I feel like this song is perfect for Miyamoto. It just fits her so much. Okay, read on!
**
Bakugo had brought Miyamoto to U.A. and up to her room, where he sat her down on the bed. He plopped down beside her, setting her bags down on the ground before resting an elbow on his knee and propping his face up with his hand.
"What happened?"
Miyamoto curled up into a ball, her hands going to her head. The position reminded Bakugo a lot of her reaction at the Sports Festival. Her body wasn't shaking as bad, but she was still in shock.
She shook her head at him. Bakugo looked around at her face. "Miyamoto, what happened?"
"I...I-I can't...I can't say..."
Her voice was quiet, shaky, and full of terror. Bakugo clenched his fists together.
"What do you mean you can't say? Something obviously freaked you out!"
Miyamoto felt tears slip down her face and she shook her head at him again. "He...he said...I-I can't say."
Bakugo's eyes got wide. "Who?"
When Miyamoto stayed quiet, Bakugo was quick to move down on his knees, getting in front of Miyamoto, taking her hands away from her face so he could look at her.
"Miyamoto, who did you see? Did he hurt you?"
"He said...he said I couldn't tell anyone," Miyamoto's body shook as she stared desperately afraid into Bakugo's eyes. "I can't say. He'll-"
Miyamoto stopped herself. She wanted to say. She wanted to tell Bakugo. She wanted to tell Aizawa. Every bone and muscle in her body ached for them to help her and protect her; to be aware of the newfound threat.
But another, more traumatized part of her body told her not to say a word. If she did, more people would be hurt because of her. Memories of scientists telling her if she ran, anyone she came into contact with would die. Of how if she told anyone, including the other test subjects, any information, they would be killed and she'd be tortured.
Her natural response was still fear.
"I'm sorry," Miyamoto cried, her head hanging down. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, why are you apologizing?" Bakugo stared at her confused and helpless. He knew he couldn't force any information out of her, but he also wanted to know what was going on in her head so he could find a way to calm her down.
"H-he, they...they're going," Miyamoto shook her head. She was mixing her current reality with her past and it wasn't meshing pleasantly.
"Look at me," Bakugo calmly said, but Miyamoto ignored him, instead continuing to move her head back and forth. He gave her wrists a small tug, hitting his forehead against hers. "Look at me!"
Miyamoto had no choice but to stare into the red eyes that were centimeters away. Bakugo kept her focus. "They're not going to get you. Okay? No one is going to do anything to you."
Her hands were shaky, but Bakugo never broke his gaze. "Take a deep breath. Breathe. He didn't get you. I'm here now, I've got you. No one's going to hurt you."
Miyamoto listened. As she began to take in deep breaths, Bakugo moved his head from hers, watching as she slowly began to regulate her breathing.
"You're not where you used to be," Bakugo murmured. "You have the option to reach out to others without fearing the consequences. Everyone here is strong enough; we can protect you. You just have to let us."
Bakugo let go of one wrist, reaching up with his hand to wipe away the tears from her face. Miyamoto felt herself leaning against his hand, the warmth oddly reassuring as she continued to take in shaky breaths.
Bakugo stood to his feet, looking around her room before he took a blanket that was draped around her chair, and proceeded to wrap the blanket around Miyamoto. He sat back beside her, one arm going around her shoulders, gently rubbing her arm as he pulled her close to his side.
"See?" he muttered. "You're fine now."
Miyamoto relaxed against Bakugo. She felt safe with his arm around her; it was a sharp contrast to the terror she felt with Dabi's arm around her.
"I got separated from Mina at the mall," Miyamoto whispered. Bakugo remained quiet, but felt anger already brimming inside him. "I didn't know where she went, so I started walking around to look for her."
"I ran into a villain," Bakugo had figured as much, but hearing her say it out loud made his stomach uneasy. "He made me go sit with him. It was weird. He was threatening but also not threatening. He bought me a drink and told me he just wanted to talk, but also threatened that if I ran away he'd burn everything."
Miyamoto gripped her blanket tight, focusing on the strength from Bakugo's arm around her shoulder. "He knew who I was. He said every villain did, and they were all after me now that they know where I am. The Sports Festival tipped them all off."
The uneasy feeling in Bakugo's stomach grew, as did his anger.
"He asked about why I joined with the heroes, and offered for me to join them."
"What?" Bakugo couldn't stop himself from the question. "He asked you to join them?"
Miyamoto nodded. "He said I'd be welcomed there. That...they would've never treated me the way those scientists did."
"We don't treat you like that either," Bakugo defended. "We never would."
