Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

”Doc, he’s not breathing!”

”Get the oxygen machine, stat!”

What’s going on…?

“Check his vitals!”

”Is this even working?”

My lungs…they hurt…

”His blood pressue’s too high.”

“His heart isn’t pumping correctly.”

Am I dying…?

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess.

”You’ll be alright, okay?”

”Hang on, my boy.”

I’ve been hanging on…when can I stop?

”It’s best to put him under.”

”He’s under extreme stress.”

Is it going to be over soon…? Everything hurts…

”You’ll be okay. Just go to sleep now.”

That was the last thing Kirishima heard before he went unconscious.

Chapter Text

“Kirishima, have you taken your medicine yet?”

Kirishima yawned, stretched, and rubbed his eyes before responding. “Obviously not, I just woke up. I’ll do it in a minute, Dr. Aizawa. You know I never forget.”

Aizawa nodded and walked out of the room. Kirishima was alone for just a few seconds before Nurse Shuzenji (more commonly known as “Recovery Girl” for how well she heals small injuries and gets new patients adjusted) entered the room, bringing Kirishima his breakfast on a platter.

“Are you feeling any better, Kirishima-kun?” she asked, her infamous soothing smile plastered on her face. “You gave us quite a scare the other day, you know.”

Kirishima sighed. “Yeah, I’m feeling better.” He took a piece of already-buttered toast from his plate, starting to munch on it. “But I thought I was allowed to eat in the cafeteria today. Did something happen?”

Recovery Girl shook her head and chuckled lightly. “It’s just that you should probably rest for a little while longer. The less stress your body has to endure, the better. So I will probably be bringing you your meals for a few days before the doctors say it’s okay for you to be out and about again.”

Kirishima nodded, a slight frown on his face.

He usually ate at the cafeteria with some of the other kids. It was one of the only times he got to socialize in the day, other than the designated activity hours (which were essentially recess) or the rare occasions on which the hospital staff decided the kids could go outside to visit the garden.

With Kirishima’s condition, it was even less likely that he would get to go outside, even when the other kids were allowed to.

He was even more worried about the fact that the others would know that something happened to him. Kirishima always ate with the other kids, and they would know that his absence was something to worry about.

But he was fine, really. He didn’t want to worry anyone.

“Recovery Girl, can you ask the doctors if I can eat at the cafeteria tomorrow?” Kirishima asked, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes. He knew Recovery Girl had a soft spot for that. “My friends will be worried about me, and it can be so lonely here all by myself.”

Recovery Girl sighed. “I know what you’re doing, Kirishima-kun. But I’ll ask. I know how important your friends are to you.”

Kirishima smiled. That usually meant the doctors would be persuaded. They didn’t like saying no to Recovery Girl. She was probably the staff member who understood the kids the most, right after Dr. Yagi.

“Oh, and Kirishima-kun, there’s one more thing I should tell you before I go,” Recovery Girl said, taking the now-empty tray with her. “There’s a new kid in the ward. He’s going through a lot, so try to help him get settled in. It’s his first day here, too, so he’s not exactly happy about it. Maybe you could try cheering him up once the doctors think it’s safe for you to be walking around again.”

Kirishima nodded and smiled. “Cool! I’ll make sure he’s comfortable here.” Recovery Girl then smiled and closed the door, leaving Kirishima to his own thoughts.

A new kid, huh?

Kirishima always loved meeting new people. He was the patient who had been admitted to the hospital for the longest amount of time, so he knew his way around and how things worked. He was usually put in charge of helping the new patients get used to their new lifestyle.

There wasn’t much to do in the hospital building, especially when you were confined to your own room and weren’t allowed to walk around. For Kirishima, this sucked, since he loved being active and interacting with the other patients.

Now, all he had to do was read through the worn books in his room, even though he had already read and re-read through them multiple times.

Everything was so boring. But it’s not like he could complain. It beats being dead, he supposed.

That was something hospitals would do to you. People die in hospitals all the time, and Kirishima knew this. Heck, he had even known a few people who died in this same hospital. Because of that, sometimes he would take death too seriously, or not seriously at all.

Sometimes, Kirishima would jokingly say to a doctor or a nurse, “Man, death doesn’t seem too bad right now,” to which the doctors or nurses would always get very concerned. Because he would forget how serious of a topic death was.

Other times, Kirishima would lay awake at 3am in an internal panic at the thought of dying. What happens when you die? Where do you go? Would anyone be sad? I don’t want to hurt anyone. Those were the types of things Kirishima would think to himself sometimes.

‘That’s it, I’m tired of being bored,’ Kirishima thought to himself. ‘The second I’m allowed to walk around again, I’m going to meet this new kid. And I’ll introduce him to everyone else, so maybe he’ll make a lot of friends. I wonder what he likes to do. Play sports? Watch tv? Draw? What does he even look like?’

Kirishima’s imagination tended to run wild when he was left alone like this. And so did the other kids’, too. Even though Kirishima and many of the other kids were in their teens, they liked to ‘play imagination’ (as Kirishima called it) a lot. It was a distraction from their reality.

It didn’t necessarily mean “let’s run around and pretend we’re pirates.” What usually took place was the kids would ask each other what they wanted to do when they grew up, or what they thought their lives would be like if they weren’t sick, or what career they wanted to have. Things like that.

Kirishima was the one who started the game, since those were things he thought about a lot. And as it turned out, many of the other kids thought about things like that, too. It wasn’t really a game, but it sure was fun.

Kirishima heard a knock on his door, startling him out of his thoughts.

Doctor Aizawa entered the room, looking exhausted as usual. Most people would look at the man and assume that he was lazy. However, he worked harder than anyone to make sure the kids were getting the best treatment they could get. Kirishima and the others grew very fond of him. And, as much as he would hate to admit it, Aizawa grew fond of them as well.

“Kirishima, you’re free to walk around tomorrow,” Aizawa said, to which Kirishima gave a wide smile. “You should also help the new kid get accustomed to this place. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but I’m sure you’ll manage. Remember, you still have to rest for today. And remember to take your medicine.”

Kirishima nodded, already tuning out after being told that he was free to wander around the next day.

‘So the new kid is a bit of a troublemaker, huh?’ Kirishima thought to himself as Aizawa left the room. ‘Well, I’m sure he’s nice enough. I didn’t even get his name. I wonder what he’s like.’

Chapter Text

“So this new kid…his name is Bakugou?” Kaminari asked at breakfast that day.

Kirishima was over the moon that day. First, he got to eat in the cafeteria with everyone else and second, there’s a new kid which means another potential friend!

“Yeah, that’s what the nurses told me,” Kirishima said, shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “Recovery Girl asked me to show him around after breakfast today, so that’s what I’m going to do afterwards. Man, I’m so excited! There are never new people here! I mean, not that it’s a bad thing that there aren’t a lot of people, but…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Kaminari responsed, picking at his food thoughtfully. “It can get a little lonely with just the nineteen of us, especially since not all of us get to walk around every day. And it’s not like our parents can stay here all the time, either.”

“Yeah,” Kirishima responded, suddenly feeling bummed out. “But hey, at least we get to meet someone new today. That’s always nice, right? I haven’t felt this excited in a while!”

“That’s nice and all, but you’re going to choke if you keep talking while you’re eating,” Kaminari said jokingly. “You’ll get to meet him soon. Tell us how it goes, alright?”

Kirishima nodded, finishing his bowl of cereal. “And by the way, Kaminari, the cereal goes in first. You can fight me on that.”

“I might take you up on that offer if either of us were physically capable of fighting,” Kaminari joked, to which Kirishima laughed and walked away, throwing his plastic bowl away.

“Hey, Dr. Aizawa,” Kirishima greeted, a smile on his face. “Is Bakugou ready for the official unofficial tour yet?”

“Yeah, he just finished eating,” Aizawa said nonchalantly. “You can go in and greet him whenever you want. But I’ll warn you, he’s a bit of a hassle. Take my word for it.”

Kirishima just shrugged. He was ‘a bit of a hassle’ too, in the beginning. Everyone was, really. It’s not easy to get adjusted to what will probably be your deathbed. He was sure this new kid Bakugou felt the same way.

Kirishima opened the door, to which he was greeted by a scowling blonde boy. Yeah, this was going to be a bit difficult, but nothing Kirishima couldn’t handle.

“Hey, buddy!” Kirishima greeted brightly, trying to cheer the boy up. “You’re Bakugou, right? I’m Kirishima, nice to meet you.” Kirishima stuck out his hand for Bakugou to shake.

But Bakugou continued to stare at Kirishima, which made him laugh nervously and bring his hand back. Yeah, this was going to be tough. But nothing he couldn’t handle!

“I’m supposed to be your guide for today. I’ve been in this hospital longer than anyone else here, so I kind of know my way around. So, are you ready to go now, or is there anything you’d like to ask me first?”

Bakugou scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t need to get to know this damn place and there’s not anything I need to know. I’m not gonna be staying here for long. There’s nothing fucking wrong with me.”

Kirishima frowned. Bakugou’s way of thinking reminded him of his own, when he was first admitted to the hospital. He remembered thinking and saying things like, “So my skin’s a little rough, it’s nothing bad. Why am I even here? There’s nothing seriously wrong with me.”

But as his condition worsened, it became more and more apparent that there was something wrong with him, so he eventually accepted his fate. He hoped he would be able to help Bakugou do the same.

“I get what you mean,” Kirishima said, sitting down on the hospital bed next to Bakugou, to which the blonde boy scooted away. “It really comes as a shock, you know? One day, you’re perfectly healthy, just out there living life. And the next, you’re stuck here.”

Kirishima paused to sigh and looked over at Bakugou, who was glaring daggers at him. “I know it’s hard to come to terms with, but you’re here for a reason. You’re sick. I mean, I don’t know what you have, the doctors didn’t tell me, but you’re not…well. Now, is there anything you’d like to ask me, or should we start the tour?”

“Nice try, shitty hair,” Bakugou said, making Kirishima roll his eyes. “I don’t need your fucking assistance, okay? I’ll be out of here in a few days, just watch me. This is nothing. Take it to the bank.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Kirishima said. “If you’re in this ward, there’s something mega wrong with you. Take me, for example. I almost turned into a human mannequin, you know. My skin felt rock-solid. And it hasn’t gotten much better. Wanna feel?”

Bakugou grimaced when Kirishima held out his arm. “Ew, no. I don’t want to catch whatever you have.”

Kirishima sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh my god, it’s not contagious. And why’d you have to call me ‘shitty hair?’ It’s thicker than it’s been for the past few years.” Kirishima paused to pat his hair to make sure.

“Now tell me,” Kirishima resumed, “what was it that the doctors said you had? Whether you actually have it or not. What’s your diagnosis? And how did you get here?”

“Jeez, I didn’t realize this was a fucking interrogation,” Bakugou groaned. “One question at a time, shitty hair. First off, I’m here because they said I had a seizure. But that’s not true because I know goddamn well that I slept through the night perfectly fine, no seizures and shit.”

Kirishima nodded, urging Bakugou to continue, which he did. “Then, I wake up here, and my arm’s attached to this damn IV. They did blood tests, and a bunch of other tests that I don’t know the name of. Then they came back, hours later, and I still hadn’t eaten anything, and they told me I have ‘Long QT Syndrome,’ which is easily the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life.”

“Well it makes sense, because you are a cu-tie!” Kirishima joked, finger guns and all. “Get it? ‘Cause QT? No? I’ll stop.”

“Nevermind, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life,” Bakugou said, not even a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “All right, you’ve been here long enough, you’re probably allowed to leave now.”

Kirishima blinked in confusion. “What? No, I want to help you! The doctors asked me to help you get adjusted, so that’s what I’m going to do. Besides, you seem to be having a…hard time adjusting, to say the least, so it’ll be good for you to have someone you can rely on. That’s me, by the way. I’m referring to myself. You can count on me, buddy!”

“I’m not your ‘buddy,’ shitty hair,” Bakugou growled. “Now get out before I rip your face off.”

Needless to say, Kirishima was able to lead Bakugou out of his room and show him around the rest of the ward.

“This is the cafeteria, where we can eat our meals if the doctors say we’re doing well enough to be out and about,” Kirishima explained, leading an annoyed-looking Bakugou around by the arm.

It’s not like Bakugou could resist, though, since his other arm was still hooked up to the portable IV machine, and he wasn’t very steady on his feet just yet, as much as he’d like to deny it.

“The cafeteria is a great way to meet new people,” Kirishima continued. “There are only nineteen of us, twenty counting you now, so you’ll probably get to know everyone pretty easily. You’ll make a lot of great friends here! I mean, I have, at least.”

“I’m not here to make friends, shitty hair,” Bakugou grumbled. “I’m not even going to be here for more than a week, since there’s nothing wrong with me in the first place.”

This again. Kirishima sighed and let it go. Even Kirishima himself had been in denial at one point, but Bakugou seemed oddly insistent that nothing could possibly be wrong with him. Why was that? Kirishima wanted to find out.

“Anyways, out there’s the garden,” Kirishima explained, pointing to the glass doors which showed several bushes surrounding wooden benches, which were placed abundantly over the stone-covered ground. In the middle of it all was an angel statue.

“See that statue?” Kirishima pointed out. “It was donated by a lady who’s kid stayed at this hospital. The kid…passed away a while ago. The lady said she wanted the other kids here to know that they’re being watched over by someone. I assume she means by herself, or by the angels, or something. She never really explained. But it’s nice. It’s really comforting.”

Kirishima paused to look at the statue for a while, then looked back at Bakugou who raised an eyebrow. “Oh, uh, we don’t get to go outside very often,” Kirishima continued, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s only for when the weather’s perfect, or when a ton of kids insist on going outside.”

Bakugou looked at the angel statue again. He felt bad for the mother who lost her child, but at least his mother wouldn’t have to go through that. He wasn’t going to die, after all.

“I don’t go outside very often,” Kirishima continued, “even when the others do. My body’s really picky about temperatures and stuff. I mean, my skin doesn’t really do what it’s supposed to do, remember?”

“What about holidays and stuff?” Bakugou asked, which took Kirishima by surprise. He had hardly said anything this entire time, and when he had, it was just another insult or rude comment. “Do you get to go out for holidays, no matter the weather?”

Kirishima nodded. “Actually, yeah, I forgot to mention that. Whenever it’s a major holiday like Valentine’s Day or Halloween or Christmas, we get to go outside. It’s not mandatory, though. The kids who prefer to stay inside are allowed to, obviously. Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why,’ shitty hair? I’m curious, obviously.” Bakugou grumbled to himself and looked away. “At my school, we don’t have ‘recess’ or whatever, but we’re allowed to go outside when it’s a holiday.”

Oh, so he wanted to know if his life at the hospital would resemble his regular life. Kirishima understood that. It’s especislly hard when little things like traditions are changed, too. He remembered that when he was new he would cry because the eating utensils were usually plastic instead of silver, silver being what he was used to. To be fair, he was pretty young.

“If you walk down this hallway,” Kirishima continued with the tour, “you’ll be able to get back to your room. You know, where we came from? And three doors down from your room on the right is my room! You can visit me if you need anything, or if you just want to talk. I don’t get a lot of visitors.”

“Gee, I can’t inagine why,” Bakugou commented sarcastically, at which Kirishima rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on, no one here gets visitors,” Kirishima continued. “I mean, when a kid is new, their parents come a lot, like every day. But after a while, they just…stop coming. Not that they don’t care about their kid anymore, but ‘cause it’s easier for them to forget about the fact that their kid is sick, y’know? I mean, I get it, but I’d like to see my parents sometimes.”

Kirishima looked down at the floor. Bakugou stood their uncomfortably, not knowing what to say or do. “Oh, sorry for being such a downer,” Kirishima laughed awkwardly. “But that’s pretty much it. Hospital staff are always around, so you can call for someone if you need something. But try to be nice to them, they work really hard to take care of us. And thus concludes the tour! How was it?”

Bakugou was taken aback. “What, you’re asking me how the ‘tour’ was? Stupid, obviously. I could’ve just asked a doctor everything you just told me. I’m going back to my room now.”

Kirishima sighed, but it’s not like he could stop him. If Bakugou needed some alone time, he understood. It was hard adjusting, after all. And he did seem to be a pretty moody guy already.

“Hey, Kirishima!” a voice called before Bakugou could make his way back to his room. “Is this the new kid? Bakugou, right? I’m Mina! Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be great friends!”

Bakugou scoffed at the girl. “Shut up already. All you people talk about is how it’s going to be ‘so great’ here and how I’m going to be ‘such great friends’ with everyone. Have you ever considered that maybe I don’t want to be in this fucking place and I’m just going to wait it out until I’m allowed to leave? ‘Cause that’s what I’m gonna do. See ya, dipshits.”

