Kirishima knocked on his door minutes later, causing Bakugo to frantically run to his bathroom and check his face.

It's so obvious he's been crying. Shit.

He quickly closes the restroom door, and turns on the shower, grabbing his phone to text Kirishima.

_______________
Shitty Hair

I can hear you knocking on the door. I'm showering

Fuck off

_______________

He hopes that works and listens as the knocking stops. When he looks down at his phone, he can see the red head typing. Thank fuck.

The idiot types for a long time before there's a message.

_______________
Shitty Hair

I'll be waiting outside your room until
you get out. We have to talk

I just got in. You'll be waiting a while

It's fine. I'll wait

_______________

"Fucking shit."

Bakugo looks at himself in the mirror again and sighs. Time to put himself together.

So he gets out of the restroom, leaving the shower on and grabbing a quick change of clothes before he gets in the shower, making sure the water is cold so that his face stops being so red.

He's gotten out of talking to Kirishima too much so he couldn't have gotten out of this conversation. Not after what just happened.

The only thing that sucks is his damn face. It's so red, but if he doesn't rub his face and just lets the cool water run over it, maybe it'll stop being so puffy and irritated.

So he showers, letting the water run on his face for five more minutes, which fucking sucks because it's winter and it's so damn cold, he's shivering. Once he's done with his after shower routine, he checks his face to see it's much better.

The red can be blamed on the shower, honestly.

After leaving the restroom, he throws his laundry in a bin and opens the door for Kirishima who's sitting on the floor with a sad look on his face.

Neither one says anything until the door is closed and Bakugo turns around to him.

"I'm sorry about what Mina said to you. You're not stupid and you didn't deserve that," the blond apologizes.

Kirishima winces. "You heard her?"

"She wasn't exactly being quiet. She had no right to say that to you."

The red head shakes his head. "She shouldn't have said that about you. You're not a villain, Bakugo. No one here thinks you are. She was just butt hurt."

With a scoff, Bakugo waves that off.

"Who gives a fuck about what she said about me? She's not my friend, she's yours and calling you names was fucking wrong."

Bakugo is pissed and it's obvious in his tone.

But Kirishima starts laughing, hard as he doubles over and clenches his stomach.

What the fuck?

"Why the fuck are you laughing?" Bakugo asks, confused as hell about what made his friend burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Cause-" he pauses to laugh, "we were both offended for each other."

Oh. Okay.

Bakugo thought it was something he did.

Kirishima calms, quitting the laughter and getting a bit more serious, "Sure, it sucks that she was being mean to me, but, honestly it should have been obvious how bad of a friend she was when her and Sero started talking shit about you when all you wanted was space."

Bakugo shakes his head.

"I deserved it. It was more than that. I needed to separate myself from you guys," Bakugo admits.

"But you were never an asshole about it. You just pulled away. That's not a problem. The problem was how they reacted. It wasn't right," the red head sighs.

At this rate, neither one of them are going to stop excusing the actions of other people, so Bakugo puts a stop to it.

"Okay, whatever. Why did you come over here?"

The air tenses as Kirishima looks away.

Something in Bakugo's chest stops and he's left anxiously waiting for Kirishima's explanation. He looks guilty and kind of sad, too.

Does he know?

Holy shit, maybe he knows.

Why isn't he answering?

"What is it?" Bakugo asks, a little more aggressive than necessary.

Kirishima's shoulder slump and he exhales heavily.

"Yesterday. Well, last night. After you came back and Kaminari saw you, he was confused and worried. Sure he's still mad about the whole not wanting to be friends thing because you haven't apologized to him, but he was worried. Nothing happened until later, everyone but me and Jiro had gone downstairs cause Todoroki had ordered takeout."

Bakugo is left to listen and see what exactly Kirishima is being so weird about.

Fucking hell he probably knows.

"So it was just me and her and we were listening to music and talking when- when we heard you. You were crying. At first, we had no idea what the noise was, but when we paused the music, we could hear crying. I don't know what it was about, but Jiro used her quirk to let us hear and we heard you crying with Todoroki."

Bakugo's blood runs cold and he feels his face pale.

