In That Way

A Talk

Kirishima, having rushed ahead, frantically searches for Bakugo

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The redhead turns a corner and immediately comes to a halt, almost falling over. He looks up once he regains his footing and sees the massive hole in the side of the building. His eyes widen as he realizes why exactly the building was destroyed...Bakugo.

He looks around, but doesn't see the blonde boy anywhere around. He sighs, still worried about his friend, about his crush before looking up, his breath halting when the figure enters his vision. The boy Kirishima had been looking for sat atop the destroyed building, his legs dangling off and a sad look on his face. Kirishima opens his mouth to scream out to his friend, but stops, thinking it would be best to go up and talk to him inside of screaming at him.

Kirishima takes off running into the building, the blonde boy not noticing the other's presence. A few moments later Kirishima, out of breath, but holding it in to not make any sound, is at the top of the ruined building, frozen in place, staring at the back of his friend. He stares, not knowing what to do.

"Bakugo needs me right now. It doesn't matter how I feel about him. I need to be there for him as a friend. We can talk about everything else later." Kirishima thinks as he finally decides to walk over to Bakugo.

Bakugo hears his footsteps getting closer, he actually knew that Kirishima was standing by the doorway the whole time, but was pretending to not acknowledge him. How could he? Everyone knows he ended All Might. Everyone knows he is weak for getting kidnapped by the League of Bastards. And now he has had a tantrum like a little kid in front of the only people he sees as friends.

Kirishima stands right behind Bakugo, he reaches his hand out to put on his shoulder, but pulls back. He shakes his head and walks to the side of Bakugo before sitting down, copying Bakugo. They sit there in silence, Kirishima wants to talk but doesn't know what to say. Bakugo just wants this night to be over.

After a couple of minutes of feeling the tension radiating off of the awkward redhead, Bakugo finally speaks up, his voice cold as ever, "We should get back before we get in trouble." He stands up, making sure his hair covers his eyes and starts walking to the door.

Kirishima, completely taken aback by Bakugo, quickly stands up and grabs Bakugo's wrist. "Bakugo! Wait." Bakugo stops walking, keeping his back to Kirishima. "You okay man?" Kirishima asks, his voice higher than usual.

"I'm fine. Let's go." Bakugo replies, pulling his arm out of Kirishima's hold.

"Bakugo!" Kirishima says, louder this time, "Bakugo are you okay?"

"I'm fine. No-"

"BAKUGO!" Tears fall from Kirishima's eyes as he screams at his friend. "Stop saying you are fine 'cause you aren't fine! If you were fine we wouldn't be here!" Kirishima falls to his knees as Bakugo remains standing in front of him with his back to Kirishima.

A deep sigh comes from Bakugo, he doesn't like talking about this stuff with anyone, if he could he wouldn't talk about it at all, but if he had to talk to someone about it, he is glad that it is Kirishima. "What then?" His voice is cold, but hinted with kindness. He falls down onto his butt, his knees up in the air with his arms hanging from them. The two boys sit about a foot apart, although Bakugo still has his back to Kirishima.

Kirishima lifts his head up and stares directly into the back of Bakugo's head. Tears cloud his vision, but a wave of relief comes over him when it clicks that Bakugo is actually going to talk with him.

"Wha-What's, uhhhh, going on man?" Kirishima says, not sure how to start the conversation or what exactly he should be saying, his eyes still transfixed upon Bakugo.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that." Bakugo says back, his words quick out of his mouth.

The redhead pauses for a moment, to gather his thoughts before an idea comes to his mind. "You were the one that visited me in the hospital. And the one that gave me the card and stuffed animal, weren't you?"

Bakugo's eyes widen, although Kirishima can't see them. "How did he find out?" Bakugo thinks to himself. "No time to think, I just have to act like I don't know!"

"I don't know about the card and stuffed animal, but when would I have had the time to go to the hospital. We were told not to go." Bakugo says in his, as normal as possible, voice.

Kirishima thinks for a minute, wondering whether he was telling the truth or not, but remembering that he wanted it to be kept a secret for a reason. A small smile comes across Kirishima's face before he starts talking, "Oh. Okay. I just had asked everyone except you and Todoroki, so it must have been Todoroki. I guess I will have to thank him and give him a big hug next time I see him." The smile returns to his facing, hoping that he gets under Bakugo's skin.

"Okay." Bakugo says, not even faltering in the slightest, even though deep down he hated himself. But it doesn't matter, he can't tell Kirishima how he feels, Kirishima deserves someone so much better.

Kirishima, stunned that this didn't bother Bakugo at all, loses his smile. "Why are you lying to me! I thought we were friends Bakugo. I thought we were best friends, but I don't even know anything about you. We have never talked even though I want to talk you!" All of the composure that he had before was suddenly lost. "Why is he lying to me? Are we not friends like I thought we were?" Kirishima asks himself.

Bakugo immediately turns around at Kirishima's words, worry all over his face. Of course they were friends. Of course they were best friends, at least to Bakugo. "Then why didn't you ever try to talk to me. Why did you tell Mina about your hair instead of me?"

Kirishima, surprised that Bakugo was flipping things back onto him, shouts, "What! First off I do try to talk to you and you never reply. All you do is ever angrily answer me with one word. What am I supposed to do with that? Secondly, Mina only knew about my hair because we went to the same middle school. And thirdly, you were the one that told me Mina your secret about being gay, if anything I should be the one asking you why you told Mina about you secret instead of me!" Kirishima isn't sure what exactly spurred everything out of him like that just now. He had been thinking those things, but he never really blamed Bakugo for those things.

"I'm sorry." Bakugo says in a quiet voice, his head looking down at the concrete roof they both sat on, "I'm sorry I am like that. I have no right to be mad at you Kirishima. And I didn't want to tell Mina, she just figured it out on her own and confronted me. And I'm sorry I lied to you about going to the hospital. I was the one that went." Bakugo takes a deep breath as Kirishima looks up at Bakugo, his expression softens as more tears roll down his eyes, "I...I...I was just worried about you, so I went to make sure you were okay." Bakugo looks up from the roof to see Kirishima staring directly at him.

At Bakugo's words, Kirishima felt as though everything had finally made sense. Today had been one confusing emotional rollercoaster for Kirishima. He wasn't sure if he was mad at Bakugo for not telling him his secrets, if he was happy that Bakugo was gay too, if he was concernced for Bakugo because of everything with Mina, or if he slightly pitied Bakugo with the whole kidnapping and All Might's retirement, but none of that mattered at Bakugo's words. All that mattered was that Bakugo was there and he was there and they were both being open with each other, for the first time.

Before Bakugo knew it, arms were wrapped around his turned shoulders and he was pulled into an awkward hug as the rest of his body, which was facing the other way, tries to adjust to the new position he was thrusted into. Once his body finally faces Kirishima, Bakugo envelops Kirishima into his arms, hugging him back. The two embrace each other, no words spoken, but a complete understanding of each other immenated between the two.

"Tch." Bakugo says, blushing and trying to hide it, as the two pull apart from each other.

"Bakugo," Kirishima's voice is extremely soft, "Thanks for coming to the hospital. It meant so much to me when I saw the card and the teddy bear. I even sleep with it!"

"Yeah." Bakugo pauses, "Whatever."