Archive of Our Own

“You will be here whenever I need you, right?” 

Kirishima turned his head to look at the blond who was laying next to him on the bed. They´ve been laying in Kirishima´s bed for a long time. 

“Of course, Kats.”

´That´s what loving someone means…´ he wanted to add, but couldn´t. Because Bakugo didn´t know he loves him yet. Or maybe he did. But those feelings were like Pandora's box. Neither of them dared to open it. 

“And you won´t forget me after we leave UA, will you?” Bakugo moved on the bed to lay on his side, turning his back to Kirishima. He curled himself into a ball on the bed. It hurt Kirishima to see him like that.  

“Why would I forget you?” The redhead tried to giggle, tried to lighten the mood. But it was impossible with Bakugo looking so broken, so insecure. What got into his head this time?

Kirishima´s room stayed silent for a couple of minutes. It was so quiet that they could hear the chaos of the dorms. People in other rooms were loud, enjoying their last few days at UA before graduation. Some voices were echoing from downstairs, where people cooked dinner together or messed around in the common room.

Some were outside, training even though their finals were already done. Heroes never rest, that´s what this school taught them.

“Hey, man…” The redhead nudged Bakugo´s shoulder with his nose as he moved closer to the bed, wrapping his arms around the blond. “Talk to me.”

This. It was their thing. Lying on a bed together. In the darkness, talking about things they couldn´t while being out of the comfort zones of their rooms. Whoever said that boys can´t hug, or cuddle as friends, was an idiot. 

“I am leaving after graduation.” The blond finally whispered. His words, soft as never before, were followed by a harsh intake of breath as he shuddered with suppressed sobs, pressing his body closer to Kirishima´s warmth. 

“So will you remember me if I come back?” Kirishima broke out in a cold sweat after hearing that. 

´If he comes back? Not when. But if…´

His world was breaking apart with one single sentence. His future which he hoped to spend at least close to Katsuki if not with him was fading away with few words. 

“Just promise me you will remember me.” This time Bakugo actually whined out the sentence and that was all Kirishima needed.

“Come here.” He turned the blond in the bed, forcing him to face him. Bakugo was quick to hide his face under Kirishima´s chin, but the position let Bakugo press closer to his emotional support. He let the tears dampen Kirishima´s shirt, as the redhead combed through tangled blond hair. 

“I know you hate phones, but they do exist, Katsuki. So wherever you are going, I am sure we can stay in contact. There is no reason for me to forget someone like you.” Kirishima sighed as he pried Bakugo´s face away from his chest. “You are way too important to be forgotten.” 

He tried to smile at the blond to reassure him. That everything is okay. That they are stronger than any distance. But seeing that the words only brought a fresh wave of tears into crimson eyes, he counted it as a failed attempt.

“I am not allowed to say this.” Bakugo shook his head and wiped his tears. “No one is supposed to know. Except for my parents, and Best Jeanist. But I trust you, Eijiro. You won´t tell a soul, got it? Even if there were lives on the line, you can´t tell.”

Kirishima nodded with all seriousness.

“Jeanist wants me to go on special military training in America. It´s top secret. After I take my diploma I will disappear. As if I never existed. All traces of me… gone. Social media, online articles mentioning me, records in Jeanist agency, records in this or my middle school. Everything will be gone. The government has their backs.”

Kirishima´s eyes widened as he listened. Life without Bakugo… was a nightmare. One that was coming true in a few days. 

“After ten years, no one will even remember that some Katsuki Bakugo ever existed. And that is their goal.”

“Why did you agree with that?” Was all that Kirishima could ask in his state of shock. 

He is losing him. He´s losing Katsuki. Forever. Just for government to make a living weapon out of him. 

“I didn´t have a choice. They wanted Deku at first but the commission decided they needed to keep the strongest hero in the country. He´s forbidden to leave. As far as I know, they didn´t even tell him about it.” Bakugo sat up and leaned his back against the wall behind Kirishima´s bed. 

