Turns out, Todoroki loved Bakugo's mochi. He'd taken a bite, frowned at the texture he didn't expect, and then as he kept chewing, his eyes widened and he nodded in approval to Bakugo.

Then he tried the regular strawberry mochi and then the matcha, and, yeah, Bakugo knew he wouldn't like the matcha one.

So it's been days since he made the mochi and since Todoroki finished up the last of it last night, he's begging Bakugo to make more. On the way to lunch, he uses the excuse that he doesn't want to be badgered by Todoroki to avoid eating with his friends and darts outside when he knows no one is around.

His friends don't completely buy it, it's obvious in their expressions, but he keeps up the act. That way he seems more genuine.

What's been on his mind lately is how he's going to straight out tell his friends he doesn't want to be around them anymore. Sero said it himself that the reason they keep inviting him to stuff and bothering him is because they don't believe he'd try to slip away from them. He has to tell them himself.

It's going to be hard, but he has to do this.

He'll do it soon. This week soon. Maybe on Wednesday or Thursday?

He doesn't know yet, but he's looking forward to tomorrow. He's skipping school to be with his dad all day at work. He'd told Bakugo right after they talked about it and told him he'd pick him up outside the gates of UA.

Bakugo's excited, actually. He hasn't seen his dad in a while and he misses him so much. He wonders if his dad misses him. He hasn't really reached out recently, but it's okay. Tomorrow is going to be great since they're spending the day together.

At the thought, Bakugo smiles as he sits down under a tree.

It's large enough that if he sits on the side where he can't see the windows, people won't know he's there. It's great, and although it's getting colder out, which Bakugo doesn't really like, he finds himself enjoying it somewhat.

His mom loved the cold.

Loved forcing Bakugo to make her gingerbread. To make Bakugo help decorate the tree every year, and no matter what, Bakugo had to put the star on the tree. No exceptions.

Bakugo's heart warms at the memory of her telling off her sister one year because they'd had family over one time while they were decorating. His aunt had a three year old and had already been carrying her kid to put the star on their tree.

His mom had snatched the star away from the three year old, causing the thing to burst out in tears as his aunt scoffed at Mitsuki.

"She's the youngest here, she's supposed to put the star on the tree."

"Not in my house. Katsuki, get over here."

And his aunt argued, saying how unfair it was that the thirteen year old boy was going to put the star on the tree when her daughter wanted to do it.

"Then let her do it at your house."

Bakugo smiles at the memory of her words, letting out a huff of laughter as he messes with the grass on the ground.

"That's ridiculous, Mitsuki, I was already lifting her to do it for you."

He remembers the twitch in his mom's eye. She'd already been holding back and trying to be patient with her sister, but her words were annoying all of them.

"I don't give a shit. Katsuki puts the star on the tree every year because I said so. It's my fucking house so I don't give a fuck if your daughter wanted to do it. My son wanted to do it, too, and it's my house so I get to choose who does it and I choose my son."

His aunt left after that and Mitsuki just rolled her eyes. "Good god. Did she hear herself? My son gets to put the star on the tree cause he's the best. I don't make the damn rules."

But she did because it was her house.

She always thought he was the best. Always.

When he ended up first in the entrance exam, she wasn't surprised, but still bought him a new phone and took him out to his favorite restaurant.

After he'd won the sports festival, he was so mad at himself, but she'd been there, putting ointment on his roughed up hands, telling him he'd win even if Todoroki used his fire because he'd already said so.

Then she'd bragged to everyone about how he'd won. Told everyone she bumped into that the winner of the UA sports festival was her son.

He hated the 'win', but the proud look on his mom's face changed that and he grew to enjoy it.

The first bell rings for class and he stands up, dusting off his ass before heading towards the door he came out from. It wasn't like he was around a part of school that his classmates would be around, so he doesn't really care who sees him.

Hero training and then he's done for today. He can't wait for tomorrow.

~~~~~

Bakugo had gotten ready right on time.

On the day they talked about it, Masaru told Bakugo to meet him outside the gates at 9. It was 8:50, so he started making his way to the gates, making sure he had his wallet and phone with him.

As he was walking, he texted Masaru that he was on his way to the gate and then pocketed his phone.

It was getting colder and colder by the day and Bakugo shivered at the gust of wind that passed. He dug his hands into his hoodie pocket and hunched over to feel warmer.

As soon as he reaches the gates, he takes out his phone, but no text had come in.

It's already 9.

He'll just call.

So he presses the call button and lifts the phone to his ear. It's ringing.

It rings five times and then goes to voicemail.

Ugh.

So he tries again, annoyed that this idiot probably slept in.

It's not that cold out, he can probably walk home so they can still go to his job together. He sniffles as the cold air gets to him, phone ringing for the fifth time before it goes to voicemail again.

Officially annoyed, he starts walking in the direction of the train station, calling again.

He curses, glaring at everything that catches his eye, calling a few more times as he approaches the station.

If he stayed asleep, Bakugo is going to give him hell.

He swipes his train card, passing through as he goes to voicemail again before finding his route and heading to that train car.

Bakugo got lucky that it was just about to leave, so as he rushes on, doors closing as soon as he's inside, he realizes that the phone stopped ringing and didn't go to voicemail.

"Katsuki?"

There's noise through the phone. Phones ringing, people talking, papers rustling.

Bakugo looks out the train door window just as the train starts moving, feeling absolutely broken.

Masaru forgot.

Bakugo hangs up and stares down at the floor, letting his arm fall to his side, clenching his phone.

Of course he forgot.

The phone in his hand buzzes, signaling that his dad is calling him back, probably realizing the mistake he made. Bakugo doesn't want to hear it.

He sniffles and it's not because of the cold this time.