And with that, Bakugou walked away to his room, even with the portable IV weighing him down. Kirishima sighed and turned to Mina. “Sorry about that, he’s just having a hard time—“

“I get it,” Mina said understandingly. “He’s a bit of a spitfire, huh? Well, once he comes around, let me know! I’d like to get to know him more.”

“Yeah, will do,” Kirishima said as Mina walked away. Now left alone, Kirishima sighed. Bakugou was a really tough one. It seemed like there was more to it than just “having a hard time adjusting” as Kirishima had labeled it before. It seemed more like the boy was in denial, like he refused to believe that this was his reality.

And with that, Kirishima knocked on Bakugou’s door.

“Bakugou? Before I forget, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

Chapter Text

“Bakugou? Before I forget, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

Kirishima heard some shuffling from inside the room Bakugou had just shut himself inside of. The door opened, revealing a displeased Bakugou.

It’s not like he could have locked the door anyway, since, in the event of an emergency, the doctors needed to enter the patients’ rooms. But Kirishima decided that he wouldn’t open Bakugou’s door unless he was invited in. It’s only polite, after all.

“What do you want now, shitty hair?” Bakugou sighed with droopy eyes.

“Are you tired?” Kirishima asked. “I can leave you alone if you want to sle—“

“You said you had something to ask me,” Bakugou interrupted. “Now, are you going to ask me or not? Well? Out with it.”

Kirishima smiled to himself. In ‘Bakugou speak’ he was probably trying to say that he was curious what Kirishima wanted.

“There are still a lot of things you don’t know about this place yet, and that’s okay,” Kirishima said. “But I did want to let you know that there’s one super important thing about this place that you’d probably like to know. Now, regardless of whether you’re actually sick or not and regardless of how long you might be here, each patient gets one wish.”

Kirishima was obviously trying to play into Bakugou’s game of “I’m not really sick, I’m fine and I’m leaving soon,” but that still got Bakugou’s attention.

“You probably already know that this is the number one children’s hospital in the world, right?” Bakugou just nodded, rolling his eyes at the question. “Well one thing that’s special about this place is that every patient here gets one wish.

“Now, it’s not magical, or anything. They’re usually just trips the kids want to go on and they’re paid for by the hospital and other organizations. So obviously you can’t wish to get better, or never die, or any other impossibility. But they try as hard as possible to make your wish come true. So I just wanted to know, what do you think you’ll wish for?”

Bakugou didn’t say anything, but Kirishima knew that was a good thing. It meant he was thinking about it, which was a start. “You said I don’t have to be sick to get the wish? I just come here once and I get whatever I want?”

Kirishima nodded, although it wasn’t entirely true. He was letting Bakugou be in denial, because he didn’t want to be the one to tell him that this hospital would probably be his final destination. “You just have to be admitted here. That’s all. So what’s your wish?”

“I dunno,” Bakugou said honestly, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s too early for me to decide. I’ll think about it, though. I’ll make it the best wish anyone has ever made.”

So he’s competitive, Kirishima thought. That must be the way he works, then. “Well, I would’ve made mine even better than that, if I hadn’t already used it,” Kirishima said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“On what?” Bakugou asked, wanting to know what this guy could have used his wish on already. It must have been either really important or really stupid for him to have used it already.

“Not telling!” Kirishima replied with a toothy grin and a laugh.

Bakugou was pissed. “Really?! You’re going to bother me and tell me all this stupid shit and ask me all these useless questions and you’re not even gonna tell me what you wished for?! Stupid shitty hair!”

Kirishima just continued to smile as the door was slammed in his face.

He couldn’t tell Bakugou what he wished for. Not yet, at least. It would ruin the mood that he’d already worked so hard to lighten. He didn’t want to be a downer.

By the time Kirishima got back to his room, it was already dark outside. Man, he really lost track of time, huh? Well, time does fly when you’re having fun.

“Hey, Doctor Aizawa!” Kirishima waved at the tired-looking man. “Bakugou’s a pretty cool kid, once you get to know him. He’s pretty competitive, too. I think we’ll be great friends!”

“That’s nice,” Aizawa said with no emotion in his voice, sorting through files. He did mean what he said, though. He just didn’t express things very well.

Kirishima shut the door to his room and let out a sigh. It was nice meeting new people, especially those he thought he might get along with well.

Even though Bakugou was rough around the edges, he was a cool guy and someone who would definitely be able to entertain Kirishima. This was going to be great!

And with that, Kirishima fell asleep.

~

“Morning, Kaminari!” Kirishima called out to his friend, who was already sitting in the cafeteria for breakfast. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah,” Kaminari responded, a smile on his face. “So how was Bakugou? He has such an explosive personality, you know? Like, he yells so much, but he seems kinda fun, actually.”

Kirishima nodded. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. He’s still adamant that he’s not sick, and I don’t know if he really believes that or if he’s just trying to convince himself. I mean, I was upset when I first got here, but it wasn’t that bad, you know. I don’t remember being in denial like that.”

“Yeah, well maybe he’s really upset about having to lose everything,” Kaminari replied, trying to offer some idea as to why Bakugou was acting so strangely. “It’s not exactly easy being told that you might not get to have a normal life again.”

Kirishima nodded. He knew that feeling all too well. He had so many goals and aspirations that he would probably never achieve because of some stupid illness that prevented him from doing so. It was frustrating, of course, and very hard to deal with.

“I want to know more about him,” Kirishima said with determination. “I know he seems really angry all the time and he’s pretty rude, but he’s interesting. There’s something about him that’s intriguing, you know?”

“Dude, you sound like a serial killer,” Kaminari joked. “‘Mmm, my next victim is quite intriguing. I can’t wait to…get to know them more, mwahahaha.’”

Kirishima playfully slapped Kaminari’s arm. “Ah, stop, you know it’s not like that. I think I’ll talk to him some more after lunch. Maybe I can even convince him to join us for game night. What do you think?”

Kaminari shrugged. “Sure, dude, it’s up to you,” he said, taking another sip of water. “It would be fun to have another person to play with. It’s fun with just us, but it’s always the same thing over and over. The same people playing Uno until we either get too frustrated to continue or Aizawa makes us stop.”

“I’ll ask him what he likes to play,” Kirishima said, taking one last sip of his orange juice before getting up from his seat. “Maybe we’ll have a new member of our game night crew. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Kirishima walked over to Bakugou’s room and knocked on the door. “Bakugou? It’s game night tonight and I was wondering if you’d like to join us? Winner gets to pick the movie for movie night!”

There was a moment of silence, and then shuffling. Kirishima almost thought that no one was in the room. The door opened, revealing a less-tired-looking Bakugou.

“Hey, you look a lot better!” Kirishima noted. “Did you sleep well?”

“I guess,” Bakugou said lazily. “Hey, why’s your face all blotchy?”

“Oh, that?” Kirishima laughed awkwardly. Usually no one commented about his appearance, or anyone else’s for that matter. Everyone had their own problems. But it would make sense why Bakugou would ask, since he hadn’t seen a lot of the kids there yet.

“It’s just some blood vessels,” Kirishima responded. “They don’t do anything, they’re just kinda there. It’s a side-effect of scleroderma. The doctors just need to lazer them off and I’m good. It’s been a few months since they did it, so it makes sense that they’d come back.”

Bakugou’s eyes widened. “Wait, a few months? You’ve been here for months?”

Kirishima laughed awkwardly. “Years, actually. I’ve been here for years. Did I tell you that? I think I told you that. I’m the patient who’s been here the longest! It’s a badge I wear with pride!” Again with the toothy smile.

It wasn’t looking good for Bakugou. “The doctors told me they need to run more tests to see how bad my heart is,” Bakugou said. “How long do you think that’ll take?”

Kirishima thought for a moment. “They’re usually pretty quick about things. I think they just want to figure out if you’re stable or if you need immediate treatment. Just some blood tests and, in your case, probably an ECG test to see if it’s gotten any better or worse.”

Kirishima noticed that Bakugou’s face had paled slightly. “A blood test?” Bakugou asked, looking a bit…nervous?

“Yeah, they have to do a blood test,” Kirishima said, noting Bakugou’s unease. “I hate to break it to you, but you’ll be having a lot of those while you’re here.”

Bakugou only seemed to grow more angry, not more fearful. “You know what? I’ll join game night. I’ll show the doctors the best damn game they’ve ever seen and I’ll prove that I don’t need any goddamn blood tests!”

“That logic doesn’t really make sense, but I like the enthusiasm!” Kirishima cheered. “I’ll let the others know that you’ll be joining. We’re playing Uno tonight! It’s everyone’s favorite.”

Kirishima started to walk away, but abruptly stopped and turned back around to face Bakugou once more. “Oh, and by the way, I’ve never lost at Uno.”

Bakugou raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Is that a challenge? You’re on, shitty hair!”

“Movie night’s tomorrow, and the game night winner always gets to pick the movie,” Kirishima explained, retaining his challenging demeanor. “You shouldn’t bother thinking about what movie to see, because I’ll be picking anyway. Hope you like the Breakfast Club!”

“I’ll never lose to someone with shitty hair like you!”

“Again, that doesn’t make sense, but I like the enthusiasm!”

Chapter Text

Kirishima knocked on Bakugou’s door as soon as he noticed it was 6pm. Much to Kirishima’s surprise, Bakugou opened the door immediately, an unamused expression on his face (as per usual).

“What, is it time for game night already?” Bakugou asked with a sigh. “I guess I did agree to go.”

Kirishima smiled and took Bakugou’s hand, practically dragging him along to a small area that everyone deemed the “media room.”

“You’re gonna see it in a second,” Kirishima explained to Bakugou, who was growing tired of Kirishima’s “explanations.” “It’s a room that the staff didn’t really know what to do with, so they asked us what we thought it should be used for. We pretty much all agreed that it should be a room for us to hang out in or relax if we need to. So it’s a multi-purpose recreational room now. Cool, right?”

“Yeah, amazing,” Bakugou replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“And we’re here!”

The room was small, but large enough for several people to fit in at a time. It had a TV as well as several board games which were stacked neatly in a pile in the corner of the room.

Most importantly, there were already many other kids his age there, all ranging only from 14 to 15, with excited looks in their eyes. Bakugou looked around and groaned internally. Great, now he’d have to “introduce” himself and “talk” to people.

One boy with bright blonde hair got up from his seat and greeted Bakugou. “Hey, Bakugou, right? The new kid? Nice to meet you, I’m Kaminari Denki. I’ve heard so much about you from Kirishima here that I feel like I already know y—“

Kaminari cut himself off when Kirishima, now with a bright red face, was frantically signaling for him to stop talking.

“Well, nice to meet you, Bakugou,” Kaminari continued. “You’ll come to like it here, eventually. We’re kinda like a family, in a way. Anyway, who’s ready for Uno?”

The others cheered excitedly as Kaminari took out the deck of cards.

“We don’t usually have this many people for game night,” a girl with short brown hair explained, “so sorry if it’s a little crowded tonight. Everyone was just excited to meet you, and this is the best time to do it. I’m Uraraka, by the way. I hope we’ll get along.”

Bakugou mumbled a “yeah” and continued waiting for his deck of cards to be dealt.

“It’s time for ultimate Uno, battle of about 20 people,” Kaminari said with an announcer’s affect. “Bakugou will go first and we’ll keep going to our left. Sound good?”

A few nods, with one groan from Bakugou. The card in the center was a blue four. Bakugou had a wild card as well as a draw four, but he didn’t want to go all out just yet. He placed a green four and now it was Kirishima’s turn.

“Playing it safe, huh?” Kirishima teased. “I thought you wanted to beat me. I won’t go easy on you, you know. Here, I’ll give you a second chance.” Kirishima put down a green rotation card, and now it was Bakugou’s turn again.

“Really?” Bakugou scoffed. “You just said you weren’t going to go easy on me. Whatever, have it your way.” Bakugou put down his draw four card and switched the color to blue. “Draw four, shitty hair.”

Kirishima just laughed. “Now that’s more like it. I’ll get you back soon, blasty.”

“Blastly?” Bakugou asked, raising an eyebrow. “What kinda nickname is that?”

“The doctors like to say you have an ‘explosive personality.’ So I’m calling you blasty. Clever, right? I know, I’m a genius.”

Kirishima played his card, and the game continued with no major events for a while. That is, until Bakugou was hit with a draw four from Kaminari.

Bakugou felt like screaming, which was exactly what he did. “Really?! I have two cards left and you hit me with a draw four?!”

Kaminari only chuckled in response. “Hey, you know the rules, dude. Thought I’d level the playing field since you and Kirishima are so far ahead of everyone else. Jeez, did you guys go to the same ‘professional Uno-playing’ school or something?”

“Nah, but that sounds fun!” Kirishima laughed. “Man, it’s been so long I can’t even remember what school was like for me. Hey, Bakugou, what kind of school did you go to?”

“Who cares? It’s all in the past now,” was all Bakugou said as he placed his next card on the deck.

Kirishima took the lack of a proper answer as a hint to stop pushing the subject. “True,” was all he responded with.

Kirishima was barely focused enough to notice that he only had two cards left, one of which was a draw four that he had been saving since the game began.

“Sorry, Mina,” Kirishima said as he placed the draw four on the deck. “Uno! And make it…red.”

Kirishima noticed the fire in Bakugou’s eyes now. “Well, sorry Bakugou-kun, but it looks like you’re not going to beat me after all. I told you I’ve never lost a game of Uno befo—“

“Is Bakugou Katsuki here?” a doctor asked, opening the door, a clipboard in hand. “It’s time for his blood work.”

Kirishima noticed the way Bakugou’s face placed at her words. He laughed, trying to reassure the blonde boy. “Well, looks like Uno’s going to have to be cut short. Can’t be helped, though.”

He noticed the way Bakugou’s hands were shaking as he stood up to walk with the nurse to get his blood drawn.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Kirishima said, already thinking of a plan. “I’m pretty sure Doctor Aizawa wanted me to get my blood drawn after Bakugou. He said it was something about…trying to manage the leukocytosis? I don’t know. Is it okay if I go with Bakugou, then?”

The doctor thought for a moment. “I don’t remember Doctor Aizawa mentioning anything about you having blood work done today, but…all right. After Bakugou’s done with his, I’ll check up on that.”

Kirishima nodded and followed along. He held Bakugou’s hand on the way there, looking into his wide eyes and giving him a reassuring smile and nod.

“All right, Bakugou-kun,” the doctor said in a somewhat peppy voice, motioning for Bakugou to sit in a chair, which he did. “Today we’re just going to take a small blood sample and see if there’s anything else we need to be concerned about. It says here that you’ve been diagnosed with Long QT syndrome, correct?”

“Apparently,” Bakugou responded.

“Then there might be some slight differences in your red blood cells, but your results should be fine overall.”

Kirishima noticed Bakugou gulp as the doctor took out the needle and started cleaning it. He placed his hand in Bakugou’s, allowing the boy to squeeze it if he was feeling too stressed.

“Now, I’ll need to draw from your hand, since we’ll be able to draw more blood faster,” the doctor explained, wrapping a band around Bakugou’s upper arm. “It’ll hurt just a little bit more, but it’ll be over as soon as it started. Now, count backwards from theee for me.”

Bakugou didn’t do as he was told. Rather, he simply closed his eyes and took in a shuddering breath as the doctor poked the needle into the vein on his hand.

He was squeezing Kirishima’s hand so hard that Kirishima thought he felt something crack, but it didn’t matter because it was keeping Bakugou calm.

Just like the doctor said, it was over as soon as it started, the vial already being filled with Bakugou’s blood.

The doctor smiled as Bakugou opened his eyes, placing a bandage on the bleeding area after cleaning it with a cotton swab.

“Great job, Bakugou-kun,” she said with a smile, “I’ll send this to the lab right away. The doctors should tell you your results tomorrow morning. Okay?”

Bakugou just nodded, already being led out of the room by Kirishima.

The doctor may have noticed how stressed Bakugou was about having his blood drawn, but they failed to notice Bakugou’s pale face and the thin sheen of sweat making his hair stick to his face.

“Hey, Bakugou, are you all right?” Kirishima asked.

Just as Bakugou was about to respond, his eyes rolled back in his head as he fell to the floor.

Kirishima gasped. What just happened? Was he going to be okay? His heart was racing in his chest as he called for any doctor who could help his friend.

There were many doctors, nurses, and staff members at the scene almost immediately, but Kirishima couldn’t hear anything that was happening.

His ears were ringing and he wanted to throw up. He could only barely make out Doctor Aizawa telling him to go back to his room to get some rest, and that they would take care of everything.

Kirishima barely remembered walking back to his room and laying down on his bed to try to process everything that had just happened.

He didn’t even notice the immense pain in his hand until the next morning.