They know.

"Why were you crying? We were trying to figure it out, but I think we heard you too late and then as soon as we understood what was going on, we stopped listening."

Oh thank god.

Bakugo can still feel his heart pounding in his chest, but he wills himself to stay calm.

"It's none of your business, nosy fuckers," he frowns, shaking his head in annoyance.

Because honestly, what the fuck? Why were they eavesdropping? Literally using Jiro's quirk to spy on him? What the fuck?

Kirishima nods, looking guilty.

"I'm sorry. We were just worried you were hurt, but as soon as we understood that someone was there for you, we stopped. I'm glad you have someone close, you know? I was worried you were all alone."

Bakugo wants to get angry. It's second nature to become angry, but he shouldn't be.

His friend was just worried and, like he said, they backed off as soon as they knew he'd be fine. It's not that big of a deal.

But he's still embarrassed.

He knew he was being loud, but he couldn't care in that moment. All he felt was pain. All of it rushing up and out of him, leaving him to deal with the consequences later.

"We just want you to be okay. You won't let anyone in, and we get it, it's none of our business, but it's hard not to care about you when you're so important to us. You must know that you're important."

God damn Kirishima and his overwhelming niceness.

Literally, what was he made out of? The sun? Pure joy and goodness?

"I've been an asshole to everyone and I'm sorry."

Kirishima shakes his head. "You don't focus on us until you've got yourself together, okay? Yeah, you hurt some people, but they're already hurt, they can wait for you to feel better to get their apology. Okay?"

Bakugo takes a deep breath, nodding.

He feels like he owes Kirishima.

So he lets him in on a little something.

"I know I don't let you in, but you should know I'm doing therapy."

Kirishima starts beaming, absolutely blinding Bakugo with his wide ass smile. He looks so happy which makes Bakugo falter because- why does he get this? He doesn't deserve such a good friend and Kirishima is way too good of a person to want to be his friend.

That was a little contradicting, but it makes sense.

"I'm so glad, man. That's great," Kirishima says, punching Bakugo's shoulder, "thank you for telling me. I'm so pumped for you."

It's a wonder he's not jumping up and down and puking rainbows.

"Okay, now fuck off and don't tell anyone. Got it?"

Kirishima's face falls dramatically and he starts pouting. "Aw man, don't kick me out," he whines, "let's hang out or something. It's night time so let's do scary movie- we could play video games!"

"What if I make dinner?" Bakugo asks, wondering if he should go ahead and make Mina's pick for the month now that he's out of bed and doing something.

"Oh," Kirishima says, thinking about it, "I am hungry. I felt shitty earlier so I wasn't gonna eat, but now I'm feeling much better. Can I join you?"

Bakugo nods, going over to his closet to get a damn hoodie because after that shower, he's cold as fuck.

"Can you text Iida I'm gonna make dinner so he can tell the class? Mina's gonna love me forever after I make her pick," he ends sarcastically.

Kirishima laughs, taking out his phone as Bakugo's throws on a hoodie.

They stay for a minute more to see what Iida says, and right as they're about to leave, there's a knock on Bakugo's door.

With a roll of his eyes, Bakugo opens the door, expecting Mina, but seeing Todoroki.

"Are you okay? You won't-" he stops himself when he sees Kirishima in the room looking back at him with a smile.

"Oh, hello Kirishima," he greets.

His face looked slightly annoyed but also relaxed.

What a weirdo that Halfie is.

"I'm making dinner. Are you coming or not?" The blond asks, making his way to leave, moving past Todoroki.

"Of course, what are-"

"Not Soba."

Todoroki huffs behind him, leaving Bakugo amused because that's all this guy eats.

They make it downstairs, and he immediately gets to work on the recipe that was sent to the class group chat. Todoroki and Kirishima sit at the island and look at him cook.

It doesn't take longer than an hour and in that time, he eats a bit of the food he's making, letting the two idiots try some, too.

When the food is done, he serves himself and the other two before texting Iida and heading upstairs, dumb and dumber following behind him before he whips around.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I thought we were gonna hang out," Kirishima pouts.

"I'm bored," Todoroki responds after.