“We are all just their toys. Many tried to warn us, but we didn´t listen and now they got to play their game of chess with us as their figures.”  

The silence that filled the room reminded Kirishima of the silence that spreads through the battlefield. The silence that appears when everyone is already exhausted, running at the last bits of their strength. You never know what to expect in that silence. It’s the battle over? Or the next attack is coming? All you can do is just wait.

“So can you promise me that if I come back, you will remember me?”

Kirishima´s eyes moved from the bed sheets where he was staring, up at Bakugo´s body till he met his eyes. The blond had his head leaned against the wall, and his eyes were half closed, staring at the redhead in the dim lighting of the room. 

“I told you, Kats…” He moved on the bed to sit next to the blond, throwing one arm around the blond’s shoulder. “You are too important to be forgotten.” 

Bakugo smiled softly for the first time that day. He leaned more into Kirishima´s side, laying his head on the redhead´s shoulder. “You are important to me too.”

And that meant more than any love confession could at that night.

“You know that, right?”

Kirishima could only nod, hiding his face in the blond locks as one single tear rolled down his cheek. Bakugo turned more towards him, wrapping his arms around the redhead. 

They are losing it all tonight, aren´t they?

“Whoa! We did it! I can´t believe I have a diploma.” Kaminari laughed when the graduation ceremony was finally over. The rest of the squad laughed around him, Sero even showed him to the side, mumbling something about how stupid he is. 

Kirishima tried to pay attention to them. Laugh as much and as freely as they could. But could he do that when Bakugo was standing next to him, with a forced smile on his lips?

Kirishima knew about the bags that were packed and waiting for Katsuki at the airport. He knew that as soon as the rest of their former classmates leave with their families to go home, Katsuki will be escorted by government security to the airport. 

“We need to take a photo together!” Mina shouted, already pulling out her phone. “This is our new start after all!”

She arranged them all into the frame of the camera. Mina on one side was holding the phone. Sero on the other had a hand thrown over the rest of them. Kaminari being the shortest stood up in the front. And in the middle, Kirishima threw his arm around Bakugo´s shoulders, pulling him as close as possible.

“Say All Might!” Mina laughed and the camera flashed. She checked the photo, and with a smile sent it into a group chat, all their phones chiming at once.

“I am going to miss you all so much.” Denki whined staring at the photo in his phone.

“Dude, it´s not like we are gonna disappear.” Sero laughed, ignoring the hurt feeling that flashed through Kirishima´s face as he clenched his teeth. 

“But we won´t be in the same building together anymore! And every time I´ll see you it will be at work, which means trouble. What if I start to hate you because my brain connects your faces with work? Associations are a thing, my dude.”    

As the trio laughed, Kirishima felt Bakugo´s hand tug at the sleeve of his suit. He looked at the blond, who nodded his head to the side before he walked away. 

And Kirishima followed.

“This is it then, right?” The redhead asked when they were standing far away from everybody else. He reached out his hands, the same as he did countless times before, and Bakugo with a small laugh put his own hands in Kirishima´s. 

“It was nice… knowing you. Being here with you. I finally found someone worth fighting for, you know? ” Bakugo laughed at the absurdity of his own words. Squeezing Kirishima´s hands tighter, he moved closer and leaned his head against Kirishima´s shoulder. 

“Don´t you dare to fucking forget my face.”

“I wouldn´t dare.” Kirishima freed his hands to hug the blond. “I know you will come back. I am going to wait for you, I promise.”

Bakugo turned his face, pressing closer to his neck as he whispered: “Goodbye, Eijiro.”  

Slowly he pulled away, looking up into crimson eyes one last time before a soft smile lifted his face for a second. As soon as it appeared it was gone, together with Bakugo, as he turned on his heels, and started to walk away, towards the UA gates. 

Kirishima stayed in the same spot, staring as the blond got inside the black car. He didn´t look back to wave at Eijiro or say goodbye to anyone else. He just disappeared. 

