Work Text:
Mina reaches into the bowl placed on the carpet of her dorm room. The Bakusquad is gathered in a circle around it looking like a small cult meeting. She pulls out a folded slip of paper, eyes widening as she reads the sentence written.
She looks around the group until her eyes settle on Bakugou. “You’re first,” she says, smirking.
Bakugou scowls. “Get on with it, Raccoon Eyes. I don’t even want to be here. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can fucking leave.”
“Can you at least pretend you enjoy spending time with us?” Sero asks.
Bakugou ignores their comment.
Kirishima slings an arm around Bakugou’s shoulders, getting far closer than Bakugou would allow anyone else to be. “Come on, bro. We’re playing a group bonding game.”
“How is asking each other random questions from a bowl going to help us bond?”
“It’s simple,” Mina answers. “These questions are designed to make us reveal the deepest, darkest parts of ourselves. Trusting each other with our secrets will bring us closer together.”
“That's bullshit.”
“If it’s bullshit then answer the question and prove us wrong,” Mina dares.
“Fine.” Bakugou crosses his arms. He barely refrains from pouting. He's learned his lesson after the Bakusquad has made fun of him for doing it in the past.
Kirishima catches the twitch of his mouth and bites his lip to stop from cooing and commenting on how the move makes Bakugou look like a disgruntled toddler. “Go on, Mina,” he encourages.
Mina makes a show of reopening the paper. “What is your worst fear?”
“I’m not scared of anything.”
“Typical,” Kaminari snorts.
“Everyone is scared of something,” Mina prods.
“Not me,” Bakugou boasts.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re mister “I’m not scared of anything,” we know,” Kaminari comments.
“Hell yeah, I am.”
“Sero, you go. Bakugou is not going to answer,” Kirishima says.
“I did answer!”
Sero grabs a slip of paper next. “Kirishima,” he says after reading it. “What’s the most embarrassing moment of your life? Or one of the most embarrassing moments.”
Kirishima takes a deep breath, puffing up his cheeks. “I don’t like telling people about this, but one of my most embarrassing moments was this one time during middle school…”
The group, even Bakugou, leans in closer.
…
After their game night in Mina’s room, the Bakusquad takes it upon themselves to sniff out Bakugou’s biggest fear. None of them believe Bakugou was telling the truth about not having one.
Kaminari thinks Bakugou’s biggest fear is the Sludge Monster that attacked him in middle school. His suggestion is to stage another Sludge Monster attack to make Bakugou admit that he’s scared. Kirishima shoots that idea down before Mina or Sero can agree. He'll have to keep a close eye on his friends. He won’t put it past the other members of the Bakusquad to do it anyway.
Their plan for now is to go down a list of common fears, such as the dark, heights or small spaces. So far, none of them have been fruitful.
Bakugou sleeps in pitch dark. He makes Kirishima turn off his Crimson Riot nightlight when they have sleepovers in his room. He flies using his explosions. Heights can’t bother him or he’d have trouble doing that. During training, they’ve been forced into cramped tunnels and plenty of other small spaces. Bakugou keeps a level head during those moments.
After ruling out their first list of possibilities, they move on. Sero dresses up as a skeleton and jumps out at Bakugou from behind the common room couch. No reaction. Mina pokes holes in a piece of cheese and shoves it in Bakugou’s face while he’s cooking dinner for himself and Kirishima. No reaction - other than Bakugou threatening to stab Mina. Kaminari tapes pictures of deep waters to the mirror in the boy’s locker room while Bakugou is showering. No reaction.
After a week of attempting to figure out what Bakugou is afraid of, the Bakusqaud exhausts their ideas. They’ve tried everything they can think of.
Nothing has worked.
Maybe Bakugou really isn’t scared of anything?
…
The answer comes in the most unexpected way possible.
Class 1-A is in hero training when it happens. All Might has organized a mock building collapse to teach the class how to react and proceed in case of this scenario.
With large-scale villain attacks and fights, city destruction is often expected. Every hero needs knowledge of how to stay safe if a building is destroyed.
All Might’s assignment has three students placed strategically in the rubble of a safely collapsed building that Cementoss created in a training area. Two other students are instructed to follow the protocol Aizawa taught in class on how to find and safely rescue trapped victims.
The three victims are Bakugou, Tokoyami and Koda. The Pro-Heroes are Kirishima and Midoriya. So far Koda and Tokoyami have been recovered. No one knows where Bakugou is located.
