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Katsuki was never good at making friends. He didn’t understand how some people were just naturally good at it. It wasn’t a secret that he was loud and that his personality was a little on the rougher side, but Deku had a shit ton of friends now and he was still a crybaby. His lack of friends couldn’t be based on character flaws, or maybe they could. When he was younger there were always kids following him around because he had something he could offer them. Since his quirk has always been powerful it was the obvious choice for the other kids at school to stay close to him. Katsuki thought that they were really his friends, he’d cause fights for them, and he’d get in trouble for them because they were his friends. Or at least he thought they were. When the Sludge Villain attacked, and his friends blotted leaving him for dead really shocked him to his core.
That afternoon changed a lot of things for Katsuki and in hindsight, it was the beginning of his downward spiral. He was strong enough that he didn’t need friends. They obviously didn’t need him. What was worse than being abandoned was that when he showed back up for class all of them pretended like nothing happened. If that’s how they wanted to do it then fine, Katsuki could play along. His mom was conflicted, on one hand, she never liked the group of leaches he hung out with in middle school so the fact that Katsuki was spending more time at home and less time causing trouble with them was a relief. But she also didn’t like how he didn’t find new friends to fill the gap. Both of his parents tried to talk with him about it and both of them were shut down. Katsuki acted childish by blocking his ears and closing his eyes so they couldn’t even sign at him.
He didn’t understand Deku. Why did he try to save him when Katsuki has been nothing but a dick to him for years. It didn’t make sense. The incident didn’t change his feelings toward the quirkless boy either, instead, it made it worse. Katsuki felt nothing but rage looking at him, why did he care, what did he get out of it, why him and not his friends?
UA didn’t help him either. Suddenly he wasn’t the best, and he had nothing to offer the other students that couldn’t be given by someone else. Since they were all training to be pro-heroes none of his classmates needed protection, and they could get tutoring from the actual top students and not him. Which is why Shitty Hair surprised him. Their first real interaction was basically an accident but ever since then, the redhead didn’t want to leave him alone. He wanted Katsuki to tutor him, not Ponytail who was at the top of the class; He wanted Katsuki to spar with him, not IcyHot who was at the top of the quirk assessment class. Hell, the dumbass didn’t even need Katsuki for protection since his skin was literally unbreakable. So, he didn’t question it, Shitty Hair wasn’t an extra anymore he now was a reoccurring character that deserved recognition.
The problem with hanging out with Shitty Hair was that he came with his own group. And Katsuki went from having no friends to a group of four people following him again. It was like middle school all over. They did things together as friends, sleepovers, birthdays, training, shopping, things normal teenagers do all the time. It was nice. However, Katsuki didn’t immediately assume they were friends. He kept his walls up and forced himself not to get too close. Although there were sometimes that he felt each one of his idiots, yes they were his idiots, worm their way into his heart.
Raccoon Eyes would watch fashion shows with him and not tease him for how invested he was in some of the designers. The first time they watched a show together was during their lunch break, they were just getting to know each other and he thought this would be it. Instead, she surprised him with her knowledge of fashion. She would also be the one to come up to him to vent about the grape fucker when he’d cross a line. At first Katsuki thought it was because she wanted him to take care of the problem but it was actually just because he was one of the few boys in the class that didn’t dismiss or ignore what she was saying. He did offer on several occasions to take care of the bastard but she didn’t want him to get in trouble because of her. So, Katsuki listened, and part of him felt like they grew closer each time.
Flat-face was on the more laid-back side. He would recommend songs, shows, books whatever he’d think you’d be interested in and most of the time he was right. Katsuki bought the full series of the first manga he was recommended, touched that the other boy thought of him. Flat-faced looked shocked when Katsuki approached him telling him that he finished the series and wanted to talk about it with him. The taller boy was also the first to figure out that calling Katsuki a coward was the easiest way to get him to go along with things. The longer they hung out the less effective it was but there were still moments when Katsuki fell for it.