Chapter Text

When Kirishima woke up, the first thing he thought was: “Is Bakugou okay?”

The second thing he thought was: “What’s wrong with my hand?”

It felt like dozens of needles were stabbing at his hand. It looked slightly swollen and even a bit purple. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for Kirishima’s hands to hurt or have discoloration, but he knew this was different.

‘Oh, it must be because of when I let Bakugou squeeze my hand when he was getting his blood drawn,’ Kirishima thought to himself.

But no use thinking about that. Right now, the only thing on his mind was finding out what happened to Bakugou, and whether he was okay or not.

Kirishima left his room to find a doctor and ask about Bakugou, making sure to hide his hand while he did so.

If the doctors saw how swollen it was, they would want to fix it first, and then he wouldn’t be able to see how Bakugou was doing.

So he just had to make sure that no doctor saw his hand until after he found out about Bakugou.

“Doctor Aizawa!” Kirishima called as soon as he saw the doctor’s long black hair. “Do you know what happened to Bakugou? Is he okay? Was it something with his heart? Oh god, is he okay?!”

“Kirishima, calm down,” Aizawa said in the most soothing voice he could muster (which wasn’t very soothing, but it did snap Kirishima out of it). “Bakugou’s okay. He’s resting for now, but you can visit him when he wakes up. Kirishima, you know I can’t tell you what happened. It’s against our protocol to discuss other patients’ medical history—“

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Kirishima interrupted, “you’ve told me that, like, million times. You’ve never followed that protocol before, so why do you care now? I have the right to know what happened to him. He’s my friend!”

“I suppose you do already know about Bakugou’s condition,” Aizawa said, deciding whether to tell Kirishima the details or not. “You…do know about it, right?”

Kirishima nodded. “A little. I don’t think Bakugou knows a lot about it, himself, actually. He tells me some stuff, but it’s always like he’s reciting words from a textbook that he doesn’t understand.”

“You’re right,” Aizawa said. “He doesn’t fully understand what his condition is and what it means for him. The reason why Bakugou fainted the other day was because his heart can’t handle a lot of stress.”

Kirishima gasped. “So that’s what…”

“Yes,” Aizawa said, “that’s what happened. The blood test must have been very stressful for him, to the point where his heart couldn’t take it and his body shut down. With Bakugou’s condition, he isn’t able to tolerate a lot of stress. Try to keep that in mind.”

Kirishima nodded, frowning. He wished he had known that before the blood test. Maybe he could’ve been able to prevent it if he had known that about Bakugou’s condition before. He should pay more attention to how Bakugou is feeling from now on.

“Hey, Aizawa, thanks for telling me these things,” Kirishima said. “I also have one more question. When I first visited Bakugou in his room, he told me that he was admitted because he had a seizure. Can you tell me…anything about that?”

Aizawa sighed, knowing that Kirishima wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Yes, Bakugou was admitted because he had a seizure during a basketball game. It’s, unfortunately, very common for those with Bakugou’s condition to experience seizures from exertion and stress. Once we ran some tests, we discovered Bakugou’s condition. Then he was moved to this ward.”

“I never knew…” Kirishima said. He didn’t know a lot of things. He never knew the circumstances under which Bakugou was admitted to the hospital. He didn’t know a lot about his condition. He didn’t even know that Bakugou played basketball.

“Thanks, Aizawa,” Kirishima said again. “Really, thank you. I’ll try to help Bakugou out more, now that I know these things. See you later!”

With that, Kirishima headed back to his room, since he slept past breakfast and missed lunch to talk to Aizawa.

But he wasn’t that hungry anyway. His hand hurt too much for him to notice the rumbling of his stomach.

~

When Recovery Girl entered Kirishima’s room, it was later in the evening.

“Hello, Kirishima-kun,” Recovery Girl said with a smile as she opened the door.

Kirishima made it a point to try to hide his hand. He didn’t want her to notice it and risk being able to visit Bakugou when he awoke.

“I have some good news for you. Your friend Bakugou is awake, and he’s perfectly stable. No need to worry. He needs to rest for the rest of the night, but you may visit him if you’d like.”

Kirishima’s eyes lit up. “Really?! Great, I’ll be there right away!”

Recovery Girl smiled as she watched Kirishima sprint enthusiastically out of his room.

She knew those two had a strong connection.

~

“Bakugou, I’m here!” Kirishima said, panting as he opened the door to his friend’s room.

Bakugou looked him over, raising a brow. “What happened to you? You look like shit.”

“Aww, usually you say it’s just my hair that looks like shit,” Kirishima said jokingly. “Anyways, I was worried, so I came to check on you. It was really scary how you just…fell to the ground like a rag doll.”

“…Dude, morbid much?”

Kirishima laughed. “Yeah, sorry. It was just really scary, though. I didn’t know what happened and no one told me anything until a few hours ago, and…man, I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

Kirishima walked over to Bakugou and gave him a big hug, which Bakugou didn’t oppose, much to Kirishima’s surprise.

“You can hug me just this once, but don’t be getting all soft on me,” Bakugou said, even though he was obviously much happier since Kirishima visited.

“Oh, I would never,” Kirishima said sarcastically with a smile.

The mood changed suddenly when Bakugou noticed Kirishima’s hand.

“What the hell is that?”

“Nothing!” Kirishima said, hiding his hand behind his back in a split second.

“Show me your damn hand,” Bakugou demanded.

Kirishima just shook his head.

If Bakugou found out, then he would worry and tell the doctors, which would mean that his hand would have to be examined which would mean that he would get to spend less time with Bakugou.

“Kirishima, show me your damn hand or I’ll break it off.”

“You kinda already did,” Kirishima muttered.

Bakugou was stunned. “I…what?”

It all came back to him at that moment. While he was getting his blood drawn, he remembered Kirishima letting him squeeze his hand to calm himself down. He musr have squeezed way too hard…

“Shit, Kirishima, please let me see you’re hand.”

Kirishima squeezed his eyes shut, the pain of his hand increasing. “You’ll just report it to the doctors.”

“I’ll do that whether you show me your hand or not,” Bakugou stayed firmly. “You’re obviously in a lot of pain. Heck, you’re sweating buckets right now! Just…let me see, okay?”

Kirishima mumbled a small “fine” and revealed his swollen hand to Bakugou.

Bakugou cursed under his breath, gently taking Kirishima’s hand in his own. “Does it hurt if I touch it?”

“It hurts even if you don’t touch it,” Kirishima said, to which Bakugou groaned.

“Kirishima, why haven't you told a doctor yet?!”

“Because I wanted to check on you first,” Kirishima said, taking his hand out of Bakugou’s grasp. “I didn’t want to risk not being around to visit you when you woke up. And the doctors might get mad at you for hurting my hand, even though it’s not your fault. I know I’m being selfish, but—”

“Kirishima, you’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met!” Bakugou interrupted, looking angry now. “How could you possibly be selfish by making everything about me? You’ve completely neglected your wellbeing by trying to be there for me.”

“I guess, but—“

“I’m not done! Kirishima, you’ve been putting me first ever since I came here. Sure, it’s nice to be cared about, not that I’d know what that’s like, but you need to put yourself first, shitty hair! Or else you’ll just keep hurting yourself and everyone who cares about you!”

It was silent, and Bakugou could swear he saw tears start to pool in Kirishima’s eyes. “Shit, Kirishima, I’m sor—“

“You’re right,” Kirishima said with a sniff, holding his injured hand. “But I can’t put myself first. I care about you too much to just…abandon you when I need something. So just…take care of yourself first, and then we can worry about me. Okay?”

Bakugou didn’t want to agree, but he also didn’t want to get into another argument with Kirishima right now and risk ruining their friendship.

“…Okay,” Bakugou said against his better judgement. “But you’d better go tell the doctors about your hand or else—“

“I know,” Kirishima said. “I’ll go do that now. I’m…I’m glad you’re okay.”

And with that, Kirishima left the room to go find a doctor, according to Bakugou’s orders.

“Doctor Aizawa, I think my hand is broken,” he said once he found the doctor, now allowing himself to acknowledge just how much his hand hurt.

Aizawa started walking him to an emergency room right away. “How much does it hurt on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst?”

“Like a seven?” Kirishima said, but it sounded like more of a question. “It only got worse recently, though. It wasn’t hurting as much yesterday.”

“Yesterday?!” Aizawa exclaimed. “Kirishima, your hand has been broken since yesterday?”

Kirishima nodded. “I-I think so,” he said shakily, feeling tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I’m sorry,” Kirishima said with a sob, finally allowing the tears to fall. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to worry. I should have said something sooner. I’m sorry!”

Kirishima kept repeating these statements, though they started to sound more like whimpers than words.

Aizawa felt sorry for the boy. He was obviously feeling a lot of emotions and needed to let them all out. Aizawa patted Kirishima’s back as he directed him to the emergency room.

When they got to the room, Aizawa sat Kirishima down in a chair while he explained the situation to the other doctors.

By the time he got back, Kirishima was already asleep, seeming to have tired himself out.

Aizawa sat with the boy while the X-ray machine was getting set up. The doctors decided that, based on the look of his hand and the symptoms, Kirishima’s hand was probably broken. They just needed to know where it was broken and how bad it was.

As Aizawa sat there, waiting with Kirishima, the boy started mumbling something.

“I didn’t want Bakugou to worry…” It was said very quietly and the words were slurred together, but Aizawa understood.

He didn’t know if Kirishima was dreaming, or if he meant to tell Aizawa, but either way, Aizawa responded with, “Yeah, I know. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to worry, either.”

Chapter Text

“There you are, Kirishima-kun!” the young doctor announced, securing the cast on the boy’s hand. “You’re all done! Your hand should be feeling better very soon, now that we’ve treated it properly. Remember to tell us if there’s anything wrong, okay?”

Kirishima nodded, but he didn’t intend to keep that promise. After all, his broken hand didn’t hurt any more than his scleroderma did when it was acting up. How could he know for sure if there was actually something wrong? What if it was just him overreacting? He didn’t want to worry the doctors for no reason.

Doctor Aizawa had already left at that point, so Kirishima assumed he was free to be out and about now. And, like usual, the first thing he wanted to do was check up on Bakugou.

He didn’t know why, but something about that stubborn blonde boy really intrigued him.

“Bakugou, guess what?” Kirishima asked, standing right outside Bakugou’s bedroom, not even bothering to knock on the door. “The doctors finally fixed my hand! Well, they basically just put a cast on it and gave me some pain meds, but it feels a lot better now!”

When there was no response from Bakugou, Kirishima wasn’t exactly surprised. He had a feeling that, after the fight they had the other day (Kirishima wasn’t sure if it could even be called a “fight”), Bakugou wouldn’t be in the mood for friendly conversation.

“Hey, Bakugou, I know you’re probably upset about the other day,” Kirishima continued, looking at the ground. “You’re probably mad about me not taking care of myself like I should. And I get it. That makes sense. We all like to look out for each other here, and I guess I haven’t been looking after myself like I should. I’ve been worrying about others too much and I haven’t been thinking about myself at all.”

Kirishima paused and continued. “You’re the first person to ever call me out on that. I don’t know what that means. That you’re confrontational? Or aggressive? Or have others actually confronted me about it before, but I’ve never listened? You’re really making me think, Bakugou. You’re a weird one, that’s for sure.”

Kirishima left after that, saying all he needed to say even when he never got a response in return.

Bakugou heard everything, though. And he didn’t know what to think.

~

“Okay, guys, I know that no one technically won game night the other night, but I think it’s fair to declare me the winner anyway.”

“Kirishima, you can’t just declare yourself the winner! No one even officially won the game! And you know it’s important to have a winner. They’re supposed to choose the movie for tonight!”

“Kaminari, he did come very close to winning, and Bakugou isn’t here, so I think it’s okay to just declare him the winner. It’s not like anyone’s ever beaten him at Uno anyway…”

“Yeah, but I wanted to see something other than Breakfast Club for once! It’s the only movie he ever picks!”

“Hey, it’s a good movie, okay? You know you like it, Kaminari!”

“Fine, fine, the movie isn’t that bad. I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. It’s just that Bakugou didn’t even come tonight, so it’s not really fair for you to just declare yourself the winner without giving him a fair shot. The game was pretty much between the two of you, right?”

“Fine, Kaminari, have it your way. There’s no winner so there’s no movie. Everyone, go back to your rooms! There’s no movie! Blame Kaminari!”

“Okay, I get it! Just put on the movie already, would you?”

The movie started playing, and Kirishima and all of his friends (minus one) sat together, eyes glued to the screen.

It was nice, but it somehow felt…empty. Even though Kirishima always loved spending time with the others like this, he just felt like it wasn’t as fun if Bakugou wasn’t there.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Kirishima announced with a whisper, “I’ll be right back.”

Kaminari nodded, barely paying attention to anything other than the bright light of the TV screen.

Sure, he lied to everyone that he was just going to the bathroom. But it would be worth it when Bakugou agreed to see the movie with everyone else. Maybe the blonde boy would start coming to game night and movie night once he saw how fun it was!

“Bakugou?” Kirishima asked, knocking on his friend’s door. “Can I come in? We’re watching a movie and I’m not going to leave until you agree to watch it with us.”

The door slowly opened and Kirishima invited himself inside. “Whoa, Bakugou, you have a TV in your room?!” Kirishima practically yelled.

The dark room was glowing with the bright light of the TV screen, something that looked like sports playing without audio.

“Yeah,” Bakugou said, sitting back down on his bed, continuing to watch the recording. “My mom visited while you were off getting your damn hand fixed. She begged the doctors to let me have this little TV. She didn’t want me to get lazy now that I’m stuck here.”

“Huh?” Kirishima asked, tilting his head in confusion. “What do you mean?” In all of his years of being a patient at this hospital, Kirishima had never heard of someone getting their own TV all to themself. It was kind of a surprise, so say the least.

“I mean my stupid mother doesn’t want my basketball skills to go away while I’m in this hellhole,” Bakugou explained vaguely.

The use of the word “hellhole” made Kirishima a little sad; he never saw the hospital as a bad thing. A sad thing, sure, but he was able to make a lot of friends and it wasn’t a completely terrible experience. But then again, Kirishima barely knew anything else.

“I didn’t know you played basketball,” Kirishima said, sitting down on the bed next to Bakugou. “They play it on TV in the cafeteria sometimes. It looks like fun. Were you any good?”

Bakugou gave a haughty laugh. “‘Good?’ I was amazing, shitty hair. Wait, why am I talking in past tense? I AM amazing. I’ll show my teammates that my skills didn’t go away when I get out of here.”

Kirishima laughed softly. “You say that like it’s a prison.”

“Because it is?” Bakugou said, raising an eyebrow. “You’re stuck here against your will. You’re watched by staff members almost 24/7. It sucks. You miss your old life. How is this not a prison?”

“Agree to disagree,” was all Kirishima said in response. He didn’t feel like arguing right now. “But back to the basketball thing. Was it fun? Is that what you want to be when you grow up? A basketball player?”

“You say that like I’m a little kid who wants to be an astronaut.”

Kirishima laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. But is that your dream? Is basketball your passion?”

Bakugou only nodded. There was a beat of silence, then he spoke again. “I just got accepted to a high school that was known for its basketball team. I was just starting my second month there, then all of this happened. One of the doctors probably told you already. About the seizure.”

Kirishima nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that.”

“Everyone’s telling me that I won’t be able to play anymore,” Bakugou continued. “I just can’t accept that. Basketball is…the only thing I’ve ever known. I know it sounds stupid. If you laugh at me, I’ll rip your face off.”

“Do you see me laughing?” Kirishima asked simply. Bakugou looked at his face for a second, as if to check to see if he really was laughing or not. Then he continued.

“My teammates kinda suck. No one cares about each other. I don’t care about them either. Our coach runs us into the ground. I get that he wants us to be the best, but damn, we’re just high schoolers playing some sport. My mom thinks like my coach, too.

“She makes me practice all the time when I get home. Does she not realize that I’ve already been practicing for hours at school? She thinks I like this, so I guess it’s not her fault. Even now, this TV is only so I can rewatch my plays and take notes on them.”

Kirishima turned his attention back to the small screen. It was a small boxy TV, but a TV nonetheless. Kirishima was a little jealous, despite the circumstances. “Is that you?” he asked, pointing to a tall blonde boy.

“Yep,” Bakugou responded, no emotion evident on his face. “I’m not usually this crappy in a game. But…this is the one where I had the seizure. It’s weird. I only remember being on the court one minute, then in the emergency room the next. I don’t remember anything in between.”

“Is it hard to watch?” Kirishima asked. “Do you want to turn it off?”

