Chapter Text
Jirou was one of the first to notice that Katsuki Bakugou was not just the bully he portrayed. There were other things lurking beneath the surface.
If you just went by his hero vs villain exercise with Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka, you would probably see nothing but a delinquent and an asshole.
Before Jirou just wrote him off as just an asshole though, she heard something that upset her so much she clenched her fist out of anger.
It was during another group's exercise that same day when she heard him mutter under his breath. She had a hearing quirk so she had better hearing than most people without even using her quirk. She wasn't listening to him, she just heard him.
Todoroki had thrown a iced over punch at a hardened Kirishima that made most people flinch. She heard Bakugou scoff and mutter to himself. "My old hag hits harder than these extras. Fucking losers."
She knew he called his mom a hag. His mom hit him?
Did she reprimand him or did she actually hit him?
How hard did she hit him?
Was he safe?
It was the reason Jirou started paying more attention to Bakugou.
It was only a couple days later after the exercise when she watched Bakugou silently make his way into class. He had a black eye and he seemed to be slightly limping.
Kirishima called out to him. "Dude! What happened?"
Bakugou growled and snapped at him. "None of your goddamn business shitty hair!"
She watched Kirishima give him a worried look.
Kaminari patted him on the back. "It's okay Kirishima. You know how he is. He probably got in a fight."
A fight? Jirou really wasn't so sure. Most people knew to steer clear of Bakugou. She had a sinking feeling in her gut that it was something different. How hard did his mom hit him? Enough to give him a black eye and a limp if that's what it was from. She had a bad feeling it was.
Bakugou snarled, "Quit fucking staring at me you extras. So I got in a fight with a few shitty third years. What of it?"
Iida chopped with his hands, "This is a respectable school. You shouldn't be fighting on Yuuei property!"
Bakugou slumped down in his chair before throwing his feet up on the desk. He turned to look out the window, shutting them all out. Jirou could see smoke coming from the blonde's hands. "The fuck ever four eyes. Just fucking leave me alone. All of you."
Jirou began to notice other little things that really spelled out how bad the situation must be.
Bakugou flinched when teachers came anywhere near his personal space.
He jerked away from any kind of touch. Jirou watched him almost dislocate his own shoulder to get away from touch when Present Mic Sensei rested a hand on his arm.
Then there were the scars on his arms. He would never talk about them. They were burn scars that ran up both of his arms. One day when they were having heroics training, he walked out in his costume and he had fresh marks on his arms. The marks looked like handprints.
It was fresh burnt skin on top of old burnt skin.
He blamed it on quirk control and lack thereof, but anyone who knew him knew how well he could control his quirk.
Jirou wanted to talk to him. To ask him if he was okay or safe, but he wouldn't let anyone get that close to him. He shut any questions about his personal life down in an instant. He snapped and snarled at anyone who came close to him.
It was two months after she started watching him closer that one day she literally ran into him one afternoon.
Jirou was shopping for a new leather jacket when she turned the corner quickly and ran into someone. Jirou dropped her jacket and whoever she ran into dropped their pile of clothes. "Hey watch.." Jirou immediately recognized the voice, but that couldn't be right. It had to be someone else. Jirou bent down to pick up the clothes to give herself time to wrack her brain to see if it was possibly someone else's voice. She picked up a pink dress, a black skirt, a matching bra and panty set, and some hair scrunchies.
When she stood up, it was who she thought it was waiting for her. It was Bakugou. He looked taken aback when he finally realized who it was that ran into him. "Ears..?"
Jirou wanted to roll her eyes at the nickname but she didn't. She had more pressing matters to attend to. Jirou handed the clothes and stuff back to Bakugou. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he took the clothes from her. "They're not for me." His voice was soft. The softest she had ever heard him speak.
He looked nervous. It was a look she had never seen on him before.
"Bakugou. It's okay if they're for you. It's okay."
"They're not for me! I don't play dress up. I'm.. I'm a man. Fuck you." He shoved the clothes into her arms and stormed out of the shop.
Jirou didn't miss the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes as he left.
Jirou looked down at the bundle of clothes in her arms. She knew what she had to do.
At the end of the day the next day, Jirou caught up to Bakugou as he was heading home. "Bakugou! Bakugou. Wait up."
Surprisingly he stopped to turn around and face her. "What do you want ears?"
She stopped to catch her breath. "I wanted to give you something." She held out a bag to him.
He looked like a spooked animal as he stared at the bag. She nudged him with it until he took it.
She watched his demeanor turn cold when he opened the bag. "You fucking making fun of me ears!? I told you that shit wasn't for me."
Jirou sighed. "Bakugou. I'm not making fun of you. I wouldn't do that."
He gave her a skeptical look. "You're not?"
"I'm not. I promise." She watched him pull some pink fabric slightly out of the bag and run it between his fingers. She seen him smile softly but then try to cover it.
He looked up at her. Holding the bag close to his chest. "Thanks...Jirou."
Jirou left the conversation with a smile on her face. There was so many layers to Bakugou. So many things that people didn't know. That she didn't know. Seeing that soft smile on his face though. It warmed her chest in an odd way.
Her smile was wiped clean the next morning when Bakugou walked into class with his head down. He tried to hide them but she could make out the bruises along his jaw.
