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Kirishima approaches the lunch table to see Bakugou getting up and storming off. This wasn’t a rare occurrence, but something about the tension sitting in his shoulders seemed off.
“What’s he mad about now?” Kirishima places his tray on the table, sliding onto the bench where Bakugou had just been. The rest of his friends were still laughing at whatever had made Bakugou so upset, and Kirishima snapped his chopsticks while he waited for them to calm down.
“Dude. Bakugou failed the quiz we had yesterday.” Sero’s remark has Kaminari and Ashido snickering again, as Kirishima freezes.
“What?”
“He literally got the lowest grade in the class. Look.” Kaminari shoves a piece of paper at Kirishima. At the top was Bakugou’s name, in uncharacteristically messy handwriting, and a big 18, circled and written in red. Kirishima grabs the paper, eyes darting from the name to the answers to the grade.
“I can’t believe this.”
“I know right? Mr. Perfect Grades isn’t a fitting title for him anymore.” The rest of his friends laugh, but Kirishima is still staring at the paper in shock.
“No like, I seriously can’t believe this. Something has to be wrong. This isn’t normal.”
“Dude. Everyone has off days. Stop being so fucking in love with him. He just fucked up.” Kaminari leans back, almost falling off the bench before Ashido catches him.
“No, man. I’m serious. He just taught me prepositional English phrases last week. There’s no way he’d mess up this badly. He was an expert at them.”
“I dunno then, dude. Maybe he’s tired?” Sero nudges Kirishima, but it’s obvious that Kirishima isn’t going to let this go.
“Wait. You guys didn’t ask him? You just made fun of him?”
Silence follows Kirishima’s question as the three refuse to meet his eyes.
“Guys. That’s not cool. Like, really not cool. I’m going to find him.” Kirishima stands up, leaving his tray at the table and turning to head out the cafeteria. He had no clue where Bakugou might be, but he was going to find him.
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Kirishima didn’t find Bakugou before lunch ended, nor did the blonde show up for the rest of his classes. He didn’t show up for hero training either, which is how Kirishima knew it was serious. Bakugou hated missing training, even if he was injured.
And so, when Kirishima got back from his shower, he put together a care package.
A little All Might stress ball that he found when he went shopping with Midoriya one day. Midoriya had insisted that Bakugou would love it, so Kirishima bought it.
Some snacks, because he knew when Bakugou stressed out, he always forgot to eat.
Two packages of incense that Kirishima had just bought. They were jasmine scented, and Kirishima stuck a lighter in there too.
One of his favorite plushies. It was a 2 foot long teddy bear that Bakugou had won Kirishima at one of their friend dates. Kirishima kept it hanging on his wall so he could look up at night and see it. It made him happy to see something that Bakugou had gotten for him.
His most worn hoodie. It had a faded Crimson Riot logo, but for some reason Bakugou really liked that one.
Kirishima put everything in a box that was leftover from the care package that his parents had sent him, and shot Bakugou a text before leaving it in front of his door.
7:53 pm: hey bakubro um are you ok? I dont want to bother you or anything but im kinda worried. if you wanna talk im here. i left something in front of your door for you :) have a good night. ~Kirishima
Kirishima goes back into his room, sitting on his bed and sighing. A few minutes later, his phone buzzes with a new text.
7:58 pm: Can you come here? ~Bakugou
7:58 pm: of course dude! omw!
Kirishima barely finishes the text before he’s at Bakugou’s door, foregoing knocking in favor quietly opening the door. Bakugou is sitting cross legged on his bed, the care package in his lap.
He looked so small like that.
“Um hey, bro.” Bakugou doesn’t look up from the care package, but a strangled noise escapes his throat as Kirishima approaches him.
“I’m going to sit on the bed. Is that okay with you?” Another grunt answers him, and Kirishima climbs on the bed, leaning against the wall and looking at Bakugou. Kirishima could see that Bakugou was simultaneously trying to find the will to tell Kirishima what was wrong while also keeping himself from breaking down completely. The way that Bakugou squeezed the stress ball showed Kirishima that it was something more serious than his usual anger. It didn’t even seem like anger this time.
“My cat…” Kirishima knew a little bit about Bakugou’s cat. Completely black, except for one patch of bright white under one of her ears, Bakugou had found her outside one winter. He didn’t particularly want a cat, but leaving a kitten outside to freeze wasn’t very herolike.
“You mean Lady Explosion Murder?” Bakugou nods once, quickly. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but nothing comes out for a while. Kirishima wants to fill the silence so badly, but he knows that he should wait until Bakugou can manage to do it himself.
“Has cancer. My folks took her to the vet last week. She’s getting surgery next week, and I-” Bakugou picks up the teddy bear and the hoodie, holding both to his chest. He was shaking, and Kirishima ached for him.
“Kat…I’m sorry baby.” Kirishima gets up from the bed, picking up the box and setting it on Bakugou’s desk. He lights some incense, placing them in the holder, before climbing back on the bed.
“They said that she’s most likely going to be fine but…”
“I know. It’s scary.” Kirishima pulls Bakugou’s head into his lap, brushing Bakugou’s hair back and rubbing his thumb against Bakugou’s forehead gently.
“I can’t believe I failed that stupid quiz. I know those prepositions. I just-”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I promise. You don’t have to justify anything, Kat.”
Silence permeated their space yet again, and Kirishima knew not to break it this time.
He knew better than to try to stop Bakugou from crying.
So instead, he sat with him, brushing his fingers against Bakugou’s forehead and cheeks, smoothing out the tears. Even when the blonde managed to fall asleep, Kirishima stayed with him, leaning back on the wall and watching Bakugou’s chest rise and fall.
“You always keep everything bundled up, Kat. And then you end up like this.” Kirishima brushes his knuckles against Bakugou’s cheeks before whispering again.
“Please stop leaving me out here while you fight alone.”