“Shut up, shitty hair,” Bakugou responded, though there wasn’t any real malice in his voice. “…I’ve rewatched this video five times now. I don’t know why. I guess I’m trying to find out what exactly happened. There’s this one part where you can see my eyes roll back in my head, and then I collapse. I…don’t want to see anything after that, though.”

Kirishima understood. It must have been pretty scary. Hell, it was scary for Kirishima to have seen Bakugou pass out after getting his blood drawn. He couldn’t imagine seeing that on repeat.

“I think you should stop watching it,” Kirishima said, which caught Bakugou’s attention. “I…don’t think it’s healthy for you to see something so disturbing like that. I know your mom wants you to review your plays, but it doesn’t have to be from this game. I just…don’t think it’s good for you, that’s all.”

Bakugou nodded, oddly complicit with Kirishima’s advice. “I think you’re right. It makes me sick, seeing my own damn eyes roll back in my head like that…it looks like I was possessed or something.”

The two were silent for awhile, the video being changed to one of Bakugou’s older games. Bakugou spoke again after a while. “The doctors are telling me that I’ll never be able to play again. It’s frustrating. But I guess you won’t understand, since you’ve been here your entire goddamn life.”

“I do understand,” Kirishima said, placing a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder with a smile. “When I was little, I admired this guitar player called Crimson Riot. Man, he was the coolest guy ever! I wanted to be just like him! I even decided that my stage name would be Red Riot. Cool, right?

“Well, if you haven’t already noticed, I can’t really move my fingers. I mean, it’s not like I’m paralyzed, obviously, but they’re just really stiff. And so is pretty much everything else about my body. I used to tell people that I was turning into a mannequin, because that’s what it felt like.

“As you can probably imagine, I can’t play the guitar if I can’t move my fingers. I used to be really good, too, for how young I was. When I finally got to perform on stage for the first time, my fingers just…wouldn’t move.”

Kirishima laughed softly, then continued. “It was really embarrassing. I just…stood there, because there wasn’t anything else I could do. It’s not like my whole body turned stiff, but my hands just couldn’t move. And that’s how I ended up here. Tada!”

Kirishima made an exaggerated gesture with his hands, sarcastically acting like it was a celebration of some sort. “We all have different stories about how we ended up here. But we all have dreams. Sure, our dreams might never come true now, but that’s why they’re called dreams in the first place. Maybe they just…weren’t meant to be.”

Bakugou remained silent this whole time, an unreadable expression on his face. “Think about it,” Kirishima finished, patting Bakugou’s back with his unbroken hand. “Well, I should get going now. You already know about the movie night thing. Join us if you want. It would be nice to have you around. See ya!”

Kirishima returned to the media room after that, leaving Bakugou alone to think about things.

Chapter Text

Bakugou never did go out to the media room to watch the movie with the others, but Kirishima was fine with that. He had said everything he needed to say already, after all. But he would definitely force Bakugou to come to movie night next time. It was surprisingly boring, despite how much he always enjoyed watching the Breakfast Club.

It had been over two months since Bakugou was admitted to the hospital, and Kirishima was…content. Everything was how it should be, with no major changes or complications anymore. Everything was fine. And normal. And, honestly, as perfect as Kirishima’s life has ever been.

How was it that one blonde boy could change Kirishima’s life so much in such a short amount of time? Even Kaminari, Kirishima’s closest friend before Bakugou arrives never made him feel so…okay for once.

“Okay” was an amazing feeling for Kirishima. He hardly ever felt okay, but that was what he always told everyone when asked “how are you?” Kirishima could barely remember what “okay” felt like.

Every day, Kirishima woke up to an immense amount of pain. That pain would simmer down to a dull ache once Kirishima pushes it to the back of his mind, but it was always there, even after taking his medication.

When he was first admitted to the U.A. Children’s Hospital, Kirishima would jokingly say that he was becoming a human mannequin. After all, he could barely move his limbs because of how stiff they were, his skin felt rock-solid, and even his internal organs were hardening.

It sounds like a horror story. And Kirishima would agree that it is.

Kirishima knew that the doctors had no idea why his scleroderma was so malignant and why it never went away. Scleroderma was actually relatively common, but the doctors had never seen or heard of such an intense case before.

Kirishima would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid. He was afraid of dying every single day, since scleroderma could be fatal. He knew his particular case definitely put him at a higher risk. It was scary, and the fear never really went away, like the pain. It was always there, in the back of his mind.

Maybe that was why Bakugou was so refreshing. Because Bakugou seemed like, even if his case wasn’t life-threatening (which it was, but it never really seemed like it), he would just punch death in the face if he ever tried to take the blonde boy away.

It was refreshing to see someone so assertive and with such an explosive personality. Kirishima thought the nickname “blasty” really suited him.

Two months after Bakugou’s arrival, the two fell into a routine of sorts. Every day, Bakugou and Kirishima would sit at a table with Kaminari, Mina, and Sero.

Sero only recently joined what they now called the “bakusquad,” but he and Kirishima really clicked, so he joined the group in to time. He called himself “cellophane” because of the medical tape around his elbows. Kirishima didn’t know what it was for, actually. He never asked.

But that was their routine. Every day, the group would eat at the same table and joke around, having a good time. Bakugou made it a point to come to game night and movie night once Kirishima begged him so much.

“You’re goin’ down, Sero!” Kirishima announced, holding up what was most likely a draw-4 card.

“No, please, I have a wife and three kids!” Sero jokingly begged.

“What did I say? I never lose at Uno.”

“Yeah, it’s no joke,” Kaminari chimes in. “Kirishima, you know we’re only playing Uno tonight because none of us have a movie we want to see. We’re basically sacrificng ourselves to you and hoping you’ll be merciful and let us see a movie that isn’t the Breakfast Club.”

“Hey, it just might be,” Kirishima said, placing down his draw-4 card, pretty much eliminating Sero from the game. “Bakugou never got to see it last time, remember?”

“I’m sure it’s some dumb chick flick,” Bakugou grumbled. “You seem like the kind of guy who’d watch something dumb like a chick flick.”

“It’s not a chick flick, it’s an everyone flick,” Kirishima protested. “It’s a classic movie about a group of strangers bonding over their shared experience! Just like us! That’s why I like it so much.”

“Really?” Kaminari asked, dumbfounded. “You never told me that.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason,” Kirishima said, continuing the game by placing down his next card. “It reminds me of our situation. And it’s the closest to the high school experience that I’ll probably every get.”

“Mind if I join?” an unfamiliar voice asked, prompting everyone playing the game to look up at the source.

It was a boy with a large scar on his face, covering his left eye. “Todoroki!” Kirishima said, apparently recognizing the boy. “I thought you didn’t like game night.”

“I don’t,” Todoroki said, sitting down at the table. “But my dad visited today and I need a distraction.”

Kirishima nodded understandingly, glancing at Bakugou with a look that said “I’ll tell you later.”

“What’s that on your face?” Bakugou asked abruptly, apparently having no sense of subtlety.

Kirishima practically groaned at his insensitivity, but Todoroki answered anyway, seemingly unbothered. “A scar.”

“How’d you get it?”

“No comment.”

“No comment? Sounds kinda sketchy if you ask me.”

“Bakugou, not everyone wants to talk about their situation,” Kirishima interjected with as level a voice as he could muster. “Just leave it, okay?”

“Sure, but I’m just trying to figure out what he’s hiding,” Bakugou said anyway, despite Kirishima's advice.

“You sound like an idiot,” Todoroki countered.

“You’re the idiot, idiot!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, everyone,” Kaminari said, trying to placate the two. “Let’s keep things chill, okay? No one’s an idiot and no one’s “hiding” anything, okay? Can we just get back to the game?”

“I’m leaving,” Bakugou said, getting up and storming off, to which Kirishima sighed.

“Sorry,” Kirishima said, “I’ll go get him. We’ll finish later, okay?”

“That’s what you always say,” Kaminari mumbled under his breath. Kirishima heard it, though, and he would be lying if he said it didn’t hurt.

When Kirishima finally caught up with Bakugou, the boy was already opening the door to his room, but stopped when Kirishima called out: “Wait!”

“Who the hell does that guy think he is, barging in and ruining our damn game?!” Bakugou fumed. “Now we have to start all over and it’s all his fault!”

“Actually, it’s kind of your fault,” Kirishima said, trying his best to sound as gentle as possible. “All Todoroki wanted was a distraction from his problems, just like the rest of us. Why do you think we have game night in the first place? Just calm down, Bakugou. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you what he’s ‘hiding.’”

Bakugou and Kirishima entered the former’s room, sitting down on the bed. Kirishima let out a long sigh. “Will we ever be able to get through a single game night with you? I’m just kidding. But not really.”

Bakugou just rolled his eyes, starting to calm down from his moment of rage. “You see, Todoroki’s kind of a special case,” Kirishima started, to which Bakugou replied: “Of course he is.”

“Let me finish. You asked how he got his scar. I’ll spare the details, but…his family situation isn’t the best. Especially his father. He doesn’t really like talking about it, which is why I was trying to get you to back off the subject. Listen to me next time, okay?

“Todoroki’s dad visited today, which is never a good thing. Whenever he comes, it’s like the whole vibe of the hospital changes. He’s kind of a powerful person, so the hospital really tries to cater to his wishes, which isn’t always a good thing. It’s actually never a good thing. He wanted to see his son today, which is…strange. I’ll have to ask Todoroki later what he wanted.”

Kirishima sighed before continuing. “Anyway, Todoroki’s dad is kind of bad news and everyone knows it. He’s actually the reason why Todoroki’s in the hospital in the first place. Again, I’m not going to get into it. Just…trust me on this, okay? I’d trust you if you asked me to.”

Bakugou scoffed. “That’s ‘cause you’re really gullible. You’re too nice, you know? You gotta grow thicker skin. Oh…”

Bakugou and Kirishima looked at each other before Kirishima burst out laughing. “Oh my god, that’s hilarious!” Kirishima exclaimed, still laughing. “‘Cause I have thick skin? Literally? Get it? Blasty, you’re hilarious!”

Once Kirishima stopped laughing, he wiped the mirth out of his eyes, chuckling a little before speaking again. “Sorry, you’re just really funny, you know? I don’t even think you know it, which makes it even funnier. You’re a weirdo, Bakugou.”

“Thanks?” Bakugou questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Is that even a compliment? Whatever.” He rolled his eyes, continuing what he was trying to say. “I’ll try to be nicer to that Todoroki guy ‘cause his dad’s an asshole. There, happy?”

Kirishima nodded with a smile. “Very. See, you’re a good person, Bakugou. Now, if I ever see the two of you fighting—“

“What are you, my mom?” Bakugou asked sarcastically. “I get the point, shitty hair, now shut up.”

Kirishima stood up and ruffled Bakugou’s hair. “There’s the Blasty I know! Maybe you’ll even be friends with Todoroki! Maybe you’ll be best friends! Maybe you’ll even be boyf—“

“KIRISHIMA, IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE—“

Kirishima quickly left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Outside Bakugou’s bedroom, Kirishima leaned on the door, gasping for breath.

Man, I’m not usually this out of breath, he thought to himself. Maybe it’s because I was laughing so hard and moving around more than usual.

Kirishima walked back to his room on shaky legs, his tongue feeling thick, vision clouded with black dots.

He made it back to his room and immediately collapsed down onto his bed, barely remembering to close the door behind himself.

Kirishima’s vision returned back to normal once he was lying still for a few minutes, making sure he was breathing steadily.

He sat up, ready to go join the other again. That was a mistake he realized moments too late as he felt his stomach flip inside of him, prompting him to rush to the bathroom.

Kirishima barely made it to the toilet before his stomach emptied itself if its contents.

After laying on the bathroom floor for nearly ten minutes, waiting for his stomach to settle, Kirishima laid back down in bed.

Maybe he wouldn’t be joining everyone again after all.

Chapter Text

“Kirishima-kun, you’re not allowed to leave your room today,” Recovery Girl said as she brought in Kirishima’s breakfast on a tray. “Doctor Aizawa’s orders. Try to get some rest today, okay?”

Kirishima groaned, partially because of his headache and partially because he was looking forward to finally getting to spend some quality time with his friends at the cafeteria. But, as Kirishima knows, things don’t always work out the way he wants them to.

“Can you at least tell my friends why I’m not there?” Kirishima requested of Recovery Girl with pleading eyes. “I don’t want them worrying about me.”

Recovery Girl sighed. She could never say no to Kirishima when he made his puppy-dog eyes. “All right, Kirishima-kun. But you have to promise to take your medicine and eat all of your breakfast, okay?”

Kirishima nodded, though he wasn’t entirely sure that he would be able to stomach all of his breakfast.

“Your friends are still allowed to visit you if they’d like, but you have to remember to wear the mask when they’re in the room with you. We wouldn’t want it spreading to them, now would we?”

Kirishima shook his head, complying with Recovery Girl’s orders, though both of them knew that he had no intentions of disobeying them.

Recovery Girl flashed Kirishima a bright smile and left the room, closing the door behind her.

‘Looks like it’ll be another day spent all by myself,’ Kirishima though to himself. ‘I hate days like these.’

Just then, he heard a knock on his door. That was fast. Did Recovery Girl forget something in the room? Kirishima walked over to his door and opened it, revealing the signature bright smile of Kaminari.

“Hey, Kirishima!” Kaminari greeted, giving his friend a smile and a wave. “Recovery Girl said you were feeling sick. Are you all right?”

Kirishima smiled and nodded, motioning for Kaminari to come into his room as he put his face mask on. “It’s nothing, really. I must have just caught a bug from somewhere, but I don’t know how that’s possible. I’m never in contact with anyone other than you guys, and you’re not sick.”

Kaminari shrugged. “Hey, people get sick sometimes. We of all people should know that,” he joked. “How long do you think you’re gonna be out of commission for? Another day? A week? A month?! A YEAR?!”

“Kaminari, calm down,” Kirishima laughed, though they both knew that Kaminari was just joking around. “Probably a week at the most, if it’s just some bug, which the doctors said it probably is. But my body is pretty good at attacking things even when it doesn’t need to, so it could be sooner than that. Was there anything I missed at breakfast this morning?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, remember how Bakugou and Todoroki were fighting like cats and dogs the last time we saw them? Yeah, well now they’re, like, best buds. I don’t know what happened to them practically overnight, but you should probably ask Bakugou about it when you get the chance. Let me in on the gossip, okay?”

Kirishima nodded, looking a little confused. “Wow, I didn’t expect them to get along that well. Well, I’m glad that Bakugou is making a friend. I think it’s good for him to meet new people. I think he needs to socialize more.”

Kaminari snorted in laughter. “Kirishima, you sound like his mom! ‘Bakugou-kun, go out and socialize with your little friends!’” he mocked, laughing uproariously afterwards.

Kirishima’s face turned pink, and he was glad his mask almost covered his cheeks. “I am not like his mom! It’s just that Bakugou obviously isn’t exactly a social butterfly, so I’m glad that he’s getting along with the rest of us. He told me that he never really had a lot of friends before coming here.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Kaminari said sarcastically.

Kirishima shot him a look, prompting Kaminari to roll his eyes in response. “Anyway,” the latter said, changing the subject, “speaking of moms, aren’t your parents supposed to be visiting soon? When are they coming?”

“Oh, that,” Kirishima said, his eyes suddenly downcast. “They said that they were too busy preparing for the holidays to come. So they cancelled. Again.”

Kaminari rubbed his friend’s shoulder comfortingly. “Man, I’m sorry. You’d think that if your kid is sick, you’d want to visit them more, right? And now you’re double-sick! That’s twice the reason to visit!”

“Yeah, but it can’t be helped,” Kirishima said, despite feeling the same way. “But I should be glad that I have parents who still want to visit. At least I don’t have parents like Todoroki’s dad.”

“Hey, you’re allowed to feel badly about your parents not coming, you know,” Kaminari protested. “They should be coming to check up on you! I know I would want to if I were a parent. Yours hardly ever come anymore!”

“I know,” Kirishima said with a sigh. “But I don’t blame them. Not really. I can imagine how hard it is for them having to see their kid withering away. That would be kind of a bummer to kick off the holiday season.”

“You’re not withering away, Kirishima,” Kaminari protested, his eyes widening a bit. “The doctors said it’s looking good for you! Remember? They said you should be seeing major improvements soon.”

“They say that every time I have a check-up,” Kirishima said. “The doctors and I are in uncharted territory here. None of them have seen a case like mine before. They don’t know what to expect. So they always say that I should be ‘seeing improvements’ soon. That just means they can’t think of any way that it can get worse.”

Kirishima turned back to face Kaminari, who was now looking downcast himself. “I’m sorry, Kaminari,” Kirishima said. “I didn’t mean to be such a downer. I’m feeling okay, though. Thanks for checking up on me. I appreciate it. Tell Bakugou I said hi, okay?”