The Pro-Hero team has ten minutes left to complete their assignment. They will fail if they don’t at least find Bakugou before time runs out. Midoriya and Kirishima have combed through the rubble multiple times.
Time is running out. They are down to the wire. They should be announcing their arrival and asking if there are any survivors in the area. They’ve done that and received no response. They even abandoned proper protocol and yelled Bakugou’s name as they searched.
The parameters of their assignment list that they should treat their classmates as unknown civilians. They shouldn’t be using Bakugou’s name like they are. They will lose points for this. However, they will earn points if they at least find him, making the loss of other points worth it.
Midoriya steps over a slab of cement. His weight shifts the integrity of the slab. It tips to one side before settling against another piece of broken cement. Midoriya almost loses his balance, but Kirishima grabs his arm, steadying him. “I think,” Midoriya wipes sweat off his brow, “that part of Kacchan’s assignment is that he can’t speak. There’s no way he hasn’t heard us yelling. His character is either unconscious or dead.”
“Which makes our work harder.” Kirishima stops where he is, standing on a pile of rubble and broken glass. He gazes around the general area they’re in. There are plenty of places Bakugou could be.
“Let’s get cracking,” Midoriya says.
Frustrated, Kirishima hardens his foot and kicks a cement piece. It tumbles off the pile he’s standing on and lands near two pieces of wood lodged together.
The wood resembles a cartoon tent shape. The pieces are wedged so tightly that they cast a shadow so thick Kirishima can't see into the small opening. It wouldn’t be noticeable unless someone was looking for it.
“I see something,” Kirishima nudges Midoriya. He points to the structure.
They skid down the pile and hit the ground running. Kirishima drops to his knees beside the wood. Even close up he still can't see into the space. “Midoriya, do you have a flashlight on you?”
“Yeah.” Midoriya fumbles through his belt, searching for the mini flashlight he keeps on hand for situations such as these.
Kirishima shifts onto his stomach and scoots as close to the hole as he can get, shining the flashlight inside. A crater about three feet deep and two feet wide greets him. “It looks like a piece of the floor fell through. I can see a flash of orange. I think Bakugou is down here.”
“I hope so. We won’t have time to search anywhere else if he isn’t.”
Kirishima points to the other side of the wood pieces. “Get on that side. I’m going to see if I can find out how the wood and cement are positioned. We can’t move anything until we know for certain that we won't cause anything to fall on Bakugou.”
“Got it.”
Kirishima is too big to fit through the hole, so he extends his arm as far down as he can. He swivels his wrist until the flashlight beam lands on Bakugou’s scowling face. “He’s here,” Kirishima announces, relieved.
Bakugou flips Kirishima off. He silently holds out his character card. Kirishima can barely reach it with the tips of his fingers. He grasps the card between his pointer and middle finger, struggling to read it while also holding the flashlight. “You were right, Midoriya. He’s supposed to be unconscious. A piece of debris hit his head when he fell and one of his legs was trapped under rubble.”
“Great,” Midoriya says. He mumbles under his breath about the best ways to get Bakugou out of this position safely.
Kirishima wipes dust off his hero-work-only watch and checks their time left for the assignment. “We have five minutes,” he warns. “Do we do this safely and possibly not make it on time or do we shove stuff out of the way, yank him out, and hope we don’t kill him in the process?”
“Let’s go with option one first. If we get down to one minute or less and it doesn’t look good we’ll go with option two.”
“Alright.” Kirishima feels around in the small space, not feeling anything that will fall if they move the wood. “Midoriya, slowly and carefully move the wood closest to you. I’m going to keep my arm where it is in case I need to protect Bakugou.”
“Got it.”
Bakugou screams.
Kirishima jumps so harshly that his shoulder hits one of the wood slabs. His skin wasn't hardened and the scrape burns, but other things are on his mind. “Bakugou,” Kirishima shouts over Bakugou’s panicked screams. “Calm down! What’s wrong!”
“What’s going on?” Midoriya asks, unable to see anything from his position.
“I don’t know. He’s freaking out! Something must be wrong. His character is unconscious. He wouldn’t break character unless he’s injured in real life.”
“Calm him down and find out what’s wrong.”
“I’m trying!”
Bakugou ignores Kirishima’s attempts to calm him down. He thrashes in the small space, causing the meticulously placed scenery to shift out of alignment. Bakugou’s position is only safe as long as nothing moves too far.