Dunce-face was weird. Katsuki couldn’t get a read on him even after they moved into the dorms, and took their provisional licence exam. At first, Katsuki was convinced the other blond hated him. He was quick to call Katsuki out on things that he didn’t like or thought were aggressive. Katsuki didn’t understand where he stood with him, so it was easy enough to keep him distant. Dunce-face was the last one to really join their group, but he was friendly enough with the others that Katsuki didn’t mind the occasional comment.
In total, they were a weird mismatched group of people. Although Katsuki noticed something after Kamino Ward. Kirishima was the only one out of his group that tried to save him. A part of him knew the others weren’t really his friends and they were really Kirishima’s but it still stung. Conflicting emotions surrounded him, on one hand, this was the first time a friend tried to help him, on the other it confirmed that the others didn’t really like him that much. It wasn’t surprising, Kirishima got into a lot of trouble because of him, the others probably thought he wasn’t worth it. At first, he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since maybe they didn’t know until Aizawa made that announcement to the class. They really chose not to help him. It was fine. Katsuki was familiar with the song and dance of people he thought were his friends pretending that nothing bad really happened. And that’s exactly how things went when the class moved into the dorms. He didn’t understand why they did it. Dunce-face only really started hanging out with him more since the dorms were built; it was like he couldn’t get rid of him whereas before he wanted nothing to do with him.
Then he failed his Licensing Exam. At least before that happened he could still pretend he was the best and had something to offer them. Now it was obvious he had nothing, that he wasn’t better, so they gained nothing by being with him. Kirishima really stepped into the spotlight, being sought out by one of the Big Three. He started noticing it then. Maybe Kirishima wasn’t as close to him as he was to the redhead. The group still hung out, but now it was almost like an accident if Katsuki showed up, like they didn’t bother to invite him because they figured he wouldn’t show up. Katsuki had to change his routine, putting himself in the common room during times that the others would be there so they’d ask him to join. Kirishima was the only one to seek him out. And when they were together nobody acted any different, as if nothing had happened.
Nobody knew he was hard of hearing on his left side. Recently he’d been getting accustomed to a hearing aid. Before he debated on telling Kirishima, they worked well together so it only made sense that he’d know to avoid talking to him on his left side. But things got busy, and Kirishima was pulling away from him. When they first moved into the dorms and Katsuki was dealing with nightmares on a regular basis he’d either call his parents or he’d wake up Kirishima to deal with it. Now he found himself avoiding waking Kirishima and bothering him, if they were bad enough, he’d call his parents. Katsuki could tell the work-study was stressing Kirishima out, and he didn’t need to worry about Katsuki’s problems when he had his own. One day in the cafeteria he saw Deku break down crying, it didn’t take a genius to notice his classmates were all dealing with stress that started at the same time. The fact that the entire school wasn’t gossiping about it meant that they were meant to keep it quiet so Katsuki didn’t call him on it. Instead, he watched the redhead put on a face a pretend that everything was fine.
When the news came out that three agencies joined forces with the police in an attempt to stop Yakuza activity with a planned raid on their headquarters. Some of the heroes involved were injured Katsuki only happened to find out because he was forcing himself to spend more time in the common room. Guilt washed over him. If he had his license he could have helped, he could have been on that mission and now his best friend was in the hospital. He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, neither group chat had been messaged, either everyone was watching in shock or no one else was watching the news. Tail and the Invisible chick were the only other two downstairs with him. He clicked on the smaller group of his friends. the one with fewer people in it.
Lord Explosion: Guys, check the news Kirishima was at that raid.
The chat was quick to blow up with messages, the same as the other one. Katsuki knew they weren’t going to name any of the students injured since they were minors, but his heart still dropped when he heard “Four UA students were injured in the attack”. It was like a rock formed in the pit of his stomach. With his free hand, he gripped the back of the couch waiting for more information to come across the screen.
“Bakugou!” It was Raccoon eyes standing in the elevator still in her sleepwear. She sprinted over to where he was standing eyes fixated on the screen. One of her hands reached out to grab his arm for comfort. A small part of Bakugou realized that was the first time she touched him outside of training since before Kamino.
The two of them stood there in shock when they noticed the power flickering.
“Dunce-face calm down before you blow the breaker.” Katsuki snapped, not knowing where the other blond was.