Kaminari gave Kirishima a pat on the back before standing up. “It’s fine. I can tell you needed to let that out. Hey, there’s still food on your plate. Kirishima, I see that bowl of oatmeal. Finish it, okay?”

Kaminari left after tha, finally leaving Kirishima alone with his thoughts.

~

A while later, at dinner time, Kirishima heard another knock on his door. Ignoring the aches and pains he felt whenever he took another step, Kirishima opened the door, which revealed the displeased face of Bakugou.

“Hey, Bakugou! What’s up?”

Bakugou only mumbled something incoherent and sat down on Kirishima’s bed, the latter following after him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling sick?”

Kirishima blinked in confusion. “Huh? Oh, I wasn’t feeling sick until late last night. That’s why. Why do you ask?”

Bakugou didn’t say something until a few moments of silence passed. “That Todoroki guy and I are getting along, like you wanted. He’s not as bad as I thought. He actually likes basketball, too. Not as much as I do, obviously, but still.”

“That’s nice,” Kirishima said. “I’m glad you guys are getting along well. Yeah, Todoroki is kind of a lone wolf most of the time. He talks to all of us, but there’s no ‘group’ he really hangs out with a lot. So I’m glad you guys are friends.”

Bakugou nodded, a long moment of silence following after.

“Kaminari told me your parents aren’t coming.”

Again, Kirishima was taken by surprise. “What? Oh, yeah. They cancelled. Said they had too much work to do to get ready for the holidays. It’s okay, though. I understand. They’re busy people.”

“Yeah, but that’s kind of shitty,” Bakugou said. “You gotta admit that’s kind of shitty. You’re sick, they only get to visit you a few times a year, and they cancelled? They didn’t even reschedule? How shitty is that?!”

“Bakugou, I know,” Kirishima said, voice shaking ever so slightly. “I know it’s shitty. I know it’s not the right thing for them to do. But I’m trying to understand where they’re coming from. They have reasons, you know.”

“Excuses,” Bakugou chimed in.

“Yeah, I guess they’re more of excuses than they are ‘reasons.’ I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but…but it just hurts so much sometimes! Bakugou, I miss them! I haven’t seen my parents in forever! I don’t even remember what my mom’s singing voice sounds like anymore. She used to sing me to sleep, did you know that? When I was first admitted, they would come every day, and my mom would always sing me to sleep before they left. But they don’t even come anymore! Bakugou, I miss them! It hurts so much! I just want to see my parents again…it hurts so much!”

Kirishima was sobbing openly now. Bakugou didn’t know what to say to comfort him. So he didn’t say anything. He just pulled the redhead boy’s face into his chest and held him there, letting him cry into his chest until he felt better.

Kirishima was still wailing, sobbing incoherent things into Bakugou’s chest as the latter patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. “It’s okay,” Bakugou would said occasionally. “It’s okay.”

After a while of this, Kirishima seemed to tire himself out, his sobbing decreasing to mere hiccups and whimpers. Bakugou’s face remained neutral the whole time, but he felt sympathy for his friend, even though he might never admit it.

Kirishima eventually removed himself from Bakugou’s chest, rubbing his eyes free of the tears and taking an deep breath to compose himself.

“I’m sorry,” Kirishima said after a while. “It’s probsbly the fever that’s making me so emotional. I’m sorry for putting all of this on you. I just…needed to get that off my chest, I think. Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Bakugou scolded lightly. “You need to stop doing that. Some things you just can’t control, okay? It’s not your fault or anything. Geez, you really need to stop apaologizing so much.”

Kirishima laughed at that, sniffling a little. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a bit while Kirishima tried to regain his composure. “I’m glad you came to visit me,” Kirishima said after a while. “I didn’t think you would. But I appreciate it. You’re really nice, Bakugou. I know you don’t think so, but you are. You may seem all tough and mean, but you’re a huge softie.”

Bakugou grumbled something incoherent and stood up, sensing the conversation coming to a close. “Go to bed, shitty hair. I can already see your eyelids drooping.”

“Well, I guess I did tire myself out quite a bit,” Kirishima noted, tucking himself into bed. “Thanks again, Bakugou. You’re a great friend.”

Bakugou turned away, facing the door. “Get better soon,” he muttered quickly before closing the door behind him.

Kirishima smiled before falling into a comfortable, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

“Man, it feels like so long since I’ve eaten with you guys!”

It was the first day that Kirishima had been allowed to leave his room since he had gotten sick. It had been a full week, the doctors checked to make sure he really was feeling all right and that he wasn’t just faking it, and he was given permission to be out and about again.

“A week is such a long time, if you think about it!” Kirishima continued, more energized now after having been cooped up in his room for a week. “So much can happen in a week! Speaking of a lot happening, has anything happened since I’ve been gone? Anything interesting?”

“Now that you mention it,” Kaminari started, “Bakugou and Todoroki have gotten pretty close. I’m really surprised, actually. I thought they would be fighting like cats and dogs! Well, they still are, but in a friendly way. I never expected those two to hit it off.”

Kaminari pointed and Kirishima and continued. “See, I can understand why you and Bakugou are such good friends. You balance each other out, you know? You’re really nice, he’s not, you’re really understanding, he’s not. You know? But Bakugou and Todoroki are both very…prickly. It’s weird.”

Kirishima nodded, brows furrowed. “Yeah, it is weird. I thought I told Bakugou that I would be eating in the cafeteria today. I guess he forgot or something. But he’s sitting over there with Todoroki, isn’t he?”

Kaminari looked over his shoulder and noticed the two sitting at one of the few cafeteria tables, talking amongst themselves. “Oh, yeah, he is. Interesting. I thought he’d be super excited to eat with you again. Maybe he just forgot.”

Kirishima thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe he did forget. I’ll just ask him about it later, and invite him to eat with us again tomorrow.”

Kaminari chuckled, making a face. “Good luck with that. Those two are pretty much inseparable now. I doubt you’ll ever get the chance to talk with Bakugou alone at this rate. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got married tomorrow,” he laughed.

“Yeah…” Kirishima said, looking down at his food. He shook his head, looking back up at Kaminari with a forced smile. “Anyway, what else did I miss?”

~

A few hours later, dinner had ended and the patients were free to wander around until it was time for bed. Kirishima, like usual, headed straight for Bakugou’s room.

He knocked on the white door with a smile plastered to his face. Finally, he would get to spend some quality time with his friend again! They really needed to catch up. So much can happen in a week!

Bakugou opened the door and immediately raised one eyebrow. “Kirishima? Oh, right, you’re allowed to be out of your room now and stuff.”

Kirishima’s smile faltered at that comment and he gave a weak laugh. “You don’t sound as happy about that as I thought you would…”

Bakugou shrugged, face remaining the same. “I was just expecting Todoroki, is all.”

Kirishima furrowed his brows. “Oh…I didn’t know that. I just…thought you might have wanted to hang out, and, you know, catch up and stuff. It’s been a week, after all.”

Bakugou was about to say something when Todoroki appeared out of nowhere, making Kirishima jump when he spoke.

“Bakugou?” Todoroki asked with no readable emotion in his voice. “Am I interrupting something?”

Bakugou shook his head, opening the door more so that Todoroki could enter. “Kirishima? Do you mind?”

That was what really cut him deep.

Kirishima was hurt by the lack of acknowledgement by the person he thought was one of his best friends. So many emotions and thoughts were swimming in Kirishima’s head.

It took all of the strength he could muster to tell Bakugou: “No. no, I don’t mind,” before walking off aimlessly, lost in his thoughts.

Kirishima was lucky that none of the doctors noticed his mood. He wouldn’t know what to say if one of them approached him, asking if he was all right.

What could he say? “I’m fine. It’s just that the person I thought was my best friend is acting like I don’t even exist.”

Kirishima wanted to talk. He wanted to say what he was feeling. So he knew what he should probably do.

~

Kaminari heard a knock on his bedroom door. That’s weird, he thought. I don’t usually get visitors this late at night. Is it one of the doctors?

He opened the door, revealing a teary-eyed Kirishima. Kaminari gasped, immediately pulling his friend in for a hug. “Kirishima, are you okay? What’s wrong? Is it your scleroderma? Has it gotten worse? Here, come sit down.”

The two sat on the bed, sitting in silence for a while before Kaminari spoke again, giving Kirishima a chance to calm down before they discussed anything.

“Kirishima, I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything, okay? Whatever you want to say, you should say it, especially if you think it’ll make you feel better.”

“I think I like Bakugou.”

There was a beat of silence. Then, Kaminari spoke again. “Wait…what?”

He heard Kirishima breathe a lengthy sigh. “I think I like Bakugou. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I…Kaminari, please, promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

Kaminari took Kirishima’s hands in his and gave him a reassuring smile. “Of course I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret, okay? Your secret’s safe with me. I promise. Now, you were saying…?”

Kirishima shook his head, feeling reassured by Kaminari’s words. “I think I like Bakugou. I’ve…I think I’ve known this for a while now. But I wasn’t sure about it. Until now, that is.”

“What happened?” Kaminari urged.

“So, you know how Bakugou and Todoroki have been getting very close lately?” Kirishima asked, to which Kaminari nodded. “Well, I’m happy for them. I really am, and I’m not just saying that. I was really happy that Bakugou managed to make another friend that he’s really close to. But…they’re getting really close, Kaminari.”

Kirishima took a breath and spoke again. “I don’t want to sound like I’m being jealous or overprotective or selfish. It’s just that…a few minutes ago, I went to Bakugou’s room to see if he wanted to hang out, you know? But when he answered the door, he just acted like I was some stranger to him. He didn’t even remember that I was being released today.

“And he was about to say something else, but Todoroki came out of nowhere! Bakugou welcomes him in, and basically told me to go away! I just…I thought we were friends, you know? I don’t expect him to reciprocate my feelings, of course. Hell, I don’t even know if he likes guys, too! But…I thought we were at least friends. He just acted as if he didn’t even know me…”

Kaminari pulled his friend in for a long hug when he finished his monologue. “It’s okay,” Kaminari said comfortingly, patting his back. “That must have been really tough. But it’ll be okay. I’m glad that you’re telling me all of these things. You tend to bottle things up until you explode, you know. I’m glad you’re telling me how you feel.”

Kirishima nodded. “I’m not burdening you too much, am I?”

Kaminari scoffed, playfully smacking Kirishima on the arm. “Hey, stop that. Of course you’re not burdening me. Like I said, I’m glad you’re telling me these things. But now, we need to talk.”

“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Do you know why Bakugou’s been spending so much time with Todoroki recently?”

Kirishima shook his head.

“Me neither,” Kaminari said. “But whatever it is, I’m sure Bakugou has a good reason for it. You two are close, you know. I don’t think Bakugou would just abandon you after a week of not seeing you. He’s a prickly little firecracker, but he’s not an asshole. Besides, he knows Mina and I will beat him up if he ever hurts you.”

Kirishima laughed at that, and Kaminari continued. “I think Bakugou has a reason for why he’s doing what he’s doing, and the way he’s acting. He’ll probably tell you. I don’t speak ‘Bakugou’ like you do, but I think he’s just waiting for the right time to tell you, or maybe he doesn’t know how to tell you. Maybe it’s just something he wants to deal with on his own. But I don’t know why Todoroki’s involved. Oh, I know! You should ask Todoroki! That guy’s pretty transparent most of the time, right?”

Kirishima nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. And I think you’re on to something here. If we ask Todoroki what’s been going on with him and Bakugou, he’ll probably tell us. And if he doesn’t tell us, then we’ll know that it’s something more personal, right? So problem solved! Man, Kaminari, you’re a real lifesaver sometimes. I think you’re the brain of our friend group.”

“Me? The brain? That’s hilarious!” Kaminari laughed. “The last day that I was in school, I got a 20 on a test. I sure went out with a bang!”

The two laughed for a minute and then quieted down, sitting together in a comfortable silence.

“So. Bakugou, huh?” Kaminari asked.

“What does that mean?” Kirishima asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, you know. Why him? Why not, say, Mina, or me, or Todoroki, or someone? Why Bakugou?”

Kirishima smiled softly to himself. “He’s seriously amazing. He has such a fiery personality that you don’t get to see often in a place like this. I feel like people lose their edge here, you know? But Bakugou’s the same firecracker that he was on day one. He’s also soft sometimes. I’ve seen him be soft before. He’s a really nice person. I just think he’s embarrassed about being nice. He’s talented, too, but I’m probably not allowed to say why. And, he’s…not bad-looking…”

“I’m sorry, what was that last thing you said?”

“He’s not, you know, bad-looking…”

“HE’S WHAT?” Kaminari repeated, louder this time.

“HE’S HOT, OKAY? HE’S HOT!”

“Yeah, that’s the answer I was looking for!” Kaminari teased, Kirishima’s face turning as red as his hair. “Aww, you’re so cute when you’re flustered!”

“Shut up, Kaminari!”

“Kiri’s got a crush~ Kiri’s got a crush~”

Kirishima just groaned, smiling to himself, thankful for having such a supportive friend. Where would he be without Kaminari?

Chapter Text

Kirishima woke up in his room.

His room? Wait, didn’t he fall asleep in Kaminari’s room? Kirishima could only vaguely remember falling asleep the night before. But he definitely, clearly, vividly, remembered telling Kaminari about his crush on Bakugou.

Kirishima felt his face heat up. He said way too much, didn’t he? He should have just kept his mouth shut. He should have just kept his feelings a secret for longer. After all, it’s not like Bakugou would ever feel the same way, right?

Bakugou was smart, attractive, talented, and so much more. He was basically as perfect as perfect could get, in Kirishima’s eyes. Minus the temper tantrums and mouth of a sailor. There was no way this almost-perfect human being could possibly like Kirishima back. There was just no way.

Besides, if anything, he liked Todoroki more now. After all, he was spending every second with him nowadays. It was like the two were connected at the hip; they wouldn’t go anywhere without each other.

Kirishima would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous. Because he was. Very jealous. It was like he was being replaced with Todoroki. And for what? Being sick for a week? What did Todoroki have that he didn’t?

Now that he thought about it, Todoroki had a lot that Kirishima didn’t. He had looks, smarts, charisma, that mysterious factor that everyone loved so much, and he was even healthier than Kirishima. Physically speaking, at least.

“Morning, sleepyhead!” a voice called from outside Kirishima’s bedroom door. “Mind if I come in?”

“Sure,” Kirishima said with a groan, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. But he could make an exception for Kaminari. And Bakugou, but Bakugou never visited him anymore.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Kaminari asked. “You look like a kicked puppy.”

Kirishima sighed. “I haven’t even been awake for five minutes and I already want to cry.”

“Bakugou stuff again?” Kaminari asked knowingly. “That guy’s been on your mind all the time lately. I guess you really are head-over-heels for him, huh? So, what’s up? Is he ignoring you still?”

Kirishima nodded sadly, and flopped back down on the bed with a groan. “Last night, we talked about why Bakugou might be spending so much time with Todoroki. I think I’m ready to ask him today. I just…I don’t think I’ll be able to feel better about things until I find out what’s really going on. And I’ll ask both of them, to see if one of them is lying to me. I need to know the truth, you know?”

“Wow, you sound like a detective,” Kaminari joked. “Maybe that can be your job when you get out of here.”

“If I get out of here,” Kirishima corrected. “‘We’re not seeing any improvements yet, but it hasn’t gotten worse, either,’” Kirishima mocked. “That’s what the doctors say. I guess they’re righ, though.”

There was a moment of silence, then Kirishima spoke up again. “You know, he can just tell me if he doesn’t like me anymore. As a friend, I mean. He doesn’t have to just ignore me like that, and pretend I don’t exist. What does he think will happen, anyway? Does he really think I’ll just forget that we’re friends, and move on? No! Why? Because I’m a good friend and I care about him and I genuinely want to know what’s up.”

Kaminari clapped jokingly. “Bravo. Bravo, Kirishima. Go out there and get ‘em, okay? I’d start with Todoroki. He seems like he wouldn’t keep too many things hidden from you, especially if it’s about Bakugou. You should try asking him first.”

Kirishima nodded, and stood up. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. I deserve to know what’s up. Hopefully, Todoroki’s willing to tell me. Thanks, Kaminari. Coming to the rescue once again.”

“It’s what I do best,” Kaminari said with a laugh before Kirishima walked out of the room, ready to confront Todoroki.

~

Well, he didn’t really plan to “confront” Todoroki. He just wanted to ask him a few questions. Like a detective, or a private investigator. Yeah, today he was going to play the role of Sherlock Holmes and put an end to the mystery.

It was easy to spot Todoroki and Bakugou sitting together in the cafeteria. After all, they were the only pair sitting together.

“Hey, Todoroki!” Kirishima greeted with his signature flashy smile. “Got a minute? I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure,” Todoroki said, expression unreadable like usual. “What’s up?”