She steadied herself with a deep breath. "He gave me a warning. He said I shouldn't walk by myself anymore. He also warned that not only could he have taken me right then, but he said the next time we meet he wouldn't be so gentle with me."
Bakugo found himself seething with rage. Not just at what the villain must've said to her; but also at the fact he was completely right. He could've taken Miyamoto before any of them had known.
And Bakugo wasn't there with her.
"He said he'd see me soon."
Bakugo's grip on Miyamoto got tighter, and he put his other arm around her. "He won't get you. I promise he won't get you."
"Why are they coming back for me?" Miyamoto sobbed. "I thought I could escape them. I thought the nightmare was over. I can't...I can't go back. I can't do it a second time."
She turned into Bakugo's chest, and he held her tight, his teeth gnashed together at the thought of her being taken back.
"I'm so scared," Miyamoto choked out, her grip on him getting tighter. "Nothing's changed. Even though I'm out of that lab, nothing's changed. They're still trying to get me. They're going to take me again because of my stupid quirk."
"You're wrong," Bakugo glared down at the floor. "They're not going to get you. It's not the same as last time. You have people beside you who aren't going to let anything happen to you."
"If I didn't have this stupid quirk, none of this would be happening!" Miyamoto wailed. "If I was born normal, or quirkless, or if my parents hadn't had me at all, everything would be fine!"
Her words both infuriated Bakugo and broke his heart. Bakugo moved his arms from around her before he placed both hands on her face, pulling her head up so she had to look at him in the eyes.
Her face was red and her eyes were swollen and watery from all of her tears. She sniffled, trying to take in a deep breath as Bakugo stared her down.
"None of this is your fault!" He snapped. "You never put yourself in that situation. You didn't choose to be sold, to be abandoned, to be experimented on, or to be hunted like this. None of that was your choice! The choice you do have is to fight back and let others help you!"
"B-but," Miyamoto stammered but Bakugo didn't let her finish.
"If you'd never been born, you would've never come to U.A.! If you were quirkless, you would've never come to U.A.! You wouldn't have known any of us, and we wouldn't have known you. That'd be horrible!"
Tears glossed Miyamoto's eyes at his words. "It was your choice to be my friend. Your choice was to get stronger and start fighting back. And you still have so many more choices out there waiting for you. So don't give up and say that your life is a mistake!"
Her lip wobbled as tears began to drip down her eyes.
"I'm sorry!"
Her wail brought a frown to Bakugo's lips. Miyamoto brought her hands to her eyes, continuously wiping away her tears as she tried to control her sobbing.
Bakugo hated seeing her like this. Not because she was crying; because she was genuinely in that much pain and couldn't contain it. He was never good at comforting people; he never knew the words to say to others to cheer them up or make them feel better. Half the time he never cared if the right words came out of his mouth.
But he wanted to say the right things to her. He cared, and something tugged inside his heart that made him desperate to be some sort of comfort to her. This feeling had been resonating within him ever since the attack on USJ. And it's only gotten stronger.
Still, since words escaped him, and he put a hand on top of Miyamoto's head, softly rubbing in the most compassionate way he knew how.
"It...may be selfish of me to say this," Bakugo murmured in a slow way, his eyes focused on Miyamoto. "But I'm glad you're at U.A., even with the circumstances being as they are. Because I still got to meet you."
Miyamoto hiccupped, her hands moving away from her face so she could look up at Bakugo. He was serious.
"I..." Miyamoto had to stop to take in a shaky breath. "I'm glad. I'm glad I got to meet you too."
Bakugo's eyes were soft as he looked down at her. He leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on Miyamoto's forehead. The touch was so faint Miyamoto could hardly feel it against her skin, but she knew it had happened.
Bakugo pulled away, his eyes averted from Miyamoto so he wouldn't catch her gaze. His cheeks were tinted pink and he let out a huff.
"Come on," he muttered. "We need to tell Aizawa about this too. He needs to know."
Bakugo stood, helping Miyamoto to her feet. She decided it best to not question his actions; Miyamoto knew he was only trying to comfort her. But when Bakugo didn't let go of her hand as he led her to the door, a certain warmth spread through her heart.
"I'm scared about telling him," Miyamoto voiced. "Besides I don't know what can be done."
"Even if there's not much to be done, it's still important to let him know. He's your guardian, isn't he? He needs to know these things."
Bakugo had a point. These were exactly the things Aizawa deserved to know. There was a reason he took on the responsibility of being her guardian/parent. It's because he cared about her and wanted to help her and protect her.
"Where would he be?" Bakugo asked when they got into the hallway. Miyamoto reluctantly removed her hand from Bakugo's to look into Aizawa's room. It was empty. She tried to think about where Aizawa normally was on his days off.