With a sigh, Bakugo keeps heading up the stairs. "One movie and you guys are gone."

~~~~~

Therapy is beyond exhausting.

He's just left therapy and now he's on his way to apologize to Kaminari.

Hound Dog said to do it when he's ready, and he's not sure he'll ever be ready because apologizing is embarrassing for him, but these people deserve it and if he doesn't do it now, he'll have no time to make it up to them.

Helping them with exams would be good. Maybe not the best thing, but, you know, helpful.

Maybe he should apologize to Shinso and Jiro while he's at it so he can help them, too.

Fucking hell this is too much.

But he feels better after this therapy session, so he takes deep breaths and nods.

He's got this.

First up is Kaminari.

When the yellow haired teen opens the door and is met with Bakugo, his face falls.

"What?"

Bakugo sighs, "Can I come in? I want to say something."

After a moment of thinking, Kaminari nods, moving to let him in, to which Bakugo inwardly cheers.

So far so good.

Who knows how long that'll last?

"So?" Kaminari asks when the door closes.

"I'm sorry," he starts, bowing. Once he's standing up straight again, he continues, "I wanted to hurt everyone so that they stayed away, and I really hurt you. I wasn't thinking about your feelings, just about myself. I'm sorry."

He's not really sure how this will benefit him in the long run. It'll probably kill him when these people die, he just hopes he dies first.

Kaminari is silent, looking at Bakugo.

It's quiet for a while and Bakugo is nervous. Kaminari isn't required to accept his apology. Hell, it'll probably take him a while to even think about forgiving him.

"Ugh you have no idea how hard it's been to stay mad at you," Kaminari sighs, body relaxing and a smile appearing on his face.

Why are these people so forgiving?

"Dude, I really didn't take it too personally. You already looked like you were having a shitty day and honestly, I knew whatever happened that other time you just walked by me like you'd seen a ghost was still bothering you. It's hard to tell when something is wrong with you, but those two days, it was obvious."

Bakugo blinks.

Is that it?

No forced promises to be better?

"Stop looking so shocked, I could tell you didn't really mean to be an asshole. Why'd you do that, anyway? You said you wanted everyone to stay away, but why? Were we being annoying?
Pfft- Mina and Sero definitely were. And it didn't help-"

"No. It's personal. I- why aren't you mad?" He interrupts before he goes on a tangent.

Kaminari shrugs.

"You don't really seem like a genuine asshole so I thought something was up. I guess I was right," Kaminari shrugs.

What the fuck?

Okay, these guys need more self-respect.

"I gotta give out more apologies. Dinner tonight is your pick."

He leaves right after, heading to Jiro's room.

Hopefully Shinso isn't there because he'd much rather do apologies separately.

As soon as he's knocked, Jiro is pulling him into his room.

"Yeah, I forgive you, just don't do that shit again cause you actually hurt Kaminari at first. I won't forgive you a second time. I'm not as nice as them."

"What the fuck, you didn't even let me actually apologize."

She shrugs.

"You got Shinso next, and he's actually pissed at you for hurting Denki. More than I am. Sure, Kaminari understood something was wrong with you and stopped taking it so personally, but that first day, he was upset."

Before he can get anything out other than a few curses, Jiro has shoved him out and closed the door behind him.

That Shinso comment really makes him nervous, but he deserves to get a little yelled at. Especially because no one else has treated Bakugo like he should've been treated.

When Shinso opens the door, he's half asleep, hair fucked up and eyes half open from the bright ass lights in the hallway.

"What do you want?"

"Let me in, I need to apologize."

With a groan, he opens the door wider and lets him in, closing the door behind him and encasing them in the darkness that is Shinso's room.

Honestly, it's not that dark since he's got a couple of dark purple lights in his room, so they can still see. It also always smells really fucking good in here.

"I'm sorry for what I did and said. I just wanted to hurt you guys and I did. I didn't think about you guys, just what I was feeling. I know you're more mad about me hurting Kaminari, and he forgave me real fast, but that just means you should be mad for longer. He sucks at respecting himself."

Shinso gets back into bed, relaxing into the mattress and groaning in annoyance.

"You better make it up to him. That's all. Now leave," he grumbles, yawning at the end.

"I swear you idiots have no self respect," he mumbles on his way out before turning as he enters the hallway, "hey, dumbass."

"Mmm."

"We're studying tomorrow at 5. You better be there or I'm knocking your ass out."

"Please do."

