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Being friends with Katsuki Bakugou is already known to be a challenge.
It’s not like he hasn’t changed because he has, but it’s more so of the fact that his emotions are still on 100 constantly. One minute he’s calm, the next he’s angry, after that he feels bad for whoever he snapped at and finally the isolation comes up. Being his friend could almost be summed up as someone owning a wild animal even if trying to domesticate it.
Wild animals are still wild at the end of the day.
Now when it comes to being in a relationship with Katsuki Bakugou? It’s sort of the opposite.
While some flaws can still apply and you may get burnt out being with him, once understanding why he is the way he is it isn’t that hard to keep him around… though this may only work if your name is Eijirou Kirishima which leads us now to the two teens in Eijirou’s room.
“I don’t get why she won’t fucking listen! I don’t need to be babysat like I’m some bratty ass kid that can’t do shit for themselves!”
“You know she’s just looking at for you baby, you know this.”
“Well she doesn’t have to be such a consistent asshole about it!”
When Katsuki gets like this, one would think to back away but that’s not what Eijirou thinks. Looking at the shouting blond in front of him he reaches out and holds his hand. Once a few seconds pass and there’s no explosions, the redhead slowly pulls him closer while rubbing his thumb across the back of the other's hand.
Physical touch can make a problem worse so as long as Katsuki doesn’t pull away or outright tell the other beforehand he doesn’t want to be touched it’s easy to get him to calm down and get his thoughts together.
“Want me to say something to her? Or maybe you can talk to your dad for a bit and he can figure something out?”
The blond shakes his head while letting go of his boyfriends hand and sitting next to him on the bed.
“She started it, why the hell do I have to reach out?”
“You don’t have to babe, it’s all up to you. Whatever you wanna do is fine with me but all I want is for you to be okay.”
The only thing Eijirou gets in response is a huff but he knows that's a good response.
✮
Going back to Katsuki’s self isolation, is it REALLY self isolation if you let someone else in?
Sometimes physical touch isn’t enough but being quiet is. Sometimes just having your partner be in your presence while you focus on something else helps the pressure from whatever hurt you.
Even if Eijirou wants to hold Katsuki and tell him everything’s gonna be okay, he knows the second he crosses that boundary then everything will go to shit. He’s fine with sitting in the chair at Katsuki’s desk while watching him sketch out hero costume designs (obviously not for himself, his is already one of the best ones out there.)
Katsuki glances at his boyfriend and while he gets a bright smile in return, he’s BLOND for fucks sake, not entirely stupid. He knows Eijirou wants to hold him, he knows he wants to kiss him all over, he knows he wants to take Katsuki’s hurt and deal with it himself but unfortunately that’s not how life works.
After a few more small glances at the other he sighs and moves over so Eijirou can lay next to him, immediately rambling and complimenting his art work.
If the redhead notices the smile on the olders face the whole time and his fingers fidgeting together, he’ll lie and pretend he didn’t.
✮
Not everyday though can these methods be used to help Katsuki.
Quiet is good but when your brain’s still running suddenly everything’s loud again. Physical touch is good but when your body’s hot and you can explode things suddenly it feels like you’re being strangled. Talking is good but when you can speak before you think suddenly a new argument can be started.
Any solution to help can immediately turn into a problem which brings up Katsuki’s wall and now it’s like a warzone around him.
Unfortunately, Hitoshi got hit in the crossfire.
“You’re so fucking annoying all the time! You say shit about others when you aren’t even a good person yourself! You think you’re above everyone when really you’re shit at everything you fucking do and everyone knows it, even Denki! I don’t even know why he’s still with you at this point-” and as Katsuki rambles on, everyone just takes it. Why? If they knew what else would help they would’ve tried to already.
Hitoshi isn’t really a person who cracks around those who act like the blond but not everyone has a good day and when you’re already in a bad headspace, having your friend scream in your ear about what you are and aren’t isn’t great.
As much as he wants to defend himself, he knows this isn’t how the other feels. They’ve had one on one conversations and even had group conversations with their squad about how the older feels and what he means during these moments. While that doesn’t mean nobody should just sit there and take it, Hitoshi doesn’t have the time or energy to turn a one-sided issue into a full-blown fight.
When Katsuki’s finally able to calm himself down, he realizes the damage he’s done. He knows “sorry” doesn’t exactly fix these situations anymore but nothing else is coming to his mind right now.
When he does go to speak, Mina cuts him off.
“Just.. we know, okay? This isn’t me trying to shoot you down, we know you’re sorry.”
The blond nods and tries to look everywhere but his friends on the couch. They know there’s a reason behind how the older acts. Depression is one thing, PTSD is another but this? They’ve had a few suspicions but weren’t sure how to approach Katsuki with them. Now they think that’ll be a discussion for later.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and take a break, yeah? You can come find us- well Hitoshi after and if we’re not here you know where to go.” Hanta pipes up, trying to give him a look as if he isn’t mad but Katsuki knows they don’t want to let him get away with his behavior, even if it seems to be something he can’t currently control.
When Katsuki looks at Hitoshi, his heart almost drops to his ass at the sight of his eyes being teary but when the boy shakes his head and waves a hand in his direction, he’s sighing and nodding again.
“..if you don’t want me to hangout with you guys this weekend it’s fine.”
“No it’s good, you’re good. Just try not to explode again before that. We think it’s cool when it’s at buildings and villains, not us.”
The blond lets out a laugh at Hitoshi’s joke before walking out the common room and to the elevator.
Life really shouldn’t be this complicated.