If they aren’t careful they could actually bury Bakugou. A fact that Kirishima catches on to. He grabs Bakugou's flailing hands, holding them between his hardened one. “Bakugou, stop panicking!”
“Get me out of here!” Bakugou yells. His eyes are crazed with fear and his face is red from exertion.
“We’re trying. You have to calm down.” Kirishima changes the tone of his voice. Yelling at Bakugou in this state isn’t going to do any good. Kirishima has never witnessed Bakugou being scared, but a calm voice might help.
“Bakugou, tell me what you see? Can we move these boards without anything falling on you?”
Bakugou’s eyes flick around the dark space. Kirishima shines the flashlight around so Bakugou can see. He notices that Bakugou doesn’t look in one direction. “You can move them,” Bakugou answers, his voice shaking slightly, as if he’s about to cry.
“Check to your right. We have to be certain.”
“No,” Bakugou says.
“Now is really not the time to be difficult, Kacchan,” Midoriya says. “Do as Kirishima says.”
“Fuck off, Deku! Get me the Hell out of here!” Bakugou flinches. A whimper, that he will deny ever happened, slips from his lips.
Kirishima places his hands on Bakugou’s chest. He hardens his skin and presses down, preventing Bakugou from thrashing again. “Stay still. We’re going to get you out of here.”
Bakugou nods. “Please, Kirishima,” he whispers.
Surprise stuns Kirishima. Bakugou has never used the word “please” in his life and only calls Kirishima by his name when he’s severely pissed. Bakugou is terrified right now. Something about this situation is scaring the shit out of him.
“Midoriya, move the wood. I’m watching Bakugou just in case.”
“Okay.” Midoriya moves to do as Kirishima said. It’s slow going. Midoriya is strong enough to do this fast, but to ensure what he does won’t cause a chain reaction, he has to move the wood a few inches at a time, stop to inspect, and then continue.
The time for their assignment has run out by now, but neither of them care. Something is wrong. They don’t know if All Might or their classmates have caught on to that. Right now, they’re the only ones who can help.
“We’re getting you out of there,” Kirishima says. “Are you hurt?” Bakugou shakes his head. “What’s wrong then? Why are you scared?”
“I’m not scared, Shitty Hair!”
“You’re fucking terrified, Bakugou! I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s wrong.”
Bakugou grinds his teeth so hard that his jaw pops. After a tense five seconds, Kirishima assumes Bakugou isn’t going to answer. He does, mumbling something so low Kirishima can’t make it out.
“What? Speak up.”
“I said there’s a goddamn spider,” Bakugou spits out. His face turns redder than Kirishima’s hair.
Kirishima jaw drops. He stares at Bakugou, amazed. “What?”
“Don’t make me repeat it, Shitty Hair.”
“Okay, okay.”
“What’s going on?” Midoriya asks. He has the first piece of wood almost moved enough to get to the fake concrete slab off of Bakugou’s leg.
Although the slab isn't real, it weighs enough to make moving it difficult. Bakugou can’t remove it on his own. Even if he could, he doesn’t have the room to maneuver as much as he would need to yet - not until Midoriya completes his task.
Bakugou’s narrow eyes and the tight line of his lips clearly tell Kirishima not to say anything to Midoriya. Kirishima has to, though. Midoriya thinks Bakugou is injured in real life. He could make fatal mistakes in his panic.
Kirishima smiles apologetically at Bakugou. I’m sorry he mouths. “Bakugou was spooked by a spider. He isn’t injured. We can slow down a little.”
“No, you had better fucking not!”
Kirishima takes his hands off Bakugou’s chest, covering Bakugou’s mouth instead. “Be quiet. Don’t speak unless Midoriya or I ask you a question. Understand?” He releases Bakugou’s face.
“Yeah.”
“Where is the spider?”
“Right beside my head.”
“Okay. I can’t see that far. I need you to guide my hand to where the spider is.”
Bakugou’s hand shakes as he grabs Kirishima’s arm and guides his hand to the spider. “Right there.”
“Exactly where my hand is?”
“Yes.”
“Stay still,” Kirishima orders. He slowly closes his fist, hoping he scooped the spider up. “Did I get it?”
“Yes.”
“Stay right there.” Kirishima extracts his arm from the hole. He almost snorts when he opens his palm. He doesn't, so as not to upset Bakugou. A spider, smaller than Kirishima’ pinky nail, sits on his hardened palm.