~~~~~

Anxiety claws at Bakugo.

When all his friends die, he's going to go with them. Fuck, he's so scared.

Fear claws at him, choking him and leaving him scrambling for his phone to put on some relaxing video or something.

Images of his dead friends invade his mind and he smacks his head, unable to stop them as they cloud his vision. He has to swallow back a whine as he pulls up some random video that popped up on his explore page.

It was some old lady showing her garden and naming all her flowers, explaining the meaning and benefits behind each one.

He forces himself to take deep breaths, just listening and watching the old lady.

She kind of looked like Midnight, he realized.

Slowly, he felt his heartbeat slow and the fear fade away.

Hound Dog's advice was fucking great.

The video is interrupted with a call from Halfie. Of course it was this idiot. Why was he awake so late and why did he decide to call Bakugo of all people?

"Hello?" He answers.

"Bakugo. I was just checking in."

Bakugo deadpans.

"At 3 am?"

"Well, you're awake. You answered, so now's a great time. How are you?"

The question is heavy. He's not good, but he's not sure he wants to share that.

"Fine."

"I can't tell if you're lying, but your voice seems suspicious. Are you being honest?"

He doesn't know how to do this with regular people, like friends. He can barely do it with Hound Dog and that's the whole point of therapy.

"I didn't mean to tell you the other day. I just couldn't hold that shit in anymore and you were right there. I'm sorry I bothered you with that bullshit, but we don't have to talk about it. Got it?"

"I want to, though. You're my friend and it's hurting you. I know you don't talk to anyone about it, so you can talk to me. I'm here."

I'm here.

It's such a simple sentence, but it means a lot.

"I'm scared of losing more people. That's why I pushed everyone away."

Maybe it's the fact that Bakugo can't see Todoroki and vice versa, but he's feeling really brave about telling him. Maybe it's because it's Todoroki.

He doesn't know, all he knows is that telling Todoroki seems right.

"You asked where I go the other day. I visit her grave. I talk to her for hours and sometimes I lose track of time because I love talking to her," he says, but then he realizes how he sounds, "I know that's probably stupid. She can't hear me."

"Can I go to you?" Todoroki asks.

Hesitantly, Bakugo agrees, not sure how he'll feel having Todoroki looking at him while he talks about this stuff.

It does feel good, though. To tell someone who isn't his therapist. To tell someone who he knows will listen and understand somewhat.

Todoroki's mom isn't dead, but he's sure Todoroki feels like a part of her did. He never really talks about it, but when he does, it's obvious how much pain Todoroki feels when his mom is brought up.

When the other teen joins him, they sit in Bakugo's bed in the dark, both with their own pillows and blankets, but side by side, shoulder touching.

"It's not stupid. You know, you talking to your mom. I think I get it. It's comforting to you, right? I think she can hear you."

Bakugo feels emotional, but doesn't feel like he's going to cry.

He can't speak, though, so Todoroki goes on, "Now I get why you were so mad when Aizawa made you take a chaperone. He doesn't know about your visits, does he?"

The blond shakes his head.

"He just found out about my mom recently. That's around the time he made me start bringing someone. He had his reasons, but I needed to have that time to visit her."

Todoroki grabs his hand.

Bakugo's immediately reaction is to pull away, but he doesn't, letting the other intertwine their fingers as he feels his face burn.

It feels intimate, especially in the dark.

"Is that why you had flowers that one time?"

Bakugo nods. "I buy her flowers every time I visit. She deserves the freshest flowers," then with a shaky breath, Bakugo rests his head on Todoroki's shoulder as he whispers, "god, I miss her."

Todoroki squeezes his hand.

"Tell me a story about her."

God tnereshese a million.

He thinks and thinks about his favorite one, but there's too many to choose from.

Maybe he takes too long, because Todoroki speaks up again a bit later, "Tell me a funny one."

