Kirishima rushes into the classroom. His eyes widen at the sight of Bakugou thrashing around in Aizawa's scarf. The tables are scorched from his explosions.

His attention is stuck on the sight. "What? What are you doing!?" he shouts painfully at Aizawa. "You have to let him go! You're hurting him!" Aizawa doesn't budge. "Let him go!"

Eijiro runs up to Aizawa-sensei and tugs at the scarf, seeming to knock Aizawa out of his stupor. As the scarf falls to the ground, Bakugou stumbles out of the classroom.

"Why did you do that? What did Bakugou do!"

"He was acting out."

Kirishima gulps.

You can help him, Eijiro.

"I'm going after him."

It hard to find one person among crowded hallways. He pushes through the sea of students, looking at every face he passes though none of them match the one of his friend.

"Kirishima!" He hears someone shout out. He looks around, noticing familiar yellow hair among the crowd from a few feet above him. Denki lets the sea push him towards Eijiro. "What are you doing?"

Kirishima's stomach was eating itself with fear as he continued frantically looking. "Bakugou... He ran off."

"Is he okay?"

He gulps. "I don't know. I need to find him. I'll see you in class, Kami."

"I can help you," he offers.

Kirishima meets the worried yellow eyes for the first time. Taking Denki along would let them cover more ground but if Denki found Bakugou, that could go down poorly. "I don't think that's a good idea. Not to sound self-centred or anything, but I think he'll be more comfortable with me."

Denki smiles softly. "Yeah, you are the Bakugou whisperer after all. I'll tell the rest of the squad."

"Thanks, dude."

Kirishima watches as Denki enters the classroom with Ojiro following. Denki managed to calm him down enough. Hearing that Bakugou has other people that care about him is oddly comforting to the red head. He takes a deep breath.

What would Bakugou do?

Think, Eijiro. Don't fail him when he needs you most.

Every other thought is pushed back as he's completely consumed.

He'd go somewhere secluded. Somewhere no one would find him. If he was angry, he'd most likely be at the gym but fear is something entirely different. When Bakugou came back from the Kamino Ward incident, he completely ignored me. He didn't reply to any text from me, too. Where's a place no one would find him?

Bathroom?

It's worth a shot.

The bell rings through the hallway and Kirishima dodges the very few students left in the corridor all the way to the nearest boys' bathroom. He knocks on the door. "Bakugou? You in there?"

He opens the door slowly, only to see confused faces of people definitely not in his class.

Idiot...

He smiles apologetically and closes the door quickly. He laughs at his own mistake. Looking down the hall, he spots the door to the emergency staircase.

He's probably there.

~~~~

After ten minutes, Bakugou was lucid enough that he knew he was at school. All the crying had left him feeling numb and exhausted. His head rests against the wall and his knees are drawn up to his chest. His exhausted eyes blur the image of the reopened wound on his hand which stings horribly. The blood drips into a small puddle on the ground. He rubs his eyes and groans, his vision improving.

Your teacher thinks your weak now.

He'll tell your mum.

"Screw her," he mutters, it echoes a short distance.

After minutes of convincing himself to return to class, he stands up. No noise meets his ears. He pulls the door open, stumbling back at how close Kirishima's face is to his own.

"I'm so glad I found you," Kirishima gushes.

"What are you doing here?" His voice is raspy and strained. He stuffs his hands in his pocket, the blood drips down his fingers soaking the fabric.

"You ran out of the classroom, and I came to find you."

It only takes a few seconds for the dreaded reality to hit Bakugou. "Don't tell anyone about what happened," he orders.

"Dude, 'course I won't."

It surprises Bakugou that he doesn't need to use brute force to make him keep the secret.

"You really think I would tell someone?" The pain in Kirishima's voice hit a chord in Bakugou's heart but he would definitely not tell him that.

Don't fuck this up.

"it's impossible to know if you truly know a person," Bakugou mumbles.

"I would never share your secrets with anyone, Bakugou."

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about it." He pushes past Kirishima and towards the bathroom only on the opposite side of the hallway.

"Bakugou, please. I'm worried about you. At least tell me what triggered it."

Bakugou pushes the bathroom door open and turns to face Kirishima. "Put the pieces together, dumbass. Now leave."

"Bakugou-"

"I need time alone. I'll be at class in a few."

He walks into the bathroom and waits till he's certain Kirishima isn't there. He pulls out his blood coated hand. He begins cleaning it off. Recovery Girl is not an option anymore.

~~~~

The bathroom door shuts on Kirishima's face. He stares sadly at the door.

You can't even help your best friend. Pro hero? Impossible.

He throws the thought away. He knows he's capable of being a pro hero, Bakugou just doesn't open up as easily as others.

"Put the pieces together..." replays in his head.

"What do you mean, Bakugou?" he whispers before turning and making his way back to class, hoping his best friend will be alright.

He quietly enters the classroom and creeps to his desk, giving his friends a smile. Once seated, he spots Aizawa looking at him as he speaks. He mouths 'alright' to the teacher whose eyes then move onto someone else.

Bakugou, true to his word, enters the classroom a few minutes after Kirishima.

----

Bakugou's snapped out of his thoughts when the bell rings. "Are you alright, Kacchan?" Midoriya asks from behind him.

"Shut up, Deku!" he snaps. Grabbing his bag, he goes to leave the classroom.

"Bakugou, stay behind," Aizawa orders.

He's about to retaliate but realises it'll only dig him a bigger hole, so he stops walking and rests against the wall near the door.

Mina runs over to him. "Bakubabe, we were so worried," she says with distress. "You didn't show up to class and we all thought you'd died or something."

"You idiots," Bakugou teases, trying to keep his façade up.