Perhaps he was preparing for the training camp with Vlad.
"Teacher's lounge?"
The two of them made their way towards the teacher's lounge. Bakugo let Miyamoto stand closer to him than normal; he could tell she was still scared and unsure about the whole situation. For Miyamoto to have had that happen to her right as she was moving forward pissed him off as well; this regression was going to hurt her emotionally.
He opened up the door to the teacher's lounge, where he saw a few inside, discussing things. To his relief, he saw Aizawa sitting beside Vlad, papers in hand.
Aizawa looked at Bakugo peeved. But as soon as he saw Miyamoto cowering beside Bakugo, her eyes red from crying, he immediately became concerned.
"Sorry, Vlad, but I'll be back later." Aizawa was quick to excuse himself, stepping outside the lounge and closing the doors behind him.
"What's going on?"
Miyamoto opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Her eyes cautiously looked around the halls, still scared that telling them about Dabi was going to have immediate consequences.
Aizawa noticed the behavior and motioned for the two of them to follow. "We'll go to my office, come on."
The walk there was quiet, and Aizawa kept stealing glances at Miyamoto, who was huddled against Bakugo's side nervously. It amazed Aizawa that Bakugo allowed her to be so close; but it also let him know that something serious must've happened to make the two of them this way.
Once they got inside and were alone, Aizawa let out a long sigh, sitting on a chair.
"Alright, tell me what's wrong."
Miyamoto looked down at her hands; they were shaking again. Bakugo looked down at her and let out a sigh before he looked up at Aizawa.
"A villain approached her in the mall."
Aizawa's stature immediately changed. "What?"
His voice was borderline scary. Miyamoto took in a deep breath, looking up at Aizawa hesitantly.
"He...he told me not to tell anyone...but I had to. I had to tell someone," she whispered. "He recognized me immediately and knew exactly who I was."
"What did he do to you?" Aizawa questioned. Miyamoto shook her head.
"He didn't do anything. He wanted to talk. It was so scary and so strange. He said every villain knew about me and now because of the Sports Festival they all knew where I was. He gave me a warning not to go anywhere by myself; he also said he could've taken me, but he was letting me go for now."
Aizawa's fists were clenched as he stared at Miyamoto. He remained silent, knowing better than to interrupt the scared child when she finally began expressing something.
"He..." Miyamoto wiped her eyes. "He gave me an offer to join them, and said they would never treat me the way those scientists did. He questioned why I was with the heroes...and he knew everything about me."
Miyamoto looked into Aizawa's eyes. "He said he'd see me soon. That means...that means they're going to try to take me, doesn't it? He's going to take me away from all of you."
"No."
Aizawa was fuming. That much was obvious. His eyes were narrowed as he stared back at Miyamoto.
"They're not going to come near you."
Just as Bakugo had felt, Aizawa was furious because the villain had been right. Miyamoto could've been snatched away by him before any of them knew it.
Aizawa had gotten complacent with her safety. And it was a mistake he'd never make again.
"No one is ever going to take you, Miyamoto. And if they think they can convince you over to their side, they don't know you at all. You're already ten times the hero you were when you stepped foot in U.A.. The villains are severely underestimating you, and all of us."
Miyamoto hung her head. "But...I was completely helpless. I did everything he said. I sat there terrified without doing anything to help myself. How is that heroic?"
Bakugo clenched his fists, about to yell at her, but one look from Aizawa made him bite his tongue.
"He threatened you and the people around you, didn't he?" Aizawa questioned. Miyamoto slowly nodded. "Then you did the right thing. Trying to run or fight back would've only hurt you and others. And he probably would've taken you that way."
Miyamoto gripped her skirt, biting her lip. It didn't feel like that at all. That helpless feeling of being silenced reminded her of all the years she sat in a lab, doing nothing against the people who held her captive. Dabi was right to question why she never fought back.
She was weak.
"What was his name? What did he look like?" Aizawa asked. "If we at least know his description, even if we don't make a move, we can at least be on lookout to make sure he doesn't get anywhere near campus or where we're going for camp."
"Dabi," Miyamoto whispered. "His name was Dabi. He had burns across his face, and it looked like his skin was stapled to itself to keep it in place."
"Sounds like a creep." Bakugo growled.
"Either way, someone like that won't be able to hide that easily. It'll be easy to spot him anywhere. Thank you."
"I'm sorry," Miyamoto murmured. "I've caused both of you more trouble."
"Don't apologize," Aizawa gave her a pointed look. "You can't control the actions of other people. You haven't done anything wrong."
Her bottom lip wobbled, but she bit it to keep herself from letting out a sob. Aizawa stood up and walked over to where Miyamoto sat, kneeling down and putting a hand on hers.
