Chapter Text
Kirishima dodged lunch again on Friday, and the doors of the elevator were closing on him before Katsuki had even taken three steps into the common room after classes. Okay, that was the last fucking straw. Katsuki seethed while he waited for the compartment to return, he seethed all the way up, and he seethed at Kirishima's closed door. He rapped on it with one barely-not-exploding fist, heard a muffled curse, and then Kirishima's scowling face appeared in the flung-open doorway.
"Fucking what?" he spat, and then he saw it was Katsuki. His face morphed into confusion as Katsuki glared at him, but instead of falling back into his typical laugh it just looked like Kirishima was bracing for something. That pissed Katsuki off.
"Fucking what yourself, hair-for brains," Katsuki said, planting his feet. "Whatever the hell is wrong with you needs to fucking stop."
"Just stop, huh? Excellent plan," Kirishima said, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe. Was that fucking sarcasm? "Wish I'd thought of it."
It fucking was. Augh.
"Look," Katsuki said, gritting his teeth. "I don't- I don't-. Ugh. You're stronger than whatever it is bothering you. If you can just-"
"You know what? I think I've finally figured out your problem, bro," Kirishima interrupted, and what the fuck, Katsuki didn't like the look on the redhead's face at all. There was something fucking mean about it, and that look was just so alien for Kirishima that Katsuki wondered for a moment if his friend had been replaced by that freaky stabby shapeshifter bitch from the Villain Alliance. He was so taken-aback that he almost missed Kirishima's next sentence.
"You think your Quirk is a substitute for a fucking personality."
Katsuki couldn't help it. He gaped at Kirishima like a fucking fish. Kirishima nodded to himself.
"Yep, that's right. Everyone thought you were so cool as a kid, huh? Must've been a blast, eh, Blasty?" Kirishima continued. His eyes were bloodshot, and Katsuki wasn't sure if all the red on red on red was interfering with his vision or if that was just the rage building up. "Midoriya mentioned it before. All your 'friends' went on and on and on about how cool your explosions were. What a flashy ability. You're destined for greatness. All of that shit."
Now Kirishima lurched from the doorway, swaying more than a little, and jabbed at Katsuki's chest. It was almost like he was drunk. "But none of them ever said you were cool, huh? Just your fucking Quirk, so that's all you fucking became. Boom, whatever. That's Bakugou. He explodes stuff! He yells a lot! That's it! So that's all you think other people are! Their Quirks! If their Quirks aren't strong you don't give a flying fuck. I can harden my skin so everything about me's gotta be tough right? Quirks don't fucking solve everything and you don't know what the hell is- Ugh. Just fuck off, man."
Kirishima looked about ready to pass out. Good. Let him. Let him fucking hit the floor. Katsuki spun around and made for his own door. He heard Kirishima let out a groan and mumble something after him, but the blood was roaring in Katsuki's ears and he didn't fucking care, because what the fuck. He practically ripped his door off its hinges as he entered his room, and then he slammed it with a window-rattling thud. His chest was squeezing him, crushing him, and his vision was fucking swimming as he flung himself at his bed. Katsuki rubbed at his traitorous eyes with his knuckles. He had known this whole stupid friendship bullshit wasn't going to last, but he'd gone along with it all the same.
Katsuki tried to tell himself he didn't fucking need friends, anyway.
It didn't fucking work.
The atmosphere in the class during the lessons on Saturday was palpable. It was oppressive, like a summer storm was building up. Everyone looked uneasy, and even the most dense of the class now seemed to be aware of Kirishima's even fouler mood. A few had braved Kirishima's aura of fuck-off to ask him if he was okay, but he shrugged off most of the questions and fended the rest off with curses.
As for Katsuki, well, he was telling himself he wasn't feeling lonely and maybe part of him was starting to believe it. Augh, one fucking morning into an argument and he was pathetic. It felt like he was losing at something, at some sort of game where he didn't know all the rules and had only just realised people had been playing all their lives. Fuck friendship. Katsuki didn't care any more.
Kirishima's other friends - was Katsuki even in that group of people any more? The fuck? What did he even care at this point - complained about Kirishima's drastic downswing in mood at lunch.
"Did Kirishima find Bakugou's stock of being-a-total-ass juice or something?" Stupid-Face grouched. Kirishima was not there, obviously, and Katsuki didn't fucking care. He glared at Stupid-Face over his food.
"Nah," said Black-Eyes, jerking her thumb at Katsuki . "Or he'd be a bit more mellow himself."
"Fuck off," Katsuki said, quiet but with feeling. "I'll kill you."
Black-Eyes just laughed. "See?"
"Do you know what's up with him, Bakugou?" Elbows asked. Oh great.
Katsuki glared. "Why the fuck would I know?"
Elbows shrugged. "Figured out of anyone here he might have told his best friend what was bothering him."
