Chapter Text
After a delicious breakfast (and a good deal of face-washing), Denki was unsure of what to do. He was still little, but his friends were also with him. Should he try to get out of headspace so they could hang out? Should he ask them to leave? He didn’t want them to leave though. Denki had considered telling his close friends about his regression at some point, but he never thought he would be little around them. But, after spending some time with them and seeing how well they’re handling everything, Denki enjoyed having them around while he was regressed.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about, little guy?” Kirishima asked, nudging Denki’s shoulder lightly as he sat down next to him.
Denki shrugged. “I dunno what to do.”
“Huh? You ‘don’t know what to do’ about what?” Ashido sat on his other side and looked at him quizzically.
“Still small. Don’ know whadda do wif you guys. Don’ wanna be ‘lone yet,” Denki mumbled, playing with his sleeves. The other three teens all did their best to contain their reactions to Denki’s unintentional cuteness. After a moment of shared glances and deep breaths, Sero spoke up.
“What do you usually do when you’re little? We can just join you in that!”
“I watch Pokémon a lot! Or nap.”
“Pokémon is awesome, dude!” Kirishima said. “Let me guess, Pikachu is your favorite?”
“Nuh uh!” Denki passionately shook his head ‘no’.
“What?! But, your hoodie! And your quirk!!” Ashido said exaggeratedly.
“So, who’s your favorite?” asked Sero.
“Jolteon! He’s like a lightning puppy!” Denki exclaimed. He excitedly bounced where he sat on his bed. “Pikachu’s cool too though. He gots more stuff.”
“That is true, but we are so gonna get you some jolteon stuff!” Kirishima said, sticking his pinky out towards Denki to seal the promise. Denki smiled and linked his pinky finger with Kirishima’s before swinging their hands back and forth.
“Alright, enough pokémon talk . I thought we were gonna watch ‘em?” Ashido reminded.
Denki gasped and nodded before hopping up from his bed to fetch his laptop. Luckily his bigger self had the first season downloaded for easy access. All little Denki had to do was open the folder, pick an episode, and hit ‘play’. Denki’s face lit up even brighter as the theme song began. The others crowded around him on his bed and sang along with him as it played.
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“-and Blissey help… Nurse Joy take ca… care of everyone!” Denki explained through a yawn. The group had watched about four episodes already, but Denki was determined to start a fifth.
“Blissey seems really nice, huh Denks?” Kirishima commented.
“Mhm. She… she nice an’ pink wike Mina,” Denki said quietly, rubbing his eye with a loose fist.
“Aw, babes! You’re so sweet!” Ashido exclaimed. She pulled him half into her lap and nuzzled his hair. Denki just melted into the embrace.
“I think someone might be a little tired,” Sero said. Denki was too comfy to fight the accusation.
“You wanna take a nap?” Ashido whispered into his hair. Denki nodded. “Okay sweetie, we’ll just clean up real quick and leave you to sleep, alright?” Ashido moved to get up and lay Denki down on the bed, but found his arms wrapping around her. “Denks? What’s wrong?”
“No leave. Pease?” Denki’s soft tone and even softer gaze made his request impossible to deny.
“Okay, I’ll stay with you, cutie! But can the boys clean up?” Denki nodded and fully curled up on Ashido’s lap.
Kirishima and Sero quickly and quietly moved around the room to collect dishes and put away Denki’s laptop. By the time they finished, the little was already out cold. “Should we stay?” Sero loudly whispered.
Ashido shook her head while slowly stroking Denki’s hair. “You guys have already done so much for him. I got this.”
“Text us if you need anything, okay?” Kirishima said. Ashido gave a thumbs up and waved goodbye as the two boys quietly left the room. “Uhh, what should we do now? Just wait?”
“I don’t know about you, but I have some homework to finish up after we put those dishes away,” Sero said.
Kirishima looked down at the tray he was holding, having forgotten it was there. “Oh, yeah! Don’t worry about it, man. You brought breakfast up, I can take it back down. And I’ll probably do some homework too while we wait for Kami to wake up.”
“Sounds like a plan! See you in a bit.” The two parted ways to their respective floors.
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Bakugo still didn’t know what to do with himself. After Sero left with the pancakes, he cleaned the kitchen and went back to his room. He tried to start on the punishment research paper Aizawa had assigned, but he couldn’t focus. Ironic. His mind kept drifting back to his friends.