He walked up to Bakugou’s other side with Sero right behind him. The four of them looked for every scrap of information about Kirishima they could.
“So many heroes were injured,” Mina said in shock.
“Kirishima will be fine, he’s unbreakable.” Katsuki hoped that saying that aloud made it true.
He wasn’t sure how long the four of them stayed looking at the screen. Their other classmates came into the common room, in various forms of shock. The news cut to a commercial causing the group of students to verbally react.
“The internet is blowing up with this” Sero said looking down at his phone.
Of course, people went straight to the internet to talk about what was happening. In a few hours, they’ll be memes about it. Katsuki was familiar with how quickly the internet could turn something tragic into a joke. He still remembers the first one he saw about Kamino Ward, about All Might retiring, and Best Jeanist almost dying.
“Do these people not realize how serious this is?” Kaminari asked in shock.
“All right Little Listeners” Everyone’s attention was pulled to the front door were Mic Sensei was standing in a baggy black sweater and ripped jeans, and their teacher's hair was also pulled back into a bun. It was obvious the man wasn’t expecting to make a public appearance as a hero. “Iida, can you go grab the rest of your classmates and bring them down here? This will be easier if I don’t have to repeat myself multiple times.”
With no further instructions, four-eyes was off informing the entire class about the impromptu meeting. Bakugou claimed a couch with his tentative friends. It wasn’t the time, but he could help but notice he was included by them. Mina sat next to him with a practical death grip on his arm. He found himself drumming on his legs with his fingers trying to keep out the nervous energy. His hands sparked a few times burning off the nervous sweat.
Once everyone but the work-study students was gathered Present Mic started talking.
“I know everyone is super shocked by the news. But now isn’t the time to freak out. Eraserhead was also at the raid so I know for a fact he’s done everything he could to keep your classmates safe.”
“They said that a professional hero was critically injured. What if that was him?” Earphones asked.
Mic stumbled for a second, an emotion passed quickly behind his eyes but his smile not faltering. Katsuki recognized a smile like that, it was a PR smile that his parents would do whenever put in front of the press to be professional. It wasn’t as reassuring as the man wanted it to be.
“I know you guys had a scare at the beginning of the school year, but your teacher is a pro for a reason. He can handle a couple of mobsters.”
“What about our classmates?” Kaminari asked this time.
Before Mic could answer his phone started ringing at an annoyingly loud volume. Katsuki reached up for his reaching aid to block out the sound.
“Speak of the devil. Sho, you’re on speaker with your class” Present Mic said holding his phone out in his hands.
“Really Mic?”
“Just tell them that everyone’s alright and there’s nothing to worry about.”
There was silence on the line, their teacher not speaking.
“Uraraka and Tsuyu are fine. I am currently waiting on an update for Midoriya and Kirishima.”
Bakugou felt Mina grab his arm even tighter. Their entire couch gasped basically at the same time.
“Now take me off speaker Mic” The blond man did so, putting the phone up to his ear he walked towards the front door.
Katsuki looked over to his friends, Sero had a comforting arm around Kaminari as he was texting someone, presumably Kirishima. Mina was full out sobbing and Katsuki felt his free hand reach up to her hand trying to comfort her. Katsuki just felt numb. He wasn’t sure what he was allowed to feel, the other three were close to the redhead, they were friends, Katsuki was barely an acquaintance.
“Bakugou, how are you doing? You’re close with both of them?” Ponytail asked drawing the entire class’s attention to him.
He swallowed hard, it felt like he drank spoiled milk having Deku and Kirishima to be lumped together like that. As if the only thing they had in common was the fact that they were once friends with Katsuki until they realized they didn’t need him anymore. Kirishima wasn’t like that. Or was he? Kirishima was Katsuki’s only friend here and he should be just as upset as Mina. The only problem was it he couldn’t feel anything.
“It’s Midoriya, the dude breaks his limbs all the time, he’s basically a pro at it” Sero answered trying to break the tension with a joke.
Nobody laughed.
“Is this how you guys felt when I was-” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
If the room was quiet before it was silent now. All of his classmates now looked away from him, different emotions on their faces.