"We're here to protect you," his voice was soft. "I told you before, remember? All of us are on your side - we're all here for you. Don't let a villain's words stop your actions."
Miyamoto nodded her head to him, forcing herself to swallow.
Aizawa stood up, putting his hands in his pocket as he looked over to Bakugo. "Would you mind walking her back to her room? I don't think she's going anywhere else today."
Bakugo nodded to Aizawa, helping Miyamoto up so they could leave.
"Actually, Miyamoto?" Aizawa stopped the two of them. "Would you mind waiting outside for one moment? I need to tell him something."
She nodded, walking out of the room. Bakugo looked over at Aizawa, half-thinking he would get yelled at for something.
"She called you?" Aizawa asked. Bakugo furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded his head. "Thank you for going to get her. I can only imagine how scared she was."
"Yeah, well I couldn't just leave her there."
"Bakugo?"
He looked up at his teacher; there was a certain amount of appreciation in Aizawa's eyes, along with something else Bakugo couldn't quite decipher.
"You're striving to be the best hero, right?"
"Huh? What kind of question is that? Of course I am."
Aizawa gave him a pointed look. "You've already started, but if you want to be the best hero, focus on saving the life of the person in front of you right now."
Bakugo's eyes widened a little. Aizawa didn't have to go into detail about what he meant by 'saving'. It wasn't physical saving Miyamoto needed. She'd already had that.
"She trusts you to the point where she reached out to you first in the midst of her panic. I know you two are friends. So please, even if it's selfish of me to ask this, but as her guardian, please stay by her side."
Bakugo took in his words and let out a small huff. "I was going to even if you didn't say anything...but I will. I'll save her - and help her save herself."
A small smile came to Aizawa's face as he nodded, motioning for Bakugo to leave. "Thank you."
Bakugo nodded back to Aizawa and left, meeting Miyamoto out front, where she was anxiously waiting, her hands clamped together in front of her while her eyes darted around the hallway.
"Come on," Bakugo put his hand on her arm, lightly tugging her along. "Let's get you back to your room."
Both of them were quiet as they walked back up to Miyamoto's room. Miyamoto was thinking about the events of today while Bakugo was ruminating over the words Aizawa spoke to him.
When they reached her room, Bakugo stood outside her door. "Well, I'll see you later. If you need anything, just call."
Miyamoto's eyes got wide and she reached out to Bakugo, grabbing his shirt as he walked away. "W-wait!"
Bakugo grunted, his eyes narrowed as he looked back over his shoulder at her. "What?"
Miyamoto hurried into her room, looking for the bags of stuff she bought at the mall before the incident. She scuttled through the bags until she found what she was looking for.
Timidly, Miyamoto walked back to Bakugo, her cheeks warm as she held out the small cat plushie to him.
"What's this?" Bakugo looked at the stuffed animal in distain before he looked up at Miyamoto's face. Her bashful expression and the way she wouldn't look him in the eyes was endearing.
"I...I bought this for you. It's a good luck charm. Right? These...these can be good luck charms? I-I got myself one too. But...I wanted to get you something. I almost forgot about it."
Bakugo fought the smile that wanted to come to his face at the gesture she made. Her lack of knowledge towards gifts and what a good luck charm really was almost made him want to laugh, but it was also extremely cute in his eyes.
He took the small cat plushie from her hand; it was just big enough to fit in his. The light blue color of it reminded him of the timid girl in front of him. Bakugo cleared his throat, pulling his hand back, still holding the stuffed toy.
"Whatever, I'll take it since you spent money on it," he muttered. "It'd be a waste otherwise."
Miyamoto looked at him, her eyes shining. "So you like it?"
"I didn't say that!" Bakugo hissed, angrily getting into defensive mode. "I'm still gonna take it though! That's all! It's fine!"
Miyamoto gave him a soft smile before she nodded her head. Bakugo huffed, closing his eyes for a moment before he patted her on the head.
"Just get some rest, Runt. And don't go anywhere alone."
Miyamoto promised she wouldn't, and with that, she went into her room. Bakugo closed the door and headed out, a faint blush on his cheeks as he began leaving U.A..
As he walked out the doors, he looked down at the plushie in his hand, his lips curving upwards. He thought it was stupid how happy this gift made him. It was ridiculous for him to want to see Miyamoto bashful in front of him again. Without realizing it, his mind began to think about something he could give her.
"Well," Bakugo muttered, looking fondly down at the first gift he'd ever received from her. "Thank you, Katsumi."
Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Needed to add some fluff with all the danger coming up since we're about to hit Season 3 timeline-wise. Let me know what you all think!