Best friend? Best fucking friend? Where did Elbows get off thinking that? But the others were nodding, and Katsuki felt like he'd been hit with vertigo because the room was spinning just a little bit. Sure, maybe Kirishima was Katsuki's only friend, but best friend on Kirishima's end? Is that what people thought? Well, fuck. Not like it mattered after their spat last night, when he'd found out how Kirishima actually felt. Katsuki didn't have a personality, apparently. So fuck Kirishima. Who cared.
"No," he said in a flat voice. "He hasn't told me anything."
The fuckers all looked so disappointed. Okay, clearly they cared. Katsuki huffed, rolled his eyes, and spoke again. "He's not sleeping."
"Hey, you just said he didn't te-" Stupid-Face began, indignant. Katsuki held up a hand to cut him off.
"He didn't tell me, dumbass, but I fucking have eyes. He's been-" Katsuki stopped. Should he mention that Kirishima had started napping in the classroom at lunch? Probably not, the others would just pile in and disturb him, and then he'd just find somewhere else to go. Then Katsuki wouldn't know where he was. Fuck, he did still care. Friendship was the worst thing ever. "Just watch him, alright."
The others agreed, and then the topic drifted away into something stupid he couldn't be bothered to listen to. Wait, wasn't that exactly what Kirishima had said? That Katsuki didn't care about stuff unless it was about Quirks? Time to show him, Katsuki thought, tuning back into the conversation.
"-but what do we even need to know the difference between transform, conversion, diversion for, anyway," Black-Eyes was saying. Katsuki took a moment to work out the context. Geography? "The earth moves, whatever, let her do it in peace."
"We live in Japan," Elbows deadpanned. "It's kind of important to know how and why earthquakes happen. Plate boundaries aren't that bad, Mina."
"Yeah but like, they've got stupid names," Black-Eyes said. Stupid-Face nodded.
"You got the names wrong anyway, Black-Eyes," Katsuki said, surprising all four of them. "It's convergent and divergent, not conversion and diversion. Idiot."
"There's no difference, though," Black-Eyes whined. Katsuki felt one of his eyes twitch.
"Yes there fucking is," he said. Katsuki was going to show her, damn it. He held up his hands. "Look, convergent means that two continental plates are smashing into each other, right?"
He hit his hands together for a visual effect. Then he moved his hands so the fingertips were touching. "So when they meet up like that, two things happen. Either you get a big fucking mountain range where the plates just..."
Katsuki pushed his hands together until his fingers were steepled. Black-Eyes nodded slowly.
"Like the fucking Himalayas, right? Or you get where one of the plates goes under the other and is fucking destroyed, and you get volcanoes on the plate that's winning," he continued. He moved his hands again, sliding the left one over the right. "Japan is like that, we're on the winning plate, and the plate that the ocean is sitting on is fucking losing. Continent plates usually win over ocean plates 'cause the ocean plates are fucking denser than you, and they sink. It's sometimes called a destructive boundary 'cause the lower plate dies."
"Alright," said Ashido, mimicking Katsuki's hand movements. "So like, the other types do what?"
Katsuki moved his hands apart. "Divergent means the plates are fucking running away from each other like cowards or some shit. They leave a gap and lava comes up and makes new rock. Also called constructive 'cause I guess it makes new plate material."
Black-Eyes moved her hands and hummed to herself. "Running away from each other. Right."
"Transform boundaries are like bumping into someone going the opposite direction," Katsuki continued, sliding his right hand forwards against the left he was pulling back. "Fucking annoying and grating as hell but not heading directly at or away from each other. Sometimes they're going the same way at different speeds instead. Get it now, moron?"
"Oh, yeah I do, actually," Black-Eyes said. "It makes sense."
"It always fucking did," Katsuki grumbled.
"Dude, you got Mina to learn something about geography," Sero said, faking a gasp. There was awe in his voice which Katsuki felt strangely pleased to hear. "I didn't know that was possible."
"Hey, shut up," the pink girl shoved at Sero. She looked back at Katsuki. "Looks like Kirishima's claims about your tutoring skills are legit. Probably could have done without the cursing, but I guess it's kinda more memorable that way."
Ashido grinned at him. He didn't return the smile, but he didn't try to tune out the next subject that was brought up. Or the next. Or even the one after that.
Lunch ended, time slowed to a crawl again, and everyone bundled into the classroom and tried to brace against the mood that Kirishima was exuding. The thunderstorm feeling was back. Or maybe Katsuki was just imagining the whole thing because most of the storm was directed at him.
It sort of felt like Kirishima had one of those cartoon rainclouds over him. Normally the redhead would be one of the ones chasing away someone else's bad energy, but it clearly wasn't something he could do for himself. This was something stubborn, persistent with a threatening undertone. Kirishima caught his eye, and they glared at each other. Katsuki turned back to the front, but it looked like Kaminari had caught the look. Fucking fantastic, there were going to be questions about that later.
Sure fucking enough, Kaminari grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off to one of the couches in the common room as soon as they all got back to the dorms. Sero and Ashido raised their eyebrows but trotted along behind without protest. It felt like he was being arrested or some shit. Katsuki sat down, but the rest of the group just milled there, shooting each other glances.