“At least in your case, there’s something we could do. Now we are just forced to sit here and wait” IcyHot said from where he was leaning against the wall.
“We weren’t allowed to do anything that time either! You four decided to go behind our teachers' backs.” One of the extras cut in.
“And I’d do it again too.”
“Todoroki!” Four-eyes
Did IcyHot actually like him, or was he just trying to be a rebel to piss off his father? That felt like a can of worms for another day. Personally, Katsuki was trying of people being his friend just to get things out of him. Sure, he understood it better than whatever clusterfuck he was dealing with right now but he hated how those people only liked him when he had something to offer.
“We appreciate what you guys did for Blasty, but it was so dangerous and none of us should have been anywhere near that situation. You guys could have been taken too or killed.” Kaminari spoke.
Apparently, this was an old argument, that the class has had on multiple occasions. Katsuki just sat there his mind drifting away back to that night. Would he have been able to save himself? He was exhausted, dehydrated, and surviving on luck alone until they showed up. There were nine villains there, one of them able to face All Might directly at full power. Katsuki could still smell the smoke and feel the buildings falling around him, if he focused enough, he could still hear people screaming. The grip on his arm tightened causing Bakugou to take a shaky breath. He wasn’t at Kamino, he was in the common room surrounded by his classmates.
Mina was giving him a weird face; she was the one holding his arm almost too tightly.
“You with us Blasty?” She asked quietly, if he wasn’t focused on her he probably would have missed it.
“I’m making lunch” was all he answered breaking her hold as he stood walking towards the kitchen area.
No one interrupted him as he cooked, most of the class knew to avoid the kitchen if he was there. They just let him cook. He wasn’t even hungry he was just looking for something to do with his hands, that he didn’t need to think about. His old drum set would have been perfect for that. When he was really young he remembers turning all of the pots and pans upside down and using a pair of chopsticks as the sticks, when his parents found him they had mixed emotions, Dad was upset that all of the dishes were now dirty but he was impressed with his son’s skill. The old hag made him wash everything until she thought they were clean enough and then brought him to the store to pick out a drumkit. He briefly wondered if Kirishima played any instruments as a kid.
He was being watched. The three idiots were sitting at the counter not talking just watching him. Once he was finished he set the plates down in front of them, he held his dish in his hands not sure if he should join them. He stood there for a few seconds looking down at his rice and pork.
“Sleepover in my room tonight?” Sero asked the group the other two agreed quickly. Bakugou stood there playing with his food, pushing them around with the chopsticks. He wasn’t sure if he was included in the request, obviously, the group felt bad about what happened to Kirishima and wanted reassurance, but would they want him? It was most likely a slip-up, the group forgetting about him or probably assuming he wouldn’t want to be invited.
“What about you Bakubro? You in?” Mina asked causing him to drop the piece of pork he grabbed with his chopsticks. This was a trick, right? They didn’t want him there they just felt obliged to ask because he was standing right there. Would they want him to say no like he normally does? The only reason why they asked was that they wanted him to say no. He wasn’t really wanted just invited to be included, like that poor bastard that you were always forced to invite to birthday parties.
“I don’t know,” he said quietly, barely over a whisper. Katsuki searched his head for a valid excuse not to do it, he was ahead in class work more than ever since he started pulling away from the others, Kirishima wasn’t there to be tutored, and the gym was closed to all students after 8 pm. There was nothing stopping him besides his own feelings.
“We don’t have to do it in my room we can do it in the common room. It’s not like Mr Aizawa’s here to kick us out for being up after hours” Sero offered.
“We can do it in your room I don’t care,” Katsuki said without his familiar bite. He didn’t want to push his luck and get uninvited for being too difficult.
“Perfect, right after supper we head up, play some video games maybe watch some crappy movies” Sero was already planning out the night.
Katsuki smiled along, with butterflies in his chest. Maybe he was wrong, and these people actually liked him and didn’t put up with him because he was friends with Kirishima.
Mina was painting his toes when something shifted.
“Kachan tell us about yourself” of fucking course it had to be Kaminari, the only one dumb enough in the group to ask him a question straight on like that.
“I’m a Taurus,” he said flatly knowing that wasn’t the answer the blond was looking for. Mina snorted at that.
