(A/N): I'm so sorry that I'm taking so long to update this! I kind of have writer's block in regards to this story, because it started as some passing thought one night. I didn't expect it to be this big of a hit? Anyway, I'm hoping to update this more frequently. I also have been having so many other fic ideas that I'm just kind of...fanfiction hopping? With my writing? Idk. Anyway, this is another slow chapter, but the next one has a nice surprise! ;)
When Kirishima exited the tent seconds after he had went in to check on his two classmates and the young dragon slayer, he saw Erza, Gajeel and Todoroki setting up the tents that the other group must have used for camp the night before, making a total of four tents. Somebody had apparently decided it was a good idea for Kaminari and Natsu to be in charge building a fire, though Kirishima thought that was a recipe for disaster.
"Why are we camping again? Shouldn't we get moving?" Kaminari was asking, even though he continued to build the fire. It was only about mid-afternoon, but getting a fire going well before dark was always ideal when out in the wilderness.
"Wendy will be too exhausted from helping heal your friend to travel easily, and your friend is still far too injured to try to move. We will be lucky at all if we are even able to move by tomorrow." Carla answered, her tone stiff and matter-of-fact.
Even with all this happening around him, Kirishima couldn't shake the image of Bakugo's broken face out of his mind. He was worried about his friend, but he knew he would not talk to him about it, even if he had asked. When he had gone in, he had asked how Midoriya was, and all he had gotten in response was a shrug from the explosive boy. Kirishima had hesitated for a second longer, then decided to leave the tent to give the boy some room.
Kirishima made his way over to a blanket that had been laid out by the others to make a makeshift sitting area, taking a seat next to Lucy and Juvia. He stayed quiet for a moment, but he could tell his mood was putting the girls on edge.
"How are your friends?" Lucy asked, hesitantly. Kirishima sighed, and tried a smile.
"Who, Midoriya? He'll be fine! He's tough. That's not the worst he's had," he lied, knowing full well that if Midoriya had ever been hit that bad, Recovery Girl would have finished killing him herself.
"What about your other friend? He seemed...off today," Juvia piped in, trying not to pry too much.
"He's...Bakugo? He's fine. He's just...like that sometimes." Kirishima sighed, looking down, but not missing the glance shared between the two girls.
"Does he want to talk about it?" Lucy asked, quietly. Kirishima looked up to meet her gaze.
"Bakugo never wants to talk about his feelings. He would rather blow shit up and put on his 'I hate everybody' act. I've been trying to break through to him, but he won't ever open up all the way. Just when I think I've made progress, he shuts me back out..." Kirishima trailed off.
Lucy stood up suddenly, making her way towards the tent that had Bakugo, Wendy, and Midoriya in it.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Kirishima exclaimed. He was worried the girl would get her face blown off.
"Just trust me, yeah?" She smiled sweetly at him, then entered the tent, closing it behind her.
When Lucy entered, Bakugo's eyes shot up to the entrance to the tent.
"What the fuck do you want, blondie?" He huffed out, though there was no heat behind his words. Lucy made her way to sit next to him, making sure to give the boy enough room for comfort.
"I just came to see how your friend was doing, and to check up on Wendy. I know she overdoes herself sometimes to help others." Lucy glanced at Wendy, who was still sleeping in Bakugo's arms.
"They're just fine. This shitty nerd will heal up thanks to your friend. She's quite something..." He trailed off, looking at Wendy, almost in a caring way.
"You look like you've been crying, and your friend out there seems worried about you. Do you want to talk about it?" Lucy asked, abruptly. Bakugo's eyes flared up with anger.
"I have not been crying! What the fuck did Shitty Hair tell you? I swear to All Might, I'll absolutely blast his fucking hea-" His angry ranting was cut off by Lucy.
"He didn't. He said he was scared to ask you, because he knew you wouldn't tell him. I just thought... Well... You don't know me, and after you guys go back home, we'll most likely never see each other again, so it's almost like confiding in a stranger who has nobody to tell any of it too. I thought that might appease you." She said softly. There was a few, long moments of silence between the two, then Bakugo spoke. It was soft, but gruff.
"I've known Deku since we were about five. We grew up together. Both of us idolized the same pro-hero. Both of us wanted to be pro-heros ourselves, even before we fully understood what it entailed. Both of us waited, waiting for our quirks to manifest. Mine came at the age quirks usually show themselves. Even when I was still learning to use it, I got praised for how cool it was. Everybody was always telling me how cool I was, how strong I was going to be, and how flashy my quirk was. Deku followed me around, looking up to me for how strong I was. He also was never scared to stand up to me if he thought I was wrong, which pissed me off. Still does, though now I see why he does it. Somebody has to keep me in check." There was a pause in his story. A few more minutes of silence fell over them. Lucy was almost about to give up expecting more to the story, when Bakugo began speaking again.
"Deku never got his quirk. The power he has now was...given to him. I can't say by who, or how it's even possible. I swore I wouldn't.