He seemed to be at least on speaking terms with Sero now, so that was some progress. Ashido would likely be the next easiest to make up with. But, then again, she’d probably refuse to talk to him until Kaminari and Kirishima forgave him. And would they? Bakugo didn’t know what to say. And he didn’t know how to say it. ‘I’m sorry for calling you stupid and triggering your childhood trauma!’ and ‘I’m sorry for yelling at you for being a better friend than I ever could be!’ were both apologies that needed some work.
Maybe he could go for another run? Every draft he had written was utter garbage, and he was out of ideas, so maybe a change of scenery would help. That, and he was sick of pacing around his room. It was decided. With a huff, Bakugo threw open his door, stepped into the hall, and found himself face-to-face with Kirishima.
They stared at each other for a beat. Then Kirishima narrowed his gaze and rolled his eyes before continuing his interrupted motion of entering his dorm.
“Wait!” Bakugo called, taking a step closer. Kirishima paused again, sighed, and opened the door. “I’m sorry! ” Bakugo hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but when had he ever been able to help that? “Shit. This isn’t how this was supposed to go. Fuck!” Kirishima had turned back to face him. Bakugo had to speak while he had his attention.
“Kiri… I’m such a goddamn moron. I didn’t mean any of what I said yesterday. I was frustrated and tired and so out of bounds and I took it all out on you and Kaminari. I was expecting you all to just… nudge me back into line like you usually do, but I took it too far. My dumbass outbursts are not your fucking responsibility.
You’re not stupid. None of you are. And you’re a better friend than I could ever hope to be. I don’t expect you to want to be around me after all the disgusting crap I said last night, but, I just need you to know how genuinely sorry I am, Kirishima,” Bakugo finished softly, bowing his head.
“Bro… I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sound so sincere. It’s honestly a welcome change of pace,” Kirishima said with a small smile. “Yesterday was awful, you were way out of line, but I can see that it wasn’t on purpose. I could tell you were just pissed and ranting, and I honestly don’t care about what you said to me, but I’m super not cool with what you said to Kaminari. Whether or not you meant it, you cut deep.
So, I can forgive you, Bakugo. But, as head of the ‘Denki Defense Squad’,” he said with air quotes, “his feelings about you matter the most.”
“Thank you, Kirishima. And, I know I need to talk to Kaminari. I just don’t want to trigger him again. From what I could hear this morning he still didn’t sound great.”
“Wait, you were downstairs earlier? How did no one see you?”
“I was going to sneak into the kitchen, but when I heard everyone interviewing Sparky I decided to eavesdrop by the elevator,” Bakugo explained. “How is he, by the way?”
“Oh, okay. He’s doing alright now I think. All the questions and stuff kinda wore him out so he’s taking a nap. Ashido stayed to watch him while Sero and I cleaned up his room from breakfast. Someone made him these super cute pancakes! Sero said it was a ‘secret friend’ so I don’t…” As Kirishima was recounting the events from earlier, he noticed a change in Bakugo’s posture. “Wait…” He squinted and leaned forward, searching Bakugo’s face for something. He found it. “It was you, wasn’t it?!”
Bakugo rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yeah. I felt bad, okay? Sero was about to just throw a bunch of random shit together and I knew Denks was feeling crappy enough without being served raw ingredients for breakfast. So I thought ‘why not’ and whipped up some pancakes ‘cause what little kid wouldn’t like that.” Bakugo crossed his arms defensively. “What?”
Kirishima was beaming. “Bro. That’s ADORABLE!” He shot forward and wrapped Bakugo in a hug. “You’re such a softie on the inside, you know that?” Kirishima pulled back before Bakugo could shove him off. “Did Sero tell you about the age regression thing? Or did you overhear that from Denki this morning?”
“I heard Deku explain it to everyone earlier, but I did my own research afterwards and kinda guessed that Sparky was regressed when he was trying to talk to you guys. Tape face just confirmed it when we talked in the kitchen. That’s the main reason I didn’t want him to mention that I cooked breakfast.”
“Yeah, none of us have brought up anything about yesterday since we found out he was still feeling small. I don’t know how he’d react, and I don’t want to risk upsetting him again. Maybe he’ll feel normal when he wakes up? It was probably a good call to give him space this morning, but I think you should talk to him as soon as possible. Dragging this out won’t be good for either of you, man.” Bakugo nodded in agreement. “I’ll text Ashido to see if he’s still asleep. Maybe we could go-”
“Kirishima,” Bakugo whispered urgently.
“Huh?” Kirishima looked up from his phone and followed Bakugo’s gaze over his shoulder. “Welp, I guess that answers my question,” he mumbled. Down near the other end of the hallway stood a familiar blond in a bright yellow hoodie. “Hey Denki!” Kirishima called. “How was your nap?”