“That explains a lot actually,” Sero said from his corner searching through his gaming collection.
“No, it fucking doesn’t” He snaped back, Mina fully smiling at what was happening.
“Spoken like a true Taurus,” Mina said finishing his toes.
Absent-mindedly he started drumming out that same beat from before on his knees.
“Why do you keep doing that? Is it like when you spark off extra sweat? Are you trying to get it off without exploding it?” Kaminari asked controller shoved into his hands by Sero as he spoke.
Mina grabbed hers with no issue as Bakugou sparked off what little sweat he built up over the past couple of hours.
“I used to take drumming lessons as a kid.” He admitted not really understanding why.
“Shut up! Bakugou that’s awesome!” Mina practically squealed making Katsuki reach up to turn off his hearing aid.
“Don’t make a big fucking deal about it, earphones can play like 20 instruments” He disguised the motion as if he was scratching the back of his neck.
“No screen sniping, okay?” Sero started the game.
“Please you’re the worse one for that” Kaminari complained.
The four of them player video games, laughing at each other's failure. No one complained when he swore at the screen or threatened them, instead, they went along with it or laughed at him. It was nice, Katsuki didn’t realize how much he missed this. Maybe these guys actually like him and he was just being dramatic. The games started winding down as it grew later in the night. The group switched to a two-person game forcing the others to take turns. That was their mistake as Kaminari moved over to the hammock while waiting his turn and promptly fell asleep. Katsuki could feel his eye lids getting heavy as he leaned on the wall.
“Hey, Bakugou?” His eyes flew open at Sero talking to him. He reached out expecting to have to take the controller from his friend. Even with the room only lit by the tv screen, he could tell that both Sero and Mina were looking at him their game on pause.
“We just wanted to say that we are sorry that we didn’t come to rescue you with the others” The other boy continued. “Everyone was terrified at what happened and I didn’t want to screw up again. So, when Mister Aizawa told us to leave it to the pros I didn’t question him”
“Kirishima still came” Katsuki hated how insecure he sounded.
“He really is amazing isn’t he?” Mina spoke “My entire middle school I would act without thinking and that was great sometimes but it was also scary, after an encounter after school one day I decided I would try to think more and act less. I think I got a little too much in my head and overthought everything.”
“This is all to say that we are sorry and that if you ever need to come to someone you can still come to us. Don’t think we haven’t noticed you pulling away”
“I thought you guys didn’t like me anymore.”
“Aw Bakugou come here.” Before he could say anything, he had Mina throwing herself at him gripping him in a tight hug. “We wanted to give you some space, we didn’t want to overwhelm you after everything that’s happened”
“But I’m an asshole, I’m not a nice person I’m-”
“You’re our asshole Bakugou,” Sero said putting a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder.
Mina laughed into his chest as Bakugou pulled a face,
“Don’t ever call me your asshole again.”
“You’re right, you’re more of a dick anyway.” Sero agreed.
“Our dick,” Mina said into his chest.
The three of them started laughing, which woke Kaminari up.
“You guys apologized to Kachan? Good, it was getting awkward without you around.”
“Are you going to say something?” Mina asked pushing herself off of Katsuki’s chest.
“I didn’t start hanging out with him after we moved into the dorms. Why should I have to?”
“Whatever Sparky but I am not making you shit”
“Fine, I’m sorry we didn’t break the law to save you.”
All three of them launched pillows at Kaminari for his ‘apology’. They calmed after a moment Kaminari muttering another apology. The four teens eventually collapsed around the room, Mina kicking Kaminari out of the hammock forcing the three boys to share the bed. Katsuki wasn’t thrown awake because of nightmares once. He slept the entire night pressed up against the wall with one of Sero’s elbows digging into his ribs.