“Oh, I meant, like, in private,” Kirishima clarified, making awkward eye contact with Bakugou, who immediately averted his eyes. Weird, Kirishima thought.

“Oh. Okay.” Todoroki got up and followed Kirishima to an empty hall, minus the doctors passing by every few minutes.

“What did you want to ask me?” Todoroki questioned.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m accusing you of anything, because I’m not, but I just wanted to know. Why are you and Bakugou spending so much time together lately?”

Todoroki motioned for Kirishima to continue, which he did. “Bakugou and I used to be together all the time. But around the time I got sick, he started ignoring me. He doesn’t even talk to me anymore now. And…he never even told me why. So I’m asking you, Todoroki, to help me understand.”

Todoroki was silent for a moment, then he explained. “I’m sorry, Kirishima. I can’t tell you why. It wouldn’t be right of me. There’s something he hasn’t told you yet. He’s waiting for the right time to tell you. So, please, be patient. I promise that he’s not trying to hurt you. He cares about you a lot. And he doesn’t want to hurt you by telling you. So please, Kirishima, trust me. Maybe you can try talking to Bakugou yourself. I’m sure he’d listen.”

That wasn’t the answer Kirishima was hoping for, but it was still an answer. And for that, Kirishima was grateful.

“Thank you, Todoroki,” Kirishima said, trying his best to maintain his smile. “You told me all that you could, so thank you. I’ll try talking to Bakugou later.”

Kirishima have Todoroki a hug, which he wasn’t expecting. Todoroki’s eyes widened in surprise for a second, before the surprise faded away and he patted Kirishima’s back.

Kirishima pulled away from the hug, walking back to his room. “Kirishima, one last thing,” Todoroki called, stopping the boy in his tracks. “You’re really special to him.”

That brought a smile to his face. Kirishima nodded, heading back to his room.

~

“And then he said that I’m special to him. Can you believe that? I don’t know what that means. What does that mean?”

“It means that he’s not blowing you off for no reason, dummy,” Kaminari explained. The two sat on Kirishima’s bed while Kirishima explained the events of his conversation with Todoroki.

“Yeah, I’m glad I know that much, at least,” Kirishima said. “Todoroki said that Bakugou isn’t telling me something. It must be important, right? And it must be the reason why he’s been ignoring me, right? Todoroki said he’s waiting for the right time to tell me, whatever that means.”

“Do I really have to translate everything for you?” Kaminari groaned. “It means he’s figuring out how and when he’ll tell you this ‘important thing.’ But that’s enough detective work for tonight, okay, Kirishima? If you really want to find out now, I’m sure Bakugou’s in his room or something. It’s pretty late.”

“You’re right!” Kirishima exclaimed. “He should be in his room now! It’s late, so Todoroki's probably in his own room! Now I’ll be able to get him all to myself!”

“Woah there, Sherlock,” Kaminari laughed, “you’re starting to sound like a super villain. Good detective work today, though. Maybe it’ll all be revealed by the morning.”

Kirishima saluted Kaminari jokingly. “Good work today, Watson!” he said before running away to Bakugou’s room.

“They were detectives, not soldiers!” Kaminari yelled.

~

Kirishima panted, trying to catch his breath. Maybe he got a little too excited. After composing himself, physically and mentally, he mustered up the courage to knock on Bakugou’s door.

“Who is it?” Bakugou’s irritated voice questioned.

“It’s me.”

There was silence, then the door opened. Bakugou looked unamused as Kirishima’s smiling face greeted him. Bakugou moved out of the way so Kirishima could enter the room.

“Why are you here?” Bakugou asked.

“Why did you let me in if you didn’t want me here?” Kirishima retorted.

Bakugou didn’t have a response to that.

“I’m here because I wanted, no, needed to talk to you,” Kirishima continued. “You’ve been ignoring me for weeks now. Literal weeks, Bakugou. So obviously something’s up. I talked to Todoroki today, and he said that you’re waiting for the right time to tell me something important. Well, by my executive order, that time is now!”

Bakugou didn’t say anything, face remaining cold. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Yes you do,” Kirishima easily refuted. “Todoroki said so. And Todoroki doesn’t lie to people. He’s honest. That’s probably why you’ve been talking to him so much, right? Because you want to get his opinion on things, right?”

“Hey, don’t go making assumptions like that,” Bakugou demanded, glaring at Kirishima.

“Looks like I got it right, then. So can you just tell me, Bakugou? Tell me why you’ve been avoiding me. Tell me why you’ve been ignoring me. Tell me why you’ve thrown our friendship out the window. Tell me, Bakugou!”

“You don’t care.”

“Yes I do!”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I like you!”

Kirishima’s shout was followed by absolute silence, the only sound being the ticking of Bakugou’s clock and Kirishima’s unsteady breathing.

“What was that…?” Bakugou asked, eyes growing wide. “What did you just say?”

“I like you, Bakugou,” Kirishima said, feeling like he could breathe again. “It feels to good to get that off my chest. It’s okay if you don’t like me back. You don’t have to, I don’t expect you do. But you asked me why I care. That’s why. Is that a good enough reason?”

“…I guess it is,” Bakugou said. Kirishima couldn’t read the emotion on Bakugou’s face. “But do you really want to know what’s been going on? Do you really want to know?”

“I do.”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t care.”

“It’s going to hurt you.”

“So what?”

“…You really want to know?”

“I need to know.”

Bakugou took in a deep breath, looking Kirishima in the eyes.

“Bakugou, I need to know,” Kirishima pleaded, desperation in his eyes. “Whatever you tell me can’t hurt more than you ignoring me for weeks; acting like you don’t even know me. That’s what hurts me. Whatever it is you’re going to tell me, I promise I’ll be okay.”

Kirishima took Bakugou’s hands in his, looking Bakugou in the eye, before the latter averted his eyes to the ground.

Bakugou took in a shuddering breath before revealing to Kirishima what he had a hard time even revealing to himself:

“It’s terminal.”

Chapter Text

“It’s terminal,” Bakugou repeated, staring at Kirishima with an unreadable expression before averting his eyes to the ground. “You asked, so…” he trailed off, still not meeting Kirishima’s eyes.

What would Kirishima think? Would he be hurt? Even though he would never admit it out loud, Bakugou never wanted Kirishima to get hurt. That was why he had been keeping this a secret for so long: so that he wouldn’t hurt his friend.

“Bakugou, I…” Bakugou looked up as Kirishima spoke, eyes widening when he saw Kirishima’s tear-filled eyes and trembling lip. “I’m sorry!” he blurted out immediately pulling Bakugou in for a long, tight hug.

It took Bakugou a minute to process the action before he patted Kirishima’s back in a comforting gesture. “Sorry for what?” Bakugou asked, confused. “You didn’t do anything.”

Kirishima whimpered, hugging Bakugou tighter as the tears finally started to fall. “I-I’m sorry that this is happening to you! I’m sorry for you, Bakugou! I’m sorry for not trying to help you! You’ve been dealing with this the whole time while I’ve just been, what, lounging around? I’m sorry, Bakugou!”

”Idiot,” Bakugou grumbled. “It’s not your fault. I was the one who pushed you away. I didn’t want you to get hurt. See? You’re crying. Man, I knew this was a bad idea.”

Kirishima pulled away from the hug, wiped the tears out of his eyes, and flared at Bakugou. “Hey! Stop that! You did not make a mistake by telling me. I’m glad you told me. Now, I can help you get through this. We’ll get through it together, okay? I’m glad you told me. Obviously, it’s not good news. Not even close. But…at least I know what you’ve been going through. Thank you, Bakugou. For trusting me enough for you to let me help you.”

”Yeah, whatever,” Bakugou mumbled. “Just so you know, I was only avoiding you because I didn’t know how to tell you, or even if I should tell you. I was talking to Todoroki about it. He’s the only other person I told. I just needed to tell someone, you know? I figured he’s a good listener. And he’s honest. He didn’t hold back when he told me I was being an idiot for not telling you sooner.”

Kirishima laughed. “Yeah, you were being an idiot. But that’s okay. I don’t blame you. I’m sure it’s a lot to deal with.” The two were silent for a moment, then Kirishima continued. “Hey, about what I said earlier…”

”When you said you like me?”

Kirishima blushed. He didn’t expect Bakugou to be so blunt about it. “Yeah, that. You see, it was a heat-of-the-moment thing. I was just…not thinking straight, and…I…”

”So you didn’t mean it?”

”W-well, no, I wouldn’t say that…” Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I do. I-I do like you. It’s just…I wasn’t expecting to confess like that. I understand if you don’t like me back. I don’t expect you to. B-but I just wanted you to know, I guess.”

The silence was deafening for Kirishima. None of this was going like it was supposed to. Kirishima wasn’t supposed to confess like that; he wasn’t supposed to blurt out his feelings like that. Most importantly, Bakugou’s illness wasn’t supposed to be terminal. He was supposed to get better, and go home, and continue to play basketball, and—

“I do, too.”

Kirishima blinked in surprise, snapping out of his thoughts when Bakugou spoke. “Y-you what?”

Kirishima watched as Bakugou clicked his tongue, averting his eyes from Kirishima’s scrutinizing gaze once more. “Idiot. Don’t make me repeat myself. You heard me, didn’t you?”

The redhead have an awkward smile. “I heard you. I just…wasn’t expecting that. Hey, is it bad that we’re talking about this? Shouldn’t we be focusing on, you know…that?”

Bakugou groaned. “Right, ‘that.’ The fact that I could die at any given moment.” The look of hurt that flashed across Kirishima's face made Bakugou regret his words. “Right, sorry. Too soon, I guess. I’m just…trying to be real about it.”

”Can I be honest with you?” Kirishima asked, eyes downcast. “I’m…I’m scared. I’m scared for you, Bakugou. You see, not to spill my life story to you or anything, but…I’ve been a patient at this hospital longer than anybody else. I’ve been here since I was a kid. You know that. So, because I’ve been here for so long, I’ve also seen a lot of things. Things I didn’t want to see.

“I’ve had a lot of friends over the course of my stay here. But because we are where we are, it’s not really a happy thing. I’ve been hurt a lot. More than you know. I’ve been forced to watch my friends…pass away before. They never won their battles. People say it hurts less over time, but I don’t think that’s true. It hurts just as much as the day they passed away.

”That’s why I’m scared, Bakugou. Because I like you. Because you’re more special to me than anyone. Because, if you happen to take a turn for the worse, I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it. So…I’m scared.”

Bakugou turned away from Kirishima. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you. You’re going to get hurt. I shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve just kept my damn mouth shut and let things be.”

”And then what? What do you think would happen, Bakugou? If something happens, I wouldn’t know why! You would be okay with me just never knowing that? With me not knowing that it’s terminal?”

Bakugou said nothing, which let Kirishima know everything he needed to know. To try to lighten the mood, Kirishima took Bakugou’s hands in his and smiled up at the boy who was still averting his eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” Kirishima said reassuringly.

“And what makes you say that?” Bakugou asked with a humorless laugh. “How do you know that I won’t just die tomorrow? How do you know that it’s going to be okay? You don’t, do you?”

Kirishima just kept smiling. “I do. It’ll be okay, Bakugou. Because we’re under the same sky. As long as we’re under the same sky, everything will be okay.”

Bakugou just scoffed. “What does that even mean, shitty hair?”

”It means that, out of every universe, galaxy, lifetime, plane of existence, we’re in the same one, under the same sky. That’s how I know everything will be okay.”

Bakugou just laughed, shaking his head. “You’re weird, shitty hair. But I guess that’s why I like you.”

~

Kirishima woke up the next day in Bakugou’s bed, wrapped in Bakugou’s arms. He would have screamed, had Bakugou not been asleep still.

How did they even fall asleep? He sort of remembered dozing off, but he never remembered falling asleep next to Bakugou. How embarrassing was that? Maybe he should just leave before Bakugou woke up—

“Kirishima?” a now-awake Bakugou asked, voice rough and gravelly from sleep. “What’re you doing here?”

“I-I guess we fell asleep,” Kirishima explained, averting his eyes. He didn’t know if he could face Bakugou without turning as red as a cherry.

“W-well, I should be going now!” Kirishima stammered, getting up from the bed. “I promised Kaminari that I would eat breakfast with him today, so…”

“Okay,” Bakugou said nonchalantly, rubbing his eyes from the sleep. “You do that.”

Kirishima smiled, giving Bakugou one last look before leaving the room. He’s cute when he’s tired, Kirishima thought to himself.

“Hey, Kaminari!” Kirishima greeted, sitting down at his usual cafeteria table. “How’s it going?”

Kaminari laughed, looking Kirishima up and down. “You sure are in a good mood today. Care to explain? Did you and Bakugou finally make up? No, don’t tell me! You’re getting married tomorrow?!”

Kirishima laughed, embarrassed, and picked at his food. “No, we’re not getting married or anything. But…yeah, Bakugou and I did make up. It wasn’t all good, though. There’s still something Bakugou hasn’t told everyone yet, and I’m not going to be the one to tell his secret. It’s…something he needs to do himself, you know?”

Kaminari nodded. “Yeah, I get if. It must be pretty important if you’re not even telling me. But I get it. It’s not my place to know. I find it interesting that he told you, though. You must be pretty special to him, if you know what I mean.”

Kirishima rolled his eyes, laughing lightly at Kaminari’s statement. “I guess you could say that. A lot happened the other night. If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it a secret?”

“Who am I going to tell? Doctor Aizawa? Yes, of course I’ll keep it a secret. Now, spill!” Kaminari leaned in, allowing for Kirishima to lower his voice to a whisper.

“You see, last night was rough. And I’m really worried about Bakugou, but I can’t tell you about that. There was one good thing that happened, though. You see, I may or may not have accidentally told Bakugou that I like him.”

Kaminari blinked, looking surprised. “You’re kidding.”

Kirishima shook his head, smiling. “And guess what? He said he likes me back! Well, he ‘said’ it in his own Bakugou way. But I know what he meant. Kaminari, do you realize how amazing that is?! Out of everyone in the whole world, he likes me! I didn’t even know if he liked guys or not! But I just went out and said it, and he said it back!”

Kaminari laughed. “Easy there, lover boy. The whole hospital’s gonna hear you at this rate. But I’m happy for you. That is pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“Right?!” Kirishima exclaimed, eyes bright.

Kaminari sighed, however, resting his head on his palm. “I wonder when I’m going to have a love story like yours and Bakugou’s. There are, like, six girls here but none of them are really my type. Man, the second I get out of this place, I’m gonna get a date! Mark my words, Kirishima!”

Kirishima only laughed, patting his friend on the shoulder. “You do that, Kaminari. You do that. I’ll be your matchmaker when I get out of here. How about that?”

“Sounds good! And I’ll be best man at your wedding! And you’ll be best man at my wedding!”

“H-hey, Bakugou and I aren’t even in a relationship yet!” Kirishima protested.

Kaminari snorted. “Emphasis on ‘yet.’”

Kirishima just rolled his eyes. He was lucky to have such a supportive friend.

Chapter Text

Kirishima was rudely awoken by Kaminari barging into his room, opening Kirishima’s bedroom curtains. Kirishima groaned, trying to cover his eyes, but Kaminari pulled his hands away.

“Kirishima, look!” Kaminari practically screamed. “It’s snowing! Can you believe it? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen snow! And it’s Christmas Eve! This must be a Christmas miracle or something!”

Kirishima sighed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and looked at Kaminari with an annoyed expression. “Okay, first of all, don’t barge into my room and wake me up like that. Second, the last time you saw snow was last year. Third, it’s not a ‘miracle,’ it’s just a happy coincidence.”

“Jeez, sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Kaminari laughed.

“More like somebody woke me up by acting like a bull in a China shop. I seriously think you lack any sort of decency.”

Kaminari just shrugged, a smile plastered on his face. “Probably. But that’s why you like me, isn’t it?”

Kirishima just rolled his eyes, a smile forming on his face. “Whatever. Well, now I’m hungry. Ready for breakfast?”

“When am I not?”

The two headed out to the cafeteria for breakfast and sat down at their usual table. They were joined by Bakugou a few seconds after sitting down.

“It’s snowing,” Bakugou said as he took a seat next to Kirishima, Kaminari sitting across from them.

Kirishima rolled his eyes. “Why is everyone so surprised to see that it’s snowing? Especially you, Bakugou. You’ve probably been outside in the snow more than Kaminari and I combined.”

“And what exactly do you have against snow?” Bakugou asked, taking a bite of his toast.

“Let’s see,” Kirishima started. “My fingers turn blue if even the AC is too cold, and snow would probably give me immediate frostbite and I’d die instantly. Buuut snow is pretty. And I like snowball fights. And it gives Christmas the Christmas-y feel. So it’s a double-edged sword, I guess.”