"In middle school, when all of us were talking about high school, I made it known that I wanted to try to get in to the number one hero course in the nation. I was going to test to get into UA High. By this point, Deku was severely depressed. He still wanted to get into UA, to the hero course, even though he still didn't have a quirk. I was scared of competition. I knew that, with how determined he always is, that he would somehow get in whether he had a quirk or not. I had mercilessly teased him and bullied him for years about being quirkless, hence the nickname Deku. One day after class, towards the end of middle school, I... I basically told him nobody would care if he leapt off the building and killed himself. I.." Bakugo choked back a sob, but no tears fell, "I know the only reason he didn't do it was because I would be blamed for it. He would never want anybody to take the blame for anything he did." Bakugo looked at the ground in front of him, absentmindedly running his fingers through Wendy's hair.
"I...I'm sorry. This must be hard for you. But it's obvious he cares about you. About all of you, really. What brought this on?" Lucy asked. Bakugo sighed.
"He was really feverish. He was mumbling. I don't know if you've noticed, but when he's in thought or overwhelmed, he mumbles. He was mumbling about how it wasn't fair to all of us that he was so injured. He said he was a burden, and should have jumped when I told him too."
"Ahh..." Lucy said, realization dawning on her. She stayed quiet after that. She didn't know what to say, and she knew he would rather have the silence. They sat like that for another minute.
"I understand if you think I'm a dick." Bakugo said, breaking the quiet.
"What?! I don't.. I mean... I can tell you don't feel the same anymore, right? Maybe just...find a way to make amends with him. For your sake? Though, I'm not sure he hasn't forgiven you already..." She trailed off, making eye contact with him. His eyes were hard, but she could tell he was hurting. He simply nodded, looking back down at the two unconscious bodies in front of him.
"Hey, Blondie? Mind going to get an extra sleeping bag? I need to go help set up camp and get food. I don't want to just leave her on the ground..." He gestured to the girl in his lap. Lucy nodded, standing up to leave.
"Oh, and thanks..." She heard, just before she left the tent. It was barely above a whisper, but she smiled back at him.
"No problem."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group was sitting around the fire, eating and talking. The heavy mood had fallen away hours ago, and they were just having fun now, telling stories and getting to really know one another. Juvia was sitting next to Gray, her head on his shoulder. Natsu sat next to Lucy, though Happy sat between them, and Kaminari sat on the other side of her. Todoroki sat on the other side of Juvia, talking over her head to Gray. Levy was seated in Gajeel's lap, his hands tight around her waist, and a blush was dusted across her cheeks. Lily was seated next to Gajeel, rolling his eyes at whatever was being said by the Iron Dragon Slayer. Erza was seated by Kirishima, who was next to Bakugo. Carla was sitting alone, close to the tent that had Wendy and Midoriya in it. She hadn't wanted to miss dinner, but wanted to make sure she was available if the two had needed her.
The tent behind them opened, and Bakugo's eyes shot up. Both Deku and Wendy had emerged. Deku was still tinted purple, though it didn't seem like the bruises were very deep anymore, as he wasn't wincing when he was moving. Neither of them looked bleary, so Bakugo wondered how long they had been awake. They had probably been talking until they had the energy to get up. There was a twinge in Bakugo's chest as he realized what the conversation had most likely consisted of, so he glanced down at the fire.
"Hey, Kacchan!" Wendy made his way over to him. Deku faltered in his steps, looking at Wendy with wide eyes. Todoroki snorted, and Kirishima and Kaminari looked up, eyes flicking between Bakugo and Wendy.
"Hey, Half-Pint. Hungry?" He grunted, offering her some of the food that he had put aside for her. He took notice of the fact that Deku was looking at him like he had three heads, but he didn't have the energy to snap at him. Wendy made her way over, sitting in front of Bakugo slightly, happily taking the food offered.
"Uhm, Hey, Midoriya! We saved you food, too! Are you hungry?" Levy called over to him. Midoriya looked over to her, gratefully, though he was slightly uncomfortable when he was met with the sight of her in Gajeel's lap. Gajeel, who was tightly gripping her hips, planted a slow kiss on the side of her neck, never breaking eye-contact with the green-haired boy. Midoriya looked away, blushing furiously.
"Uhm, I... Yeah. I could eat..." He awkwardly replied, making his way towards her to get the food. Gray rolled his eyes, taking the food from Levy, and met the poor boy half way with his food. Midoriya looked at him, thankful, and took a seat next to Todoroki.
"How are you feeling?" Juvia asked.
"Not one-hundred percent healed, but way better than I was earlier. Wendy is truly amazing!" Midoriya exclaimed, happily looking towards Wendy, who was happily chatting away with Bakugo, who seemed to actually be listening to her. Midoriya made a mental note to see what was going on there. He cared about his childhood friend deeply, though he isn't sure he would trust him around a child such as Wendy, even though she was only about three years younger than them.
As the night wrapped up, everybody retired to their respective tents for the evening. The hero's in training all took one tent, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Happy and Lily took one tent, and Erza, Lucy, Levy, Wendy and Carla took the third. They had decided to put their extra supplies in the spare tent, to try to preserve the belongings, as it had started to drizzle a bit.
Sleep came easy to everybody that night, as relief and exhausted settled in.
Everybody was back together.
Everybody was safe.
And everybody was healed, for the most part.
What they didn't know, however, was the fact that somebody had stumbled into their camp well after they were all asleep. The girl was frightened, not knowing where she was. She had no idea what had happened, and she had been alone for about a week. She saw the empty tent, and was too exhausted to resist.
Against her better judgement, she fell asleep in the tent that nobody occupied, hoping that she would wake before the others did in the morning.