At one specific memory, Bakugo smiles, deciding that's the story he wants to tell, almost tearing up from the amusement in the memory.

"One time we were baking cookies," he starts, already laughing lightly, "and we had no recipe. I was about thirteen at the time and I let her take the ropes. She did not know how to bake then, barely starting on her baking journey."

Todoroki just listens intently and Bakugo can't tell if he's smiling since it's so dark.

"So we make the dough that's way too watery and then we roll them to the best of our ability and put them in the oven. We had two trays. One was her and one was mine. The whole time she was bragging about how hers were going to look much better than mine, but when we take them out," he says, laughing harder, "hers got messed up and took the shape of a penis."

In between laughs, he gets out, "Her face was priceless and she covered my eyes while we both laughed because it was ridiculous how accurate the shape was. She was fucking mortified."

He can feel Todoroki's shoulders shaking slightly as he receives another hand squeeze.

After a few seconds, his laughing dies down and he's left with the remaining amusement and memory.

It sucks. That feeling after. Just remembering.

He's forcing himself to get his emotions in check as he feels like he might cry now.

Once his lip starts wobbling, he bites his lip, taking a deep breath and willing away the need to cry.

"You can cry, you know? That's pain I haven't fully experienced yet. I got a little taste of how it could feel and I'm not ready. You can cry."

With his free hand. He pulls his blanket up and buries his face in his blanket as he lets himself cry, having the comfort of someone else. Not even his dad comforted him.

So he cries, sure that he's okay here with Todoroki because apparently, he's a good friend. Something Bakugo would've known if he'd let Todoroki in before. If he wasn't such a stubborn idiot or an asshole.

It's like that until Bakugo calms down minutes later, pretty much making himself stop crying because enough is enough.

"I'm doing therapy and that shit helps, you know? Like actually fucking helps, which, okay maybe I should've realized that shit, but god damn, it's insane."

There's a beat of silence before Todoroki goes, "Are you telling me that so I go to therapy?"

Bakugo laughs, especially with the small smirk he could hear in Todoroki's voice. It feels good to laugh after crying.

"That's a great idea you have there, Halfie."

The mood dies down and Bakugo feels himself start to get sleepy, on the verge of passing out after all the emotion he just went through in the span of an hour.

Maybe Todoroki starts to feel tired too because he yawns and then turns to Bakugo.

"Is it fine if I sleep here tonight?"

Bakugo's starts scootching down the bed, Todoroki's hand still in his.

"Yeah, just don't be a weirdo and stay on your side."

He feels Todoroki move down, too, and keeping his hand intertwined with his. It's something Bakugo hasn't experienced before, but he knows it has more meaning than 'just comforting a friend.'

Whatever that meaning is, it can wait for another day. Right now he's over all the thinking and crying.

"Does this mean we're dating?" Todoroki asks, raising their hands.

After ripping his hand away, almost violently, Bakugo yells, "Not a chance," voice cracking horribly.

"Aw, why not?" He genuinely sounds confused.

"I don't like you like that and I'm sure you don't like me either. You're just confused," he explains, turning his back the other, "stop saying dumb shit like that or I'm kicking you out."

"Fine," Todoroki sighs, "but can we keep holding hands? It was nice."

With huff and a dramatic turn in bed, Bakugo reaches his hand out for Todoroki's, finds it, and intertwines their fingers again making Bakugo's heart beat funny.

"Goodnight, Bakugo."

With a blush that Todoroki can't see, Bakugo replies, "Shut up, Halfie."

***
Word Count: 4045
Yall i might get new piercings this Friday yippee. (listen to blink182. neighborhoods deluxe is underrated.) Also in this chapter: TDBK aka todoroki being too forward and Bakugo being in denial. stay tuned for the next episode🗣️‼️ ik the slow burn is slow burning but trust we will eventually get end game tdbk i just gotta make sure there's a lot of bakugo angst😋 LMAO sorry if you're annoyed by the wait. I'm trying to add tdbk now hooray. Anyway I hope y'all liked this chapter. Next one goes up next Sunday at 11:30 pm central time. I love you all and tysm for reading <3