.
Kaminari had survived off the sheer power of tik tok which he was binge watching while sprawled out on the floor.
And so, Kirishima was in Bakugou’s room, hunched over his boyfriend’s desk as he wrote into his notebook for the ‘get Kaminari to the dentist’ operation that the entire house was in on.
Well, the entire house minus Bakugou.
His boyfriend had given some pointers here and there over the past few days, but otherwise his involvement was low. In fact, he seemed to really be enjoying his time separated from the most chaotic member of their group.
Said boyfriend was currently lounging back in his bed, an open book in his lap. His brows were furrowed in concentration but otherwise, he looked relaxed and definitely not concerned about the fate of Kaminari’s teeth.
Kirishima crumpled up yet another sheet of paper and tossed it into the waste bin, sighing heavily. The trash can was filled to the brim from all of his previous attempts to think of a successful plan, but so far, the best he’s come up with was to beat Kaminari at Mario Kart and have his winning decree be a visit to the doctor.
It was a weak plan, but at this point, he and the others had exhausted most, if not all options.
“If you’re going to litter, do it in your own room, idiot.”
“Sorry,” Kirishima replied, distracted. He tapped at his head with his pencil, trying to think of something more effective.
Kirishima heard Bakugou toss the book aside and shift to face him. “Damn, you’re really worried.”
“Kats, nothing is working,” Kirishima sighed, throwing his head back in defeat. He felt tears of frustration prickle the corners of his eyes. “At this point, we’ll just need to tie him up, throw him into the back of the car, and forcibly drag him there. We might get arrested for kidnapping, but it’s a risk we’ll need to take.”
“Not a bad idea,” Bakugou mumbled quietly, tapping a finger to his chin. He started to lean back on his arms but suddenly stopped, a devious grin lighting up his face. “But I have a better idea.”
That Monday, both Kirishima and Bakugou got into the car, and drove out front, Bakugou repeatedly honking the horn until Kaminari peered outside.
What Bakugou told him the other night totally violated the bro code, but if it was for the bro, then—
“Get in, loser,” Bakugou called, and Kirishima watched as Kaminari’s face morphed from one of pure confusion to one of uncontainable joy. “We’re getting pizza.”