~~~~~

He ends up in a prefecture he's never been in, about an hour away from UA. It's somewhat crowded, but he doesn't really care. Doesn't really know what he's doing.

All he's thinking about is how annoying the buzzing phone in his hand is.

The only thing keeping him from blowing it up is the small rational voice in the back of his head that tells him he needs his phone.

That he needs to call someone.

He needs- what does he need? What is he doing here in the streets of this prefecture he's not even sure the name of? He just felt like he needed to get off of the train, so he did.

Bakugo breathes in, realizing he can't be doing this. Whatever this is, he can't be doing it. Especially not in public. Not where anyone could see him.

Looking around, he tries to figure out where he ended up, mind still fuzzy.

There are so many people. Some accidentally bumping into him and others weaving around him. He's in the way, he realizes, so he situates himself to be against a building.

As he blinks even more, coming back to himself, he realizes how loud it is. How cold he was.

He can just check his location. No big deal.

He lifts his phone up so he can see it and sees four missed calls from his dad and twenty nine from Mr. Aizawa.

Why is Mr. Aizawa calling him?

Just then the man calls again, and Bakugo, the idiot, answers, lifting the phone up to his ear.

"Bakugo."

He sounds mad.

"Sensei?"

Obviously it's his Sensei. He saw the caller ID. Way to go Bakugo.

Bakugo looks around as the man talks, noticing how people look at him as they pass and he puts his head down, avoiding their eyes as he feels the need to get away. Hide from their glances.

"I've been calling you for two hours. Where are you?"

Two hours? He pulls the phone away from his face to check the time.

He swears he's only been on the train for-

It's been three hours.

Where the fuck is he?

He presses the phone back to his ear, hand tightening it's grip on the device.

"I-" he doesn't know where he's at. It's been three hours since he got on the train, which means he was just standing on the damn train like an idiot for three fucking hours.

Tears prick at his eyes, causing his vision to blur instantly as he ducks into an alley, desperate to get away from the judging eyes of all these people.

"Why have you been ignoring my calls? You already skipped class," he's so mad, but Bakugo finds himself unable to care, struggling to stop himself from crying, "I told you that you needed to go to counseling and you're not here. You're not even with your dad. He called the school asking about you-"

Bakugo accidentally breathes in too loud, interrupting the man.

He panics and mutes himself to try and get himself together, sniffling, letting out a few sobs, and breathing as deeply as he needs as he listens to Aizawa.

"Bakugo, are you okay? Are you safe?"

The man is obviously concerned and Bakugo- he needs to get himself together.

As soon as the man asks his question, Bakugo unmutes. "I'm fine. I'm heading back now. I'll be back in time."

His voice is a fucking traitor, but hopefully it's harder to tell over the phone.

"Bakugo, where are you?"

Aizawa sounds way less mad. Fuck, he knows something is wrong. Bakugo lets his head fall forward, giving up.

Then, it shoots up. He needs to find out his location ASAP. So he scrambles to figure it out so he doesn't leave Aizawa hanging for too long.

"Omiya Ward."

"In Saitama?" He sounds a thousand percent surprised.

Bakugo hums in agreement.

"Bakugo, that's three hours away."

He fucking knows that, thank you very much.

"I'm headed back, I told you I was ditching school today."

The man on the other side scoffs. "You said you'd be with your dad. You must know the shock I felt when the man called asking if you'd gone to class. Has he called you?"

Bakugo wants to get mad, throw shit around. Masaru called, just not as much as Aizawa did.

"Yeah four whole times."

It's silent for a while as Bakugo looks up to keep the tears away. The fuzzy feeling is almost all gone now. Thank fuck because being like that in a city like this is just drawing attention, practically begging to be attacked.

"Do you want me to come get you? Actually- find somewhere safe and stay there. I'm coming to get you. You're doing counseling tomorrow no matter what. Stay in a coffee shop or something and send me your location. Got it?"

"Whatever."

Aizawa hangs up after that.

It's not whatever, though. Bakugo feels like if someone touched him, he'd fall into a million pieces. He stands up, anyway, searching his phone for the nearest coffee shop.

He finds one five minutes away walking and heads there, taking the route with less people.

When he gets there, he orders a coffee, sends Aizawa his location, and waits.

***
Word Count: 2145
I hope y'all liked this chapter. Sorry it was late. I forgor. Anyway the next chapter will go up next Sunday at (hopefully) 8pm central time. I love you all and tysm for reading <3