She tried talking to him all day but he was elusive. She finally found him alone when school ended. "Bakugou!"
He turned around to face her. She got a good look at his face. He was definitely bruised. "What ears!?"
His snapping and snarling didn't affect her. She knew he was deflecting. She didn't need to say anything to him, and at the risk of an explosion to the face, she pulled him into a hug.
She felt him stiffen at first but then he soon melted into her embrace. She heard him take a watery intake of breath. "Bakugou. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He lightly pushed her away, "I'm fine damnit."
Jirou gave him a look. "Sure you are." She pulled a notebook out of her bag and a pen. She wrote down her number and tore the page out and gave it to him. "If you need anything. You message me. I mean it."
He looked like he was going to protest but the he closed his mouth instead. "Okay. Thanks."
She nodded at him. "I'll see you tomorrow Bakugou."
"Wait." He called out to her as she went to turn around. She looked up at him as he thrusted a wad of bills at her. "For the clothes. I don't like owing anyone favors." She was going to tell him to keep it but she could look in his eyes and see that it meant a lot to him for her to take it. He was proud and didn't want to be in debt. She could understand.
She took the money from him. "Thank you Bakugou."
He nodded at her. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow ears."
The next day at school, the girls were giving her weird looks. Jirou looked over to Momo, "What's going on? You all have been giving me weird looks all day."
Momo opened her mouth but Mina excitedly jumped in. "Are you dating Bakugou?"
Jirou felt herself blush, "What are you talking about? I'm not dating Bakugou."
Tsu gave her a look, "Mina seen you hugging Bakugou yesterday after school. Ribbit."
The girls nodded and Momo out a gentle hand on hers. "It's okay if you're dating Bakugou. As long as he treats you right Kyo."
Tooru giggled, "We always knew you had a think for bad boys Jirou. Plus Bakugou's hot."
Jirou shook her head. She cared about Bakugou. She wanted him to be safe but she didn't like him like that. She was just concerned. She wanted to be a good friend. "There's been a misunderstanding. I'm not dating Bakugou. That hug was...for me. I was having a rough day." She was not going to spill any kind of Bakugou's secrets. "Bakugou is a lot nicer than people give him credit for." That part was completely honest.
Mina winked at her. "If you say so girl."
Jirou rolled her eyes. Great. Now she had a rumor to kill. She'd put it on her list of things to do.
A few weeks passed before she got a message from an unknown number. "It's Bakugou. Can I maybe crash at your place tonight?"
Jirou frowned at the message. Why did he need a place to stay? She called him and he picked up on the third ring. "Bakugou. What's wrong? Why do you need a place to stay?"
She could almost feel him shrug through the phone. "Got kicked out for the night. I'd usually just go to the park but it's getting too cold for that shit."
He got kicked out? He was a sixteen year old kid. How could his parents kick him out? "I'm like a thirty minute walk from Yuuei. I'll send you directions. My light will be on, come through my window because my parents are already asleep."
She heard him shuffle around. "Thanks Jirou."
"Bakugou. When you get here, please tell me what's going on." She didn't want to risk him not coming but she wanted to finally know what was going on. She was worried. She'd been worried about him for months.
She heard him sigh on the other end of the phone. His voice was soft. "Okay. We can talk about it." He hung up and Jirou got to work sending him the directions. She made sure her window was unlocked before she went back to her homework.
Almost forty minutes later, she heard a tap on her window. She opened it and Bakugou crawled through. She watched him look around her room at her instruments and her band posters. She seen him smirk. "Cool room."
She couldn't help but smirk a little bit herself. Her room was Bakugou approved. That wasn't going to distract her though. "Bakugou.."
He turned to look at her, and she could finally see his face. He had been crying. He had mascara that had run down his face. He had bruises along his jaw again, and one on his cheek that resembled a hand print. He gave her a sad smile. "I know. I'm a sight for sore eyes."
Jirou found herself walking forward and slipping her arms around him. "Bakugou.. do your parents hit you?"
She felt him tighten his grip on her. "My...my hag of a mom does. My old man doesn't say anything, he just lets it happen... It was always little smacks and stuff when I used to get in trouble but then.."
She heard him take a deep breath. "A couple years ago, she caught me in a dress while I was doing makeup. That was the first time she really hurt me. That's what happened tonight. She came home earlier than I thought and she caught me putting on makeup. I was just lucky I wasn't still wearing my skirt. It would have been worse."
Jirou shook her head. How could a parent hit their kid like that? "She hits you because you like dressing up and doing makeup? That's so wrong. She shouldn't be hitting you at all, but especially not for expressing yourself."
Bakugou looked away from her. "It's not just dressing up.." Jirou could see tears pooling in his eyes. "It's because when she caught me back then, I told her I was a girl. I'm trans." Jirou held on tightly as she felt a sob wrack Bakugou's body.
Bakugou was a girl? That's why her mom hit her? Jirou felt anger spike through her body. How could someone do that? She held Bakugou tight. "You're safe here. I promise Bakugou."
"Kura."
Jirou looked up at her. "What was that?"
She continued, "My name is Kura. It's what I like to be called."
Jirou gave her a gentle smile. "Kura. You're safe here. If you ever need anything, you can always come here."