Katsuki’s hearing aid was dead but that was his own fault. He didn’t need it all the time, he could still hear out of his left ear it just wasn’t as good as it used to be. The aids mainly helped with his tinnitus he could deal with some obnoxious ringing. It was after lunch, and he was watching the four girls attempt to make a treat for the classmates that were supposed to be returning today. The fact that they were returning after only spending a day in the hospital was good news. It meant that Kirishima wasn’t in critical condition. After Mic left the dorms, the class received very little information. The entire class had spent the day in the common room waiting for the others to show up. It was terrible, sitting around and waiting. There was a strange energy buzzing around as if people are waiting to see what happened to their classmates and how fucked up this experience made them. Nobody wanted to sit alone with their thoughts, so everyone tried to keep busy doing stupid things. Some of the boys were sitting around playing a card game that you had to slap the deck and Bakugou immediately said no to that game not wanting to accidentally blow up the cards or his classmates’ hands. Cake Boss was in the kitchen with the girls that were trying to bake, Katsuki could see that he was trying to be polite, but he also just wanted to take over for them. The stragglers were either watching tv, doing homework, or playing on their phones. Every single one of them just killing time until the others returned.
The door was opened, and everyone could hear Present Mic mother henning their homeroom teacher and their classmates. Deku and the girls looked absolutely fine, their teacher looked even more tired than usual, and he walked stiffened. Kirishima looked like he was run over. His friend was covered in bruises with bandages peaking out from under his shirt that was left more unbuttoned than he normally would allow it. Kirishima also didn’t have his hair styled a testament to how bad he must have been feeling. Everyone broke off into their own groups, which were Deku and his friends while Kirishima walked over to his friend group. Mina was by him almost immediately, her hands hovering over her long-time friend. Kirishima had that stupid face on him while he explained that he got a little banged up. Bakugou held back while the others looked him over. The redhead made eye contact with him, that familiar stupid grin on his face.
“You fucking idiot” Bakugou walked over to him pulling him into a hug with absolutely no pressure behind it. “I’m glad you’re alive.” He whispered into his shoulder. After a few seconds, Bakugou broke the hug pulling away from the other boy.
“Sorry I couldn’t tell you guys what was happening, but it was pretty serious” Kirishima sounded tired.
“Yeah, no shit” Bakugou scoffed.
“Have you seen Recovery Girl yet?” Sero asked.
“Saw her for a third time this morning before leaving the hospital.”
He was that beat up after being healed three separate times. Katsuki couldn’t imagine what the guy that did that looked like.
“Did you beat him?” Bakugou asked wanting to know if the pain was worth it.
“I took the hit to save Fatgum. He was able to take them out because of me” He sounded proud at that.
“Wait them as in more than one?” Kaminari asked shocked.
“Yeah, there were two of them. Um, I’m not sure how much I can say legally” The redhead started to pull back now, his previous good mood started to be pushed away by self-confidence issues. Immediately the group stepped in and did what they do best.
“Two villains! That’s crazy”
“That’s our Kiri.”
“That’s really manly dude.”
“Kirishima,” Bakugou started but he didn’t know how to finish it. “Don’t scare us like that again.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it Bakugou” The redhead smiled, his confidence coming back.
“Now lie your ass down before you pass out, you look like you are one strong breeze away from collapsing.”
The five of them took over the couches, Sero and Kaminari not taking long before they were arguing over what movie they should watch. It didn’t go unnoticed that they picked one of Kirishima’s favourites. Mina went to see how Pink Cheeks and Frog Face were doing and the rest of the class filtered through talking to Kirishima for a bit none of them staying long. Katsuki didn’t move from his place next to Kirishima, he didn’t know if he should say something to the others, so he decided it was probably for the best if he said nothing. There were no points in starting a screaming match that would end with him getting in trouble.
During the movie, Kirishima moved so he was laying down, his head on Katsuki’s lap and his feet on Mina’s. When the redhead first made his move, Katsuki offered to sit on the floor and either Kirishima ignored him or he didn’t care. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. Up close Katsuki was able to see how bruised his friend was, his forearms were the most noticeable a purple so deep it was almost black. The redhead was also snoring, Katsuki snickered at it thinking of all the ways he could tease him as he snored away. It was a rare moment of peace, sitting with people he now knew were his friends. Turning his attention towards the movie Katsuki never felt happier than Kirishima pushed for their friendship. Even though he tried to back out of their friendship out of self-doubt, he would never doubt Kirishima and his unbreakable spirit.