Bakugou shrugged. “I like the snow. If the doctors let us, we should probably go outside later. Actually, I’ll probably go outside whether the doctors let us or not.”

“Bakugou, you may be crude, but you’re not a delinquent,” Kirishima said. “I know you’d listen if the doctors say that we have to stay inside. I bet—“ Kirishima inched closer to Bakugou’s face, “—that you’re the teacher’s pet.”

Bakugou scoffed. “Like I care about school. Nah, teachers hated me. I never really paid attention in class. I got good grades, but I didn’t want to be there. I was more of a coach’s pet.”

“Oh, right, basketball,” Kirishima noted, amused. “Well, that’s close enough. I’m still right.”

“Wait,” Kaminari started, “so you didn’t pay attention in class but you still got good grades?”

Bakugou nodded, seemingly uninterested.

“How is that possible?!” Kaminari exclaimed. “I studied so hard when I was in school and I was still failing! You must be some kind of prodigy!”

Bakugou shrugged. “I guess. If we had less than a C average, though, we couldn’t play sports anymore. Maybe that was why I did so well. Maybe it was, like, a subconscious thing.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, but that’s cool,” Kirishima said. “I didn’t do that well in school, either. But I haven’t been in school for, like, ten years, so maybe I did okay.”

“You haven’t been in school for ten years?” Bakugou asked incredulously.

“Well, yeah. I haven’t been in two places at once. I’m either in this hospital, or at school. I still study, though. It’s not like I’m completely uneducated. I’ve just had to work harder than others, I guess.”

Bakugou nodded. “Maybe I took school for granted,” he mumbled.

“You either love it or hate it, I think,” Kirishima said. “Honestly, I kind of hated it. I didn’t like working and the teachers thought I was too ‘excitable.’ I think the only one here who actually liked school is Iida.”

“Yeah!” Kaminari exclaimed. “He said that school is an important learning experience, or something like that. I dunno. I don’t really understand a lot of the words he uses.”

“Wait, who are we talking about?” Bakugou asked, lost.

“His name’s Iida Tenya,” Kirishima explained. “He’s kind of a stickler for rules, he’s really proper, and I would appoint him as our leader if there was ever a zombie apocalypse.”

“Oh, yeah, I know who you’re talking about,” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “He’s the one who keeps telling me not to swear. He said it’s ‘foul.’ I’ll swear if I wanna fuckin’ swear.”

Kirishima laughed. “Yeah. We know.”

~

After breakfast, Kirishima got word of something exciting. Some of the nurses were going around, letting the patients know that they were allowed to go outside for the day.

Apparently, Doctor Aizawa said it was their early Christmas present. Almost immediately after the word spread, Kaminari and Bakugou were in Kirishima’s room asking (begging) him to go outside with them. Well, it was mainly Kaminari’s idea.

“Come on, Kirishima, please!” Kaminari begged. “We haven’t been outside in ages! And it’s snowing now! So put on your jacket and snow boots, ‘cause we’re about to have some fun!”

Kirishima sighed. “Bakugou, what do you think?” he asked, looking over at Bakugou, who averted his eyes when Kirishima asked the question.

“I dunno,” Bakugou mumbled. “I don’t care whether you come or not.” At that, Kaminari smacked his arm.

Kirishima thought about it for a moment, then spoke. “All right. I’ll come with you guys. But if I feel like my fingers are going to fall off, I’m coming back inside.” Kaminari gave Kirishima a high-five and left the room after.

Bakugou stayed, waiting for Kirishima to put on his jacket(s) and boots. “Two jackets?” Bakugou asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I told you, I get cold easily,” Kirishima explained, putting on two pairs of gloves and a hat. “I’m going to be all warm and bundled up outside while you freeze your ass off because you’re only wearing a jacket and gloves. Hope you like frostbite.”

Bakugou just rolled his eyes, walking out of the room with Kirishima. They walked together to one of the rear doors of the hospital, where Doctor Aizawa was standing, apparently keeping watch on the patients. It was almost nighttime, after all.

“Kirishima,” Aizawa said, “are you sure you’re going to be all right?”

Kirishima nodded. “I’ll be fine. See? I’m all bundled up!” He showed his multiple pairs of gloves to Aizawa, who seemed barely convinced. Aizawa just nodded, and Kirishima and Bakugou ventured outside.

The cold hit Kirishima almost instantly. “Wow, it’s pretty cold outside,” he noted, rubbing his arms.

Bakugou shrugged, continuing his walk with Kirishima by his side. “It’s pretty chilly. You okay?” he asked, turning to face Kirishima, who was shivering fiercely.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Kirishima stuttered out, giving Bakugou a reassuring smile. But Bakugou didn’t feel reassured.

“Your cheeks are purple,” Bakugou noted, growing (as much as he’d love to deny it) a little concerned. “You know, we can go back inside if you want—“

“No!” Kirishima refused. “I want to celebrate. It’s Christmas Eve! I was hoping for a white Christmas, you know. It makes the holidays feel more festive. I’d regret not being able to play in the snow. So I want to stay out for a little longer.”

Kirishima continued his walk, Bakugou catching up with him. Bakugou wrapped his arm around Kirishima's shoulders, trying to keep him warm. “Better?” he asked.

Kirishima nodded, smiling. “Yeah. Thanks.” Suddenly, Kirishima grabbed Bakugou’s face, pressing his forehead against Bakugou’s.

Bakugou blinked in surprise, but didn’t pull away. “You’re so warm,” Kirishima said, smiling with his eyes closed.

The two stayed like that for a while, Kirishima enjoying the heat radiating off of Bakugou. It was a little awkward for the latter, but he liked it nonetheless. He liked being close to Kirishima like this. Because he wouldn’t be able to do so for much longer, a little voice in the back of his head told him.

“Pull me closer,” Kirishima said, snapping Bakugou out of his thoughts.

“What?” Bakugou asked, surprised. “We’re already close, how much closer can we get?”

“I think you know what I mean,” Kirishima said.

Bakugou sighed. He did know what Kirishima meant, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

Bakugou pulled Kirishima in for a kiss, pulling him closer by his waist. Kirishima wrapped his arms around Bakugou’s neck, enjoying the heat from Bakugou’s body and lips.

They pulled away after a while, Kirishima smiling. “Wow,” he said with a laugh. “That was nice. You’re a good kisser, you know.”

Bakugou averted his eyes, looking at the ground, cheeks almost as red as Kirishima’s hair. “Whatever,” he mumbled. “You’re not that bad, either…”

There was a beat of silence, then Kirishima spoke up again. “Okay, it’s way too cold now. Can we head back inside?”

Bakugou nodded. “Sure.”

As the two walked back to the entrance of the hospital, Bakugou let his hand brush against Kirishima’s. Kirishima turned to look at Bakugou, but Bakugou looked away. Smiling, he took the blonde boy’s hand in his.

Kirishima was almost certain that he wouldn’t be able to feel his fingers when he got back to his room, but it was a small price to pay for such an amazing moment like that with Bakugou.

He just wished he wasn’t so cold, so he could have enjoyed it longer.

They walked back to Kirishima’s room, Bakugou standing in the doorway. “Was that a date?” Kirishima asked after a while.

“I guess,” Bakugou said. “It’s the closest we can get to a date if we’re stuck here.”

“Well, it was nice,” Kirishima said. “Thank you for the Christmas present, Bakugou. I’ll treasure it always.”

Bakugou chuckled. “You’d better. It…was my first, after all.”

“Mine too,” Kirishima admitted. “Well, I should probably get some rest now. I’ll see you later, Bakugou.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou said, “see you later.”

Bakugou closed the door, leaving Kirishima alone in his room. Immediately, he took off his jacket(s), hat, boots, and gloves to see how well his body was dealing with the cold.

As expected, he couldn’t feel his fingers or his toes, and his ears and cheeks were a light purple.

But if that was the price he had to pay to have such a wonderful moment with Bakugou, he would pay that price every time.

Chapter Text

“Kirishima, you absolute idiot!”

Kirishima, the boy who was currently being yelled at, had woken up early that morning to greet his friends on the first day of the new year. However, it seemed as though his friends didn’t appreciate his humor as much as he did.

Instead of greeting everyone normally, perhaps making a small comment on it being the first day of the new year, he just had to say the dreaded words: “I haven’t seen you guys since last year!”

Bakugou certainly did not find the joke as humorous as Kirishima had.

“I’ve heard that joke a million times!” Bakugou continued. “And it doesn’t get any funnier! ‘I haven’t seen you since last year!’ Wow, hilarious! The height of comedy! If I have to hear someone say that one more time, I swear I’m going to rip out my damn eardrums!”

“Good morning to you, too,” Kirishima said after Bakugou finished his rant, proceeding to eat his breakfast. “Excuse me for trying to make a joke.”

“Yeah, excuse you,” Bakugou agreed.

“Having a lovers’ quarrel, I see?” Kaminari quipped, raising his eyebrow at the two.

“Shut up, Kaminari,” Bakugou growled.

“Okay, guys!” Kirishima interrupted, trying to steer the conversation in a very different direction. “Like I said, it’s the new year. Do you guys have any new year’s resolutions?”

“Of course not,” Bakugou said. “Just because it’s a ‘new year,’ you’re not going to magically become a better person. It’s a stupid tradition started by a bunch of stupid people.”

“Exciting!” Kirishima said, mocking enthusiasm. “Kaminari, what about you?”

“I wanna try to get better at studying,” Kaminari answered honestly. “I’m not very smart, and it doesn’t help that I’m not in school anymore. So I wanna actually try to push myself this year and do my best!”

“That’s a pretty good resolution,” Kirishima said supportively. “I’m sure that if you really tried, you could be a straight-A student!”

Kaminari laughed. “Okay, I wouldn’t go that far. But I could definitely do better if I tried. Well, Kirishima, what about you? What’s your resolution for this year?”

“I’m going to try to be more selfish,” Kirishima said. “I know, it sounds weird. Any normal person would probably say the opposite. But Bakugou helped me realize that I care about others too much, and I never put myself first. So I’m going to try to be different this year. I’m going to put myself first this year.”

Kaminari clapped, pretending to wipe away a tear. “Profound. But seriously, though, that’s a good resolution. Now come on, Bakugou, let’s pretend for a minute that resolutions aren’t a complete sham. What’s yours?”

“I dunno,” Bakugou said simply. “I just don’t have one.”

“Really?” Kirishima asked. “There’s not a single way you can think of to improve yourself?”

“Well…” Bakugou thought for a moment. “Maybe I can try to get better.”

“At what?” Kirishima asked, puzzled by Bakugou’s simple statement.

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh…”

Bakugou was talking about getting better in the literal sense. In the ‘sick’ sense. In the ‘terminal’ sense.

It was something that Kirishima thought about every day. What if he never got better? What if Bakugou never got better? What if the boy took a turn for the worse? What if…?

“Have the doctors been treating it?” Kaminari asked. Kirishima was surprised. He’d never thought to ask about that. His treatment was mainly physical therapy for his scleroderma. He knew that the treatment for Bakugou’s LQT syndrome would be different, since it affected his heart, so he never thought to ask. Kirishima mentally kicked himself for not asking sooner.

“Yeah,” Bakugou answered. “Basically, they put me on some meds that I can’t remember the name of, and they tell me not to push myself. All of which basically means: ‘We don’t know how to help you, so we’re going to drug you. Also, take it easy.’ That’s going to be tough, since I’m supposed to be, you know, a basketball player. Being an athlete kinda involves pushing yourself, and they’re just telling me to ‘take it easy.’”

Kirishima laughed mirthlessly. He knew that feeling all to well; that feeling of uncertainty. “Will this really work?” “How is this helping me?” “I don’t feel any different.” Those were all things Kirishima felt about his treatment. He imagined that Bakugou probably felt the same way right now.

“So…is there anything else they’re doing?” Kirishima asked. “Any physical therapy? Any tests?”

“They told me that I can monitor my heart rate with a little machine thing, but that’s stupid as hell,” Bakugou said. “I can feel if my heart is beating so fast that it’s going to burst. Do they think I’m an idiot? So I said I didn’t want their stupid machine.”

Kirishima frowned. He wished that Bakugou had accepted the doctors’ offer after all. What if Bakugou was wrong and he couldn’t feel if his heart was acting up? The machine that Bakugou was talking about could potentially prevent that. Maybe it could even save Bakugou’s life.

“Bakugou, I think you should try it,” Kirishima commented. “I know it sounds like it’s stupid, and I know you know your body better than any of the doctors, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. What if you can’t feel if something’s wrong? I know I’m not supposed to meddle with other patients’ treatments and decisions, but I really think you should reconsider.”

“Hey, Kirishima, what did you say your resolution was again?” Bakugou asked pointedly.

“…You’re right,” Kirishima said, eyes downcast. “Sorry.”

“I know you mean well or whatever,” Bakugou continued, “but it’s my decision to make, and I’m sticking with it. Call me stupid, call me irrational, call me whatever you want. I don’t care. It’s terminal anyway. What’ll a little heart monitor do to fix things? Nothing.”

The three were silent for a short while. Kaminari had already heard about Bakugou’s condition becoming terminal from Bakugou himself. He said it bluntly one evening during game night, and Kaminari couldn’t stop crying for the rest of the night.

Even though Bakugou and Kirishima were close, Kaminari also felt as though he had made a friend in Bakugou, and the news of his condition being terminal was a lot to take in. But, like Kirishima, he felt better about being told by Bakugou rather than being kept in the dark about it forever.

“Well, are the doctors offering any other treatment now that it’s…you know…?” Kaminari asked.

“You can say ‘terminal,’ Kaminari, it’s not like you’re summoning a demon by saying the word,” Bakugou said. “And, to answer your question, they are offering something else, and it’s just as stupid as the little machine thing. They said that they can implant either a pacemaker or a…something something defibrillator into me.”

Kirishima perked up at this. “Bakugou, that’s good news! If they can implant a device to keep your heart stable, maybe you’ll be fine after all!”

“I guess,” Bakugou said, his voice definitely not matching the level of enthusiasm of Kirishima’s. “They need parental consent, but they also need my consent. And I don’t know if I even want it.”

“What?” Kirishima asked, dumbfounded. “Why wouldn’t you want it? It could literally save your life, Bakugou. What about that do you not want?”

“Kirishima, let’s talk in private,” Bakugou said, getting out of his chair and grabbing Kirishima by the arm, waiting for Kirishima to follow him.

Kirishima locked eyes with Kaminari for a second, giving the blonde boy a look expressing that he knew just as much about what was going to happen as Kaminari did.

When Bakugou and Kirishima made it back to the former’s room, both were silent until Bakugou spoke up.

“Why do you think I don’t want the pacemaker?” Bakugou asked. “Seriously, just take a guess.”

Kirishima squinted his eyes, looking at Bakugou questioningly. “Do you think this is some kind of game?” Kirishima asked. “Why are you making me guess? I don’t know, Bakugou. That’s my answer. I don’t know why you would refuse such…such life-saving treatment!”

“I don’t want to become a machine, Kirishima,” Bakugou responded with a growl. “So my heart’s fixed, but it’s mechanical now. What’s next? My leg hurts, so they replace it with a prosthetic? My stomach’s been acting up, so they make it metal? I don’t want to become a robot, Kirishima. What does it matter if I’m even alive at that point?”

“Bakugou, stop being so dramatic!” Kirishima retorted. “You’re not going to ‘become a robot’ because you need a pacemaker. It’s just a little device that they’ll put in your heart so that it doesn’t just decide to stop working one day. What’s wrong with that? Do you have a death wish or something?”

“You know what?” Bakugou said with a humorless smile. “Maybe I do. Maybe this is all happening to me for a reason. I like you, Kirishima, but you don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Bakugou, what are you talking about?” Kirishima asked incredulously. “Getting sick isn’t your fault. None of this is happening because you deserve it. That’s just not how the universe works. The universe is cruel, but I’m sure it doesn’t care about punishing a random teenage boy because of a mistake!”

“A mistake, huh?” Bakugou laughed. “So that’s what you think I did. I made a mistake? I wish it was that simple.”

Kirishima crossed his arms in frustration. “All right. Tell me, Bakugou. Let’s pretend for a minute that this is all happening because you’re being punished for something. Well? What is it? What did you do that was so awful that you’re d—…you know…”

Bakugou looked at Kirishima with eyes that stared past him, instead looking far into the past.

“There’s this kid named Midoriya.”

Chapter Text

“There’s this kid named Midoriya.”

Kirishima blinked. “M-Midoriya…? Y-you mean the Midoriya who’s also at this hospital…?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Bakugou replied coldly. Kirishima shut his mouth and allowed Bakugou to continue.