He reaches out beside him and drops the spider onto the ground. The spider doesn’t waste time scuttling away. Kirishima loses sight of the tiny thing within seconds. “There, it’s gone.”
“Did you kill it? Smash it’s brain out?”
“Umm… no?”
“Why the fuck not? You should have ripped its legs from its shitty body before stepping on it and smearing its blood on the ground.”
Kirishima eyes his best friend as best as he can from his new position. Bakugou has violent tendencies, but this is a little extreme considering the subject of Bakugou’s wrath is a spider.
Kirishima is glad Bakugou is still trapped. They can see him better, but they are still a long way away from freeing him. If he could move, he’d probably hunt down the spider to explode it.
“What’s the point of this?” Kirishima asks. He's been studying the scenario for a while now, and something about it doesn't sit right with him.
“Huh?” Midoriya asks. “What do you mean?”
“Look at this setup. We didn’t have enough time to rescue Bakugou safely by the time we found the other two. If we had found Bakugou first, we wouldn’t have had time for the other two once he was safe. We also couldn’t have divided and conquered, because we needed both of us to save him. So, what’s the point?”
“I don’t know. Maybe to teach us that we need to work as fast and efficiently as possible during rescues because we never know what’s going to come up?”
“You’re an idiot, Deku,” Bakugou says gruffly. “This exercise was designed to remind you both that you can’t save everyone.”
“You think, Kacchan?”
“That has to be it. No matter how fast you work, you’ll never succeed in saving all three of us within the thirty minute time limit. I have no doubt that All Might assigned you two to this scenario. You’re both stupid idiots who like to charge into situations without thought. You both take the loss of civilians or comrades personally. It’s a hard truth, but you can’t save everyone.”
“Young Bakugou is correct,” All Might’s booming voice startles the three students.
Kirishima turns around to see All Might striding across the rubble strewn ground. “All Might, you’re here!”
“I am here.” All Might grabs the wood trapping Bakugou with one hand and lifts it away. The stability of the movement is compromised by the sudden movement. Kirishima throws himself on top of Bakugou in the nick of time.
Concrete, glass and other debris covers Kirishima from head to toe. Bakugou coughs into Kirishima’s face from the dust cloud that arises. “Thanks,” Kirishima grits out. Waving the dust and Bakugou's breath away.
“Anytime,” Bakugou snarks. “Get the fuck off me.”
“A thank you would be nice.”
“For what? Doing your job? Don’t expect thanks from the public.”
“You’re not the public. You’re my best friend.”
“You definitely shouldn’t expect thanks from me.” Bakugou pushes at Kirishima’s chest. “Move, fatass.”
Kirishima rolls off of him. Midoriya swoops in to lift the fake concrete block off of Bakugou’s leg. Bakugou groans and stretches. He’s been stuck in this position for over thirty minutes.
“Is it over?”
“Yes, young Bakugou. Your assignment is over. You all passed.”
“Huh?” Midoriya shakes debris from his hair. “We didn’t save Kacchan in time.”
“No, you didn’t. Bakugou is correct. I designed this assignment so you would fail. However, you both exceeded my expectations. I did not foresee Bakugou’s reaction, but your actions earned you the points you lost for not saving all the victims within the time limit.”
“How? What did we do to earn points?”
“Kirishima, you took charge of a situation neither you nor your partner were sure about. You also kept Bakugou calm and stopped his panicking so Midoriya could do his job. Midoriya took orders and executed his job perfectly. He saw that this rescue needed more finesse than others. He did what he needed to to save the victim, rather than finish the assignment faster and injure Bakugou’s character in the process. I’d say, all of this added together equals an A for this assignment.”
Kirishima shares a relieved smile with Midoriya. Who knew Bakugou’s arachnophobia would be their saving grace?
…
All Might was the only person with a comm in to hear what happened during Kirishima and Midoriya’s assignment. The rest of the class witnessed Bakugou’s freakout, but no one but the four of them know what really happened.
Their classmates, particularly the Bakusquad and Todoroki, badger them to reveal what made Bakugou lose his composure. After a week of non-stop text messages and his friends cornering him after class, Kirishima breaks.
“I’m not going to tell you what happened. That’s a breach of Bakugou’s trust, but I will tell you that there might be one thing that Bakugou is scared of. Good luck figuring out what it is.”