"Leave," Aizawa says from the front of the classroom. "I need to speak to Bakugou about his assignment."

Mina whines but follows Aizawa's orders. Sero and Denki follow Mina out of the classroom.

"You too, Kirishima."

"But-"

"I understand you are concerned, but It's not the time."

"Just leave, Shitty Hair. I'll be out soon," Bakugou orders.

"Okay," he mutters and leaves the classroom. Once the door closes, Aizawa walks towards Bakugou.

Don't tell him dog shit.

Aizawa-sensei crosses his arms over his chest.

Keep it a secret. They'll kick you out if they find out.

"First, I'd like to apologise," Aizawa begins. "Restraining you was an inappropriate thing for me to do."

You should've said that at the Sports Festival, but whatever.

"Yeah, whatever," Bakugou grumbles.

"Do you care to explain the outburst?"

"No."

Good.

"It wasn't a question, rather than an order, Bakugou."

Don't say a thing. Excuses. You've done this a shit amount of times. Just one more excuse.

"It's a personal matter."

"I need to know so I don't make the same mistake again."

Lead him on a cat chase.

"You should already know."

Aizawa stays silent, observing Bakugou. He shrinks under the gaze. He's too tired for this.

"How is your hand?" Aizawa changes topics.

He'll tell the Old Hag.

"fine."

"Can I see it?"

Don't give him the satisfaction of getting through to you. He'll use it against you like everyone else.

"It's fine, you don't need to see it."

"You used that hand for explosions earlier."

Bakugou glances at the charred desks.

Has he told her?

"Does the Old Hag know?" he asks cautiously.

"No. I was going to call her after school."

You're so fucked. Say goodbye to shelter for the weekend.

"Do you not want her to know?" Aizawa asks, seeming to catch on.

Yes.

"I couldn't care less." He subtly tries to push himself farther into the wall. "Can I go now?"

"I think you should take the rest of the day off from school," Aizawa explains.

"Huh? No way!" Bakugou snaps.

You'd like that, wouldn't you? you can't have it then.

"If you rest up, I won't tell Miss. Bakugou about anything that happened today," he reasons.

Take it.

"Fine," he replies a little bit too quickly.

"Good. I'm going to have Todoroki watch you."

"I don't need a baby-sitter!"

"I know. I want you guys to bond. Later on in your career you will have to work with each other, I guarantee it. Having a healthy relationship is essential. Also, you guys have more in common than you think."

"I don't want to spend the entire day with Icy-Hot."

"If you do it, you don't have to do the assignment next week."

Bakugou groans. "Fuck you."

"Stay here while I get Todoroki."

When the door opens, Kirishima is waiting outside like a dork. "Can you get Todoroki for me? Bakugou is spending the rest of the day off school and I thought it would be a good time for them to bond."

"I can look after Bakugou," Kirishima says.

"You've done enough for him."

Now you're ruining Icy-Hot's day.

Aizawa returns to the classroom and says one final thing to Bakugou. "If there are any problems, come to me."

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "I'm fine. I don't need your help."

Train with Todoroki. You'll sleep well.

"I got Todoroki, Aizawa-sensei," Kirishima says from the doorway after a few minutes.

"Thankyou."

Kirishima leaves the three alone.

"Hello Bakugou," Todoroki greets.

"Thankyou for doing this Todoroki."

"It's fine, Aizawa-sensei, but why did you choose me to do this? Isn't Kirishima more suited for a task like this?" Todoroki asks.

"I decided this was a good time for you two to bond together."

"Why do we need to bond?" Todoroki asks.

"I was going to choose Midoriya to do this but realised he'd be dead before the day was over."

See, you aggressive piece of shit.

"I chose Todoroki because you haven't known each other for very long making it easier for you to sort out your differernces."

"I don't have a problem with Bakugou," Todoroki says.

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "Shut up, fuck face."

"There are a few rules. No Quirk training, no training at all, no leaving school grounds, and have fun." Aizawa flashes his creepy deformed smile.

"Fun? With this idiot? Impossible."

"Midoriya says I'm fun," Todoroki informs.

"Midoriya doesn't count."

"Rule number five, no fighting," Aizawa says.

Todoroki gives a small bow and walks out of the class, Bakugou following behind.

He pulls his phone out when it buzzes. Any excuse to not talk to Todoroki works for him.

Shitty Hair

Good luck with Todoroki! Don't blow his head off.

He slides his phone back in his pocket and takes out his injured hand, studying it. It has a wet scab that grosses him out.

"What happened?" Todoroki asks.

"None of your fucking business."

Exactly.

"Did you get that yesterday? I saw the video."

"You too? I'm going to kill those bastards when I next see them."

"I second that," Todoroki says.

"What?"

"I had something similar happen at my old school."

The caterpillar was right. Ew.

They leave the school and head back to the dorms. It's peaceful outside. The vibrant grass absorbs the hot sun which beats down on their skin at agonising heat.

When they enter the dorms, Todoroki first turns on the aircon and fan. Bakugou stands in front of its winding blades, feeling the cool air sooth him. His hair blows with the wind.

Todoroki comes to stand in front of him.

"Hey, get out of the way," Bakugou sneers, pushing him aside.

"Sharing is caring, Bakugou."

"Sharing is caring," he mocks. "That's bs."

Todoroki sighs. "Aizawa-sensei said no fighting."

They fall into silence. "Want to do some combat training?" Bakugou asks.

"Aizawa specifically told us not to."

"He won't know."

"I don't break rules."

"You have a stick up your ass just like Engines."

"Do you mean Iida?"

"Iida, Engines, same thing."

"Still, my answer is no. We can do something else though."

"Like what?"

"Watch a movie? Cook? Play a game?"