Chapter Text
Bakugou groaned internally, Cementoss just seemed to be droning on and on today. The constant emphasis on safety seemed a bit overkill at this point, they’ve sparred for three classes in a row so far without so much as a sprain. He could feel the sweat accumulating around his forearms as he baked in his thick gym uniform. Today they were going to spar in the gym and he couldn’t wait to fine-tune his newly developed special move. He expanded on the basics of just his normal blast by trying to rapid-fire and it has worked well during his solo practice sessions but today he could see how well it held up during a mock battle.
Finally, his teacher started to pair everyone up together and he was only slightly disappointed he didn’t get paired off with icy-hot or pink cheeks. Instead, he was paired off with the Monkey. Maybe this would work out for the better; after all, he wanted to make sure his close combat skills stayed sharp, he thought as he and Ojiro were propelled upwards by Cementoss. Instantly the karate kid started to circle Bakugou, his tail whipping left and right. He lunged forward with a high kick and Bakugou feigned to the right and sent a blast towards Ojiro’s left leg to knock him off his feet but suddenly Ojiro’s body was fully supported by his tail as he spun away from Bakugou. The fight continued like a dance, where there was a lunge there was a dodge. Each one of the pair barely landed more than a glancing touch. Sweaty and frustrated Bakugou finally leaped back one last time and tried his new special move.
It happened in slow motion, Ojiro was standing with his back to the base of a higher tower where another duo was battling it out, but Bakugou hadn’t aimed as well as he thought and his blast instead went to Ojiro’s face instead of his torso. Two blasts back to back that plastered him to the rock wall. Bakugou stood there with his mouth agape, his hands facing down. Ojiro wasn’t getting back up, he had his face cradled in between his palms and his tail wrapped tightly around his knees as he dropped down into a kneeling position.
“Cementoss! Injury!” Bakugou screamed as loud as the lump in his throat would let him. He rushed to Ojiro’s side and tried to pry his hands off his face so he could inspect the damage. Ojiro’s skin was scorched red and blood was smeared across his cheeks. Bakugou flinched back when Ojiro hissed in pain. The golden blonde boy curled into himself and kept his face turned away. Bakugou’s heart fell through his ass, how could he do this to Ojiro? Ojiro was supposed to dodge. He was supposed to block the blast and keep going. How had it turned out this way? The blast wasn’t supposed to be any stronger than what he used of the regular. Oh no, he was sweatier than normal, did that make his offense stronger than normal? He fucked up. Ojiro was hurt because of him.
Aizawa and Cementoss quickly arrived at both shellshocked boys. Bakugou was frozen with a hand still clutching at Ojiro’s gi. Ojiro was hiding his face, Aizawa was able to connect the dots and that was where the injury had occurred. He helped the boy get to his feet as Cementoss tried to comfort a speechless and uncharacteristically limp Bakugou. Aizawa led Ojiro over to Recovery Girl’s station by the entrance of the gym. She soothed the tense boy as she cleaned his wounds then kissed him. All tuckered out from the forced healing Ojiro went limp in his chair and started to doze off. The rest of the class had been lowered down to ground level and Aizawa was able to see his students all in varying degrees of concern.
Cementoss’s soothing words seemed to pass through Bakugou’s head as if they were light and he was the invisible girl. He barely took stock of being pulled to his feet and the sudden silence as all of his classmates stopped fighting was lost on him. Instead, all he could focus on was the whine of pain that Ojiro had made when Aizawa had pulled him away. It echoed in his head and his stomach was knotted in anxiety.
When the whole class was lowered to the gym floor Kirishima made his way over to his best friend. He could see that Bakugou was a bit shook up, “Baku-bro, you good?”
His question went unanswered and he couldn’t help but be concerned for the usually explosively eloquent boy. Kaminari flitted over to his friends, completely oblivious to the situation. He sidled up to Bakugou, arm slinging across the mute boy’s shoulders in familiarity despite being warned against it numerous times in the past. “So, King explosion murder, you won today?” he teased leaning into Bakgou’s face, the furrowing of the barely visible brows finally hinted at Bakgou’s darkened mood.
“I lost control… Denki, he's hurt because of me.” Bakugou whispered in a voice so vulnerable that Kaminari barely registered that Bakgou called him by his first name. His affable smile faltered, he side-eyed Kirishima whose face was contorted into one of concern. This was new. Bakugou had only ever used marginally clever nicknames for everyone- so Denki wasn’t quite used to his friend using not just his name but his first name.
“Ojiro’s okay Bakugou, if he wasn’t then Recovery Girl would be rushing him into her actual clinic,” Kaminari said making sure his voice came across as soft as possible. Bakugou’s shoulders only slumped further.
Aizawa called attention to himself and quickly dismissed the class to their dorms, assuring them all that their classmate would be in tip-top shape. He watched as they all filtered out of the gym quickly, except one of his problem children- Bakugou. He could tell by the way the usually proud boy stood almost defeated, that he was blaming himself for Ojiro’s injury. He watched as the platinum blonde nervously made his way towards the makeshift clinic. Which was really just a table filled with bandages, antiseptic sprays, and a couple of chairs set to the side that currently housed one-tailed individual.
“He’s okay?” is the first thing Bakugou could say when he got close enough to see the golden-haired boy’s unscarred face. The knot in his stomach started to loosen but the guilt still held him hostage.
“Yes, I'm just waiting with him to make sure he makes it back to the dorms,” Aizawa affirmed before leaning against the wall heavily. “You know it’s not your fault right? These things happen, especially during training. Ojiro is one of our less injury-prone students but he’s had his fair share of Recovery Girl’s kisses.”
“I lost control- this wasn’t supposed to happen,” Bakugou whispered meekly.