“I wasn’t…the nicest kid before I came here,” Bakugou continued. “But that’s already pretty obvious, isn’t it? There was this kid named Midoriya. We grew up in the same neighborhood and he would always follow me around and shit. Thought we were ‘friends’ or something. The thing with Midoriya was that he was always getting in my way.

“Whenever I did something, he wanted to do it, too. And he would always act like he was cheering me on, but I could tell that he was just making fun of me, patronizing me. Yeah, I messed up a play. You don’t have to act like I did well, idiot. I know when I messed up, I don’t need some brat to remind me about it!”

“Bakugou, I think—“ Kirishima started to give his thoughts before Bakugou interjected.

“Kirishima, don’t say anything,” Bakugou said simply. “You won’t want to say anything when I’m finished.”

Kirishima opened his mouth, about to protest, but he just nodded and let Bakugou continue speaking.

“Midoriya wanted to play basketball with me,” Bakugou continued with a humorless laugh. “But that idiot was the worst player I’ve ever seen. And yet, he just kept going on and on about how he would improve in the future. He wanted to go to same school I wanted to go to. It was ridiculous. This kid who didn’t know the first thing about playing wanted to go to school for it? It was insane. You either have the gift, or you don’t. You can work hard once you’re able to, but you can’t make talent out of nothing.

“So he applied. It was crazy. Everyone at tryouts looked at him like he was insane, and he probably was. He couldn’t dribble, he couldn’t pass. He wasn’t tall, and he wasn’t particularly fast. So what was he doing here? Everyone was thinking that. He was better than when we would play together as kids, but it just wasn’t good enough.

“He didn’t make the team, and that was that. It should have ended right then and there, but I just had to run my mouth one more time.” Bakugou shook his head, thinking about what was going to come. “I caught up with him in the locker rooms after tryouts. And that’s where shit really hits the fan. I slammed Midoriya up against a locker. I told him off. I told him that he was doomed to fail from the start. I told him that he was the worst player I had ever seen in my life. I told him to stop pretending like we were friends. And…I told him that he would be better off dead.”

Kirishima gasped, and Bakugou shrugged. “I know,” he said, “it was too much. I was going way too far, like usual. But guess what happened next? It was as if some…deity, some supernatural being, some otherworldly force was listening to me that day. Because Midoriya got sick soon after.”

“Bakugou, that’s—“

“I know. I know what you’re going to say. But save it for afterwards, okay? …Midoriya was admitted to the hospital, and I never saw him again. I thought that was the end of it. But, as you probably know by now, I’m here, too. It’s as if we’re connected in some cruel way. I told Midoriya that he should die, and here I am, withering away in a hospital. Not exactly what I imagined my final days to be. Well, that’s pretty much it. What now? You want to tell me how horrible I am? What a piece of shit I am? Because I know all of that alr—“

“Shut up, Bakugou!” Kirishima yelled. The room was so quiet afterwards, you could hear a pin drop. “Shut up…” Kirishima said again, more quietly. “It’s not your fault, and you’re none of the things you’re calling yourself.”

Bakugou laughed mirthlessly. “Don’t try to spare my feelings, Kirishima. I know what I did and I know that this is my punishment—“

“Bakugou,” Kirishima said, glaring at the blonde boy. “This isn’t some sort of punishment. If this is some form of fate, like you said, then…maybe this is a bit of a blessing. Now, hear me out, I know it sounds crazy. But you and Midoriya both got sick around the same time. And you were both admitted to the same hospital. You think of it as a punishment, right? But…but what if this is the universe’s way of giving you a second chance?”

Bakugou didn’t say anything for a while. He just rolled his eyes and scoffed at Kirishima. “Yeah, right. I think it’s pretty obvious that the universe just hates me and that’s that. And what do you even mean by ‘second chance?’ It’s not like I can go back in time, and take back all the things I said to him.”

“Would you, if you could?” Kirishima asked simply, looking at Bakugou with a small smile.

“What kind of question is that?” Bakugou asked, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “I mean…yeah. Yeah, I would take it all back. In a heartbeat. I should have never said any of those things to Midoriya. He was just looking up to me. And I was…I was horrible to him.”

Kirishima smiled. “You know, that’s good. I’m glad that you’re admitting to your mistakes. It’s a start, right?”

Bakugou groaned. “You sound like a therapist.”

Kirishima laughed. “Maybe I am one, in a way. Okay, here’s the thing. You want to take back everything you said, right? Well, I think you’re missing the most obvious thing here.”

Bakugou raised an eyebrow. “And that is…?”

“Apologize to him.”

Bakugou blinked. “What?”

“Apologize to him!” Kirishima said again, more enthusiastically. “I know that it completely sucks to be here. Trust me, I get it. But you’ve just been handed a golden opportunity! Midoriya and I talk a little, and he’s a pretty chill guy. He’s actually super sweet. If you want to say you’re sorry, I don’t think there’s anything holding you back. Hey, want to know what he said about you?”

Bakugou scoffed. “That I’m a piece of shit? That I treated him horribly?”

Kirishima shook his head and smiled. “Midoriya talks a lot about his family. They visit him, like, all the time, too. You know what else he talks about? You.”

“No he doesn’t,” Bakugou said curtly. “Well, maybe he talks about how shitty I am—“

“He says that his best friend is a guy with blonde hair and an explosive personality,” Kirishima cut in. “Who else could he be talking about? He says that you were the only friend he had before he came here. And he would tell me about how he would play basketball with you. He said that, even though he wasn’t that good, he loved playing because it reminded him of when he would play with you when the two of you were younger.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. “You’re lying. There’s no way that’s true.”

“Midoriya also said that he wanted to go pro one day, because that way, he might be able to play with you again in the future.”

Bakugou froze. “Did he…did he really say those things…?”

Kirishima nodded. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this, Bakugou. I’m telling you because I think it’s good for you to know. And, now that you know how he feels, maybe you should try talking to him.”

Bakugou thought for a moment, then responded. “Not yet. I don’t even know what I would say. ‘Hey, sorry about telling you that you should die. I didn’t think you actually would. Oh, and I’m here, too, by the way.’”

“He knows you’re here,” Kirishima said. “The doctors let us know when there’s a new patient in our ward, since there are so few of us. He already knows that you’re here.”

“Then why haven’t I seen him? If he actually thinks that I was his best friend, then why hasn’t he come to find me?”

“Midoriya’s confined to his room a lot,” Kirishima responder. “He’s kind of frail compared to the rest of us, so the doctors think it’s best for him to stay in bed and conserve his strength and energy. He can’t exert himself too much. That’s why his family’s always visiting. It gets boring when you’re alone in your room for so long with only so much to do.”

“So…you really think I should try to talk to him?” Bakugou asked.

“If you think you should,” Kirishima responded with a simple shrug. “I can’t tell you what to do. It’s up to you. If you think you should, then do it. If you don’t think it’s the right thing to do, then don’t. I think you should sleep on it. Think about it again in the morning.”

Bakugou nodded.

“And Bakugou,” Kirishima said with a smile, “thanks for telling me.”

~

“Hey! I brought snacks!” Kirishima announced, holding up to plastic bags full of treats as he entered Midoriya’s room.

“I-I already ate…” the green-haired boy said apologetically with a nervous smile.

“That’s all right,” Kirishima said, “just save ‘em for later!”

Midoriya nodded. “So…what did you want to talk to me about, Kirishima-kun?”

“I talked to Bakugou today,” he said, sitting down in a chair next to Midoriya’s bed. “Honestly, I never made the connection that the guy you talked about was the Bakugou that’s here. I just thought that maybe it was a coincidence, you know? There can be more than one explosive blonde boy in the world, right?”

Midoriya laughed a little at that. “So what did you guys talk about?”

“Uh uh!” Kirishima denied, waving a finger in the air. “That’s for Bakugou and Bakugou alone to tell you. But I will tell you that it’s a conversation that Bakugou’s wanted to have for a pretty long time now.”

Midoriya tilted his head in confusion. “A pretty long time…? Well, if you really can’t tell me, I guess I’ll just have to wait until he tells me himself.”

Kirishima smiled. “Yup, that’s the idea!”

“So, Kirishima-kun, how do you know so much about Bakugou?” Midoriya asked curiously. “And how did you have such a long conversation with him? I always thought he was pretty…prickly, and he never liked having deep conversations with people.”

Kirishima gave a soft smile and shrug. “People change?” he offered.

Midoriya nodded. “Thank you for the snacks, Kirishima-kun. And…thank you for being a good friend for Bakugou. I think he needs someone like you.”

Kirishima smiled, gave Midoriya a hug, and left the room.

Chapter Text

Kirishima died a few months later.

I never fully understood his illness in the first place. If it was a skin condition, then why couldn’t he breathe? Why was he gasping for breath, struggling to take in even a single gasp of air, if it was a skin condition?

I remember the doctors pushing me out of the way. I remember their frantic voices, yelling out commands left and right. But mostly, I remember the way Kirishima looked at me before he passed out. It’s a look that I still dream about to this day. I wish I could forget it.

He looked at me with a face full of fear. I think he knew, or maybe he could sense that this was it; his time was up. Kirishima’s eyes were wide and frantic, like they couldn’t focus on one thing for too long. But when his eyes met mine, they stayed there. I’m sure my eyes mirrored the panic in his. The most haunting thing about the way he looked at me, though, was that he smiled.

He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand, couldn’t even think, and yet he still managed to smile at me. That’s Kirishima for you. I never knew what I did to deserve someone as amazing as Kirishima. I’m pretty sure that him being taken away from me was a form of punishment. It was as if I was dying of thirst in a desert and came upon an oasis only to realize that it was a mirage.

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that good things don’t last. Some good things last longer than others, but they always go away in the end. Because everyone dies eventually. If Kirishima were here, he would probably scold me for saying something so morbid. But I’m sure he feels the same. He’s seen so many of his friends come and go while he was at the hospital. I still don’t have any idea how he was able to cope.

After Kirishima died, I cried for weeks. As much as I wanted to stop crying — because Kirishima would totally make fun of me for how ridiculous I was being — I just couldn’t. I cried so hard I threw up. The doctors had to put me on an IV because I was so dehydrated from all of the crying. I never ate, either. I couldn’t. Everything tasted so bland and dry and disgusting.

One day, I just stopped crying. I don’t remember what day it was, or how even how long it had been since Kirishima died. But it didn’t matter. One day, I just got up and went on with my life. Everyone was asking if I was okay, and I told them no, of course I wasn’t okay. But I would be.

I went to therapy voluntarily. Crazy, I know. But I knew that it’s what Kirishima would have wanted. It’s actually the reason I’m writing this right now. The therapist said something about it being a way to let out my emotions or whatever. I thought I let them all out when I cried for so long, but I guess not, since I have so much to say right now.

The day that Kirishima died was a normal day. Kirishima felt fine before, and he didn’t even show any signs of feeling unusual in any way. It was so strange. If I only knew what was going to happen that day, I might have told him I loved him one more time. But maybe that’s just me getting soft. Kirishima would laugh at me if he ever heard me say something so sappy and sentimental. Or maybe he wouldn’t. I don’t really know anymore.

I’m worried that I’ll forget what he looks like.

Even though there are so many pictures of him in the hospital now, commemorating his memory and such, I’m still worried that I’ll forget him. Maybe I won’t forget how he looks, but maybe I’ll forget his voice or his smile or his laugh. That’s what I’m worried about the most.

It isn’t like me to be this sentimental, but I don’t know what is like me anymore. As cliché as it sounds, I think a part of myself died when Kirishima did. He really was the only thing that kept me going for a while. When I thought my life was over when I was admitted to the hospital, he gave me hope that things could be better. He never said that I would get out or that my illness would go away, he just said that things would get better. And they did. Sometimes they got worse. But sometimes they got better. Somewhere along the line, I started looking forward to the days where things just got better.

It’s spring now. The first spring without Kirishima. I’m sure he would have loved to see all of the flowers. Now that it’s not cold outside, he would have been able to go outside more. Maybe we could’ve eaten outside in the courtyard or the garden for our meals. But it’s too late for that now, I guess. I just eat inside the cafeteria like always.

It’s sad that Kirishima died in winter. He died before he could see the snow start to melt and the flowers begin to bloom. I like winter, but I don’t think I can like it anymore. It reminds me too much of him: how cold his hands were, and when we had our first kiss.

But winter is cold. It’s not a “happy” season. It’s probably the only season that’s sad. It’s cold and lonely and dark and gloomy and I wish that Kirishima could have died in any season other than winter. But then again, I wish that Kirishima didn’t have to die at all.

Once I finally calmed down enough to actually listen to what the doctors had to say, they tried to explain to me why Kirishima died. They said that his scleroderma was an extremely rare case. It was one that they had never seen before, not really. Because patients who have that severe of a case so young usually die pretty quickly. But Kirishima lasted a long time; longer than anyone thought or expected him to. That’s Kirishima for you, always full of surprises.

So when he died, none of the doctors were surprised. They had already prepared for this. They did their best to save him and they explained to me that this same thing had happened to Kirishima before, the only difference being that they were able to save him last time.

Doctor Aizawa told me a little more about Kirishima’s disease. He said it would help me wrap my head around things, or whatever. I don’t really remember a lot about what happened between Kirishima’s death and now. Aizawa told me that scleroderma affects people differently, like that wasn’t already obvious. Kirishima just happened to be severely affected by it while others could just go about their daily lives, with some minor difficulties.

In Kirishima’s case, his skin hardened to the point where it affected his internal organs. Most patients, apparently, are only affected on the surface of their skin. Of course, Kirishima’s was worse than that. It affected his lungs.

His lungs were hardening day by day and I had no idea. I don’t even know if Kirishima had any idea. I feel like if he did know, he would have told me. No, he probably wouldn’t want to worry me so he wouldn’t tell me. Maybe he would have left a letter or something for me to read. But since it’s been almost a month and there’s nothing left, I’m going to assume it came as a surprise to him, too.

Kirishima’s lungs hardened to the point where it was hard for him to breathe. Wouldn’t he have known, then? Or maybe it was so gradual that he never noticed. I think about these things a lot. It keeps my mind occupied, I guess. I mean, what else is there to do, now that I don’t have Kirishima?

I think a lot about whether Kirishima would be proud of me or not. And it sounds stupid because he’s my boyfriend, not my mom, but I do want to make him proud. I don’t want him, wherever he is, to see me and be disappointed or regret dying.

I say “regret dying” because that’s the way I see it. I don’t think he would have allowed himself to go if he didn’t want to. He was always so strong, and the doctors did say that he had gone through the same thing before. So he probably could have kept fighting if he wanted to. But I think he was okay with how things were. He didn’t have any lose ends to tie up, and there wasn’t anything he regretted. So I suppose it was a good time to die, if there ever was one.

I’ve been okay ever since I stopped crying. Like I said, I just picked myself up one day and decided that I wouldn’t cry anymore. Except for two days: Kirishima’s birthday and his deathday. Those are the only two days I’ll ever cry again in my life. Because Kirishima wouldn’t want me to be sad. He would be sad if I’m sad, and then he’d cry and I hate seeing Kirishima cry.

One thing I think Kirishima would be happy to know is that Midoriya and I are friends now. Weird, huh? The kid I bullied is now my best friend. It’s almost like some sappy romance novel, save for the fact that it’s too depressing to be in any book. Also, we’re not in love or anything. I think we barely even tolerate each other. Or maybe that’s just me.

But Midoriya is actually a pretty cool kid, once you get to know him. Actually, he probably was always a cool kid and I was just to much of an asshole to see it. That’s more likely. We talk about basketball sometimes. And sometimes we talk about Kirishima. I like talking about Kirishima more. It helps keep his spirit alive.

Speaking of his spirit, I still see him sometimes. It’s probably a sure sign of me going insane, but it feels real. I don’t even believe in ghosts or anything, but I do see him. My therapist told me that that’s normal and no, he’s obviously not really there, it’s just your mind playing tricks on you because of the grief. And I guess it is.

I’ll be doing some mundane task like brushing my teeth or eating and out of the corner of my eye, I’ll see his dumb red hair and stupid smile and idiot face. And then I’ll turn to face him and he’s gone. Not that I expected anything else to happen, really. It’s just that maybe, something else will happen just once. Maybe, if I look over my shoulder, he’ll actually be there, laughing and joking about how I actually fell for this prank of his.

But the sad thing is, I think I’m a little too smart to believe that. Sometimes I wish I was dumb enough to believe that Kirishima could come back. Or maybe insane enough is the better way to word it.

Kirishima said something to me once that I’ll never forget for as long as I live. He said something along the lines of: “Everything will be all right, because we’re under the same sky.” I had no idea what he meant at the time, but I think I do now.

We’re not under the same sky anymore. But we were once, and that’s all that really matters.