Kirishima, of course, spared no one a glance and made directly for the elevator. Not that Katsuki tried to watch or anything. The movement just happened to catch his eye.
"Are you fighting with Kirishima?" Kaminari hissed, and fuck, he'd seen where Katsuki was looking, hadn't he? Katsuki said nothing. "You are. Why? What happened?"
"I tried asking him what was wrong last night and he flipped out," Katsuki growled. Ugh, why was he even answering? "He told me to fuck off so I did."
Kaminari flopped down next to Katsuki on the couch. "Dude."
Sero sat next to Kaminari, and Ashido perched on the arm of the couch next to Katsuki. He folded his arms over his chest and stared at his shoes.
"Alright," Sero said, leaning over Kaminari. "So did you ask in like, a normal way or in a Bakugou way?"
Katsuki's palms crackled. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
Sero shrugged. "I mean you suck at people, pal. If Kirishima's cranky 'cause he's not sleeping then your usual, like, everything probably doesn't help."
Katsuki was about to issue a scathing rebuttal, but he bit his tongue to stop himself. As much as he fucking hated to admit it, Sero was right. Sero was. Wait. Wait? What? He sat up straighter. Looked around at Sero, and Ashido, and Kaminari. When the fuck had his brain switched over to their names? They were looking at him with fucking concern, as if they were like, his friends or some shit.
Oh.
Fuck.
Friendship was fucking contagious.
"Damn it," he said. He rubbed at one of his temples. Fine, okay. Friends. So he could talk to friends. That was how it worked. "Yeah, I'm fucking awful at people."
The group of friends - his friends, the fuck - all looked so surprised at his admittance that he might have laughed if he was in a better mood. He hesitated before his next words. Hesitated, shit. He had to force them out of his mouth like he was spitting shards of glass. "But the stuff he said was kinda... Fuck."
"Ohhhh," Ashido said, tapping one finger on her chin. "Cranky-rishima said something that hurt your feelings."
"Fucking," said Katsuki . The girl had cut straight to the heart of things. Fucking moron when it came to geography but somehow she fucking understood this? He could feel a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Fuck."
"Bakugou has feelings?" Kaminari chirped. Katsuki growled. Sero jabbed Kaminari in the side with one of his weird elbows. "Ow. Ooh, but what did he say?"
Katsuki glared at him. "Go die."
"Oh, he really has found your being-an-ass juice," Kaminari said with a sage nod. Then he grinned. "Okay but like, seriously man, you gotta find a new way to threaten someone. There's only so many times you can yell 'die' before the effect wears off."
Katsuki thought about that. He offered a counterargument. "Go eviscerate yourself with a cactus?"
"Ooh. Vivid," Kaminari winced. He prodded Katsuki's shoulder. "That's fair. It's okay if you don't wanna share, man. Some people are afraid of opening up, I guess."
Afraid? Katsuki scoffed. The obvious attempt at goading him into replying was not going to work. It wasn't. It definitely w- "He said that I fucking, fucking based my entire personality on my Quirk and there isn't... There isn't anything other than that. And that's how I think of other people."
Fuck. Katsuki curled his arms tighter around himself, pouted - fuck if anyone saw - and refused to meet the others' eyes. They were probably all looking at him with fucking pity and he didn't want to see that because he'd have to fucking explode their stupid faces and there was a part of him that no longer wanted to do that. So he didn't look.
Ashido whistled. "Man, talk about evisceration."
Katsuki shrugged. The laces on his shoes were a little worn, he should probably replace them soon.
"Kirishima said that? Not like, an evil clone?" Kaminari asked. Katsuki shrugged again. "Man, that guy goes intense on everything he does, even roasting his friends."
"He's got a bit of a point," Ashido said. Katsuki looked up at her sharply. "I mean, that was definitely you at the beginning of the year."
"I fucking know that," Katsuki said. "Fuck, that's why- Shit. Fuck. Damn."
"Oh, I see, Bakugou has feelings but he's allergic to them," Kaminari said, nodding sagely. "Only instead of breaking out in hives or suffocating to death he just runs out of words that aren't curses."
"Fuck you," Katsuki said. Kaminari just grinned.
Sero's face turned thoughtful. "I wonder what's causing it. Kirishima not sleeping, I mean, not Bakugou's emotional problems."
"That's what we gotta find out," Kaminari said. He raised his fist. "Bakugou can't help until he makes up with Kirishima, but the rest of us might be able to pry something out of him."
"The fuck I can't help," Katsuki growled. He looked up now, meeting Kaminari's eyes with a fierce, burning glare. Kaminari just hit him on the shoulder.
"No offence, dude," said Kaminari, about to say something offensive. "But you have like, negative three tact points. What are you gonna do? Go apologise? You?"
Apologise? Katsuki stood up. Well fuck, fine then. He could fucking do that. Watch him.
"Whoa, you are?" Kaminari asked. Bakugou grunted an affirmative and stalked away. There was a chorus of noises behind him, some small cheers, others groans of foreseen failure. Well fuck them, Katsuki was going to give Kirishima the best fucking apology ever.