Aizawa said nothing, just looked up to the ceiling deep in thought. Bakugou continued to watch over Ojiro protectively until Ojiro’s eyes fluttered open- then he pointedly and looked away. Ojiro glanced around his surroundings as he pushed himself into a sitting position. His teacher asked him a few questions before nodding and walking out of the gym while calling back to the two that they better be back in the dorms by dinner. Ojiro questioningly looked up at Bakugou who seemed very occupied with not making eye contact.
“Were you waiting for me?” Ojiro asked quietly, he and Bakugou didn’t really get along that well but over the last couple of weeks, they’d managed a simple camaraderie. He was touched that anyone had stayed to wait for him but he was especially touched that the snarkiest boy in class was waiting for him. By the slight flush on the pale boy’s cheeks, Ojiro felt as if he got his answer so he smiled softly before standing up. Correction- tried to stand up. Ojiro’s body was a bit too tired and he stumbled forward.
“Are you okay?” Bakugou exclaimed as he caught Ojiro by the shoulders. His heart was in his throat and even when Ojiro steadied himself Bakugou wouldn’t let go.
“I’m fine, just a bit drained. It’s not as bad as when I sprained my tail.” Ojiro joked, trying to lighten the mood of the room.
“Lean on me, I'll help you back to the dorm. We don’t need you falling over and needing another trip to Recovery Girl.” Bakugou didn’t wait for a response as he hoisted one of Ojiro’s arms over his shoulder and held him firmly at his waist.
“Alright, thanks, dude.” Ojiro could feel his face warming at the firm hand holding his hip. He stepped forward slowly and Bakugou kept pace and gently urged Ojiro on. It took them about ten minutes to get back to their dorm hall and by then, both were making small jokes.
“Hey guys, you’re finally back!” Mina yelled as they entered the room, a gaggle of girls camping out on the couches in the common room.
“Yeah, sorry for worrying you all.” Ojiro smiled sheepishly. Bakugou adjusted his grip on Ojiro and when the other tried to pull away ever so slightly, Bakgou pulled him closer. For some reason, he felt protective of the fatigued boy, and the thought of him not needing Bakugou’s help may have made his heart clench uncomfortably.
“Aoyama and Yaoyorozu are in charge of dinner tonight and she said something about couscous, I don’t really know what that is but it has to be better than the burnt rice she made last time,” Uraraka informed the boys, and Ojiro’s face twisted into one of distaste.
“ Yeah, I’ve tried it during one of my mom’s food experiments and frankly I’m not the biggest fan.” He turned to Bakugou, “will you help me upstairs?”
“No problem Ojiro,” Bakugou nodded toward the elevator and they quickly made their way up- not noticing the open-mouthed faces of shock that crowded the couches.
They made it to the third floor and Ojiro led him towards his room wordlessly, and maybe he was leaning a bit more into Bakugou than he probably needed to but if you’d ever ask him he’d deny it. Bakugou was comforting to Ojiro’s weakened state and frankly who didn’t want a cute boy to help them in their time of need.
Meanwhile, Bakugou was facing his own dilemma, why in the world did each step toward the bed fill him with dread? Gritting his teeth and shoving down his confused emotions, Bakugou helps Ojiro lay down on his bed. “You good?”
He got a slight nod as an answer as Ojiro curled up under the covers, obvious exhaustion flooding his face. Feeling out of place Bakgouu started to step away but was surprised when Ojiro reached out and grabbed a fistful of Bakgou’s pants.
“Can you stay here for a second?” Ojiro mumbled, his face scrunched up against the pillow. A silent nod was all that Bakugou could manage, his heart in his throat, so he nervously sat on the edge of the bed near Ojiro’s knees. Ojiro peeked up at the nervous nelly and decided to tease him. “I was going to thank you for helping me but you look so cute when you’re nervous.”
It took a second to register but Bakugou flushed a deep ruby color and stood up abruptly, Ojiro smiled blindingly at his reaction until the hot head high-tailed it out of his room.
Well shit.
Bakugou closed the door behind him, being mindful not to slam it, he rushed to the elevator and jammed at the button until it finally opened. He quickly hit four and repeatedly pressed the close door button while his heart seemed to be beating in his ears. He knew his face was flushed- he could feel the heat it emitted. Once the doors finally closed he took a deep breath and patted his cheeks. Why was he even acting like this? The girls downstairs have called him cute in passing and he’d never reacted this way before. Maybe it’s just exhaustion from the rollercoaster of emotions he took today. Yeah, that must be it.
He was mostly calm and back to his usual skin tone by the time he made it halfway down the hall to his dorm but all of a sudden Kirishima stepped out of his room. “Baku-bro! Satou just messaged me that dinner is ready, want to head down together?”
“Not today, I’m tired.” Bakugou brushed past Kirishima and headed into his room while all but slamming his door. He flicked the lock and pressed his slightly warm forehead against the cool wood. He couldn’t help but feel as if his earlier assumption was wrong. He could still feel his heart racing from when Ojiro called him cute. Yeah, Bakugou knew he wasn’t ugly. After all, he took after his mom, he knew the old hag was beautiful. But hearing it from Ojiro was different than anytime before- maybe it had to do with how it built up.
Wait, how did it build up? Yeah maybe he felt different today but it was hard to pinpoint any of his emotions today. The protective urge Ojiro pulled out of him? He’d felt that before! With the shitty nerd and shitty hair especially. Though the urge to keep Ojiro in his arms when he had tried to pull away was new. He gently knocked his forehead against the door before trudging over to his bed. A glance at the clock on his headboard showed it was just after six. Way too early to fall asleep and as if he could. He didn’t understand what was happening to himself. He stared at the ceiling as the realization dawned on him.
Bakugou had a crush on Ojiro.