As the car sped up, Kirishima´s phone buzzed with a new message. 

He hoped it was Bakugo, but the message from Mina didn´t disappoint at all. It was a photo of him and Katsuki, hugging each other. As he looked up towards the place where Mina was now chatting with the girls, she caught his stare and smiled at him with a wink.

And even despite the pain that was tearing his chest, despite the tears that he tried to hold back… he smiled back at her. 

Life goes on, even if Bakugo is gone.

That night Kirishima couldn´t sleep. He already missed Katsuki. 

The clock hit midnight when Kirishima reached for his phone and typed Bakugo´s hero name into the search bar. The words shining back at him were terrifying.

No results were found

And just like that… Bakugo Katsuki disappeared from the world.

“Man, these social media are really starting to piss me off.” Mina was frowning at her phone, obviously fighting with one of the many apps that her phone contained.

“What did they do this time? Another update?” Kirishima just smiled, continuing to eat his lunch before he will have to run to his next patrol.

“I wish. I posted the photo of us from graduation and doesn´t matter how many times I post it again, they always delete it, saying I am violating their rules. With what? Our smiles?” She switched off her phone, obviously giving up.

“Well, that´s weird.” 

It wasn´t. It was because of Bakugo´s presence in that photo.

“I know, right?” Mina finally dug into her own lunch. 

“But enough of this mess. How are you? I haven´t seen you all week.”

“It´s been just a week.” Kirishima laughed. “Get used to it, it´s going to be much harder than this.”

“I knooooww. I hate being an adult. And how´s Bakugo? He ditched his phone again, he´s been silent in the group chat all week.”

The question caught Kirishima off guard. He was doing a nice job ignoring the aching feeling in his chest all week. Now the feelings come back, ten times as strong, only at the mention of the blond´s name.

“I… I don´t know to be honest. He didn´t talk to me either.”

Technically, it wasn´t even a lie. Only that he knew the deeper meaning behind the silence. Bakugo is in a different country, probably training his ass off, getting better and better every day. Getting stronger and smarter.

As if he wasn´t dangerous enough before. 

Kirishima thought many times in the past how lucky he was that Bakugo chose to be a hero. That he chose to fight with them. Not against them. As a villain, he would be probably unstoppable. Thank god that the man had a heart of gold even if he buried it so deep that almost no one could see it.

“I don´t even know where he is now.” Mina continued. “I thought he went with Midoriya and Todoroki to Endeavour´s agency, but I talked with Todoroki this morning, and he´s not there. And he´s not with Jeanist either.”

“Maybe he went underground.”

“Kiri. Honey. Please admit that you know how much bullshit that sentence is.”

Right. Bad lie. With his personality and the constant want to show off, Bakugo would never disappear to work with underground heroes.

“And even if he did, we are heroes, we would be allowed to know about him. Shinso calls Denki every day, it´s maddening honestly. It´s not that hard to confess and if neither of them does it, I will for them.”

“So you and Denki really moved in together?” Kirishima smiled, happy to change the conversation some other way. Luckily, Mina caught the bait.

“Hah, I wish it was only Denki. But there was one spare bed in Denki´s room, so Sero is there as well. I should have run away with Hagakure while I had the chance. Do you know what is it like to live with two men? No offense.”

“Well if they piss you off to your limits… you know my address.”

“I still don´t know how you could buy your own apartment right away. You could have told me you are rich, I would fight harder to keep you when we dated in middle school.” The woman laughed at the memory. It was really something, considering they both came out as gay later. They were literally each other´s wake-up call.

“It´s not like that.”

And it really wasn’t. His family was far from being rich. And although he had some savings, it would never be enough to buy him the apartment that he currently owned. The money he used for pay, miraculously appeared in his bank account on graduation day with a note:

Not like I am going to need it here. – B.K.

He felt guilty for accepting it. But then he realized the situation he was in. The situation they were in. All of them are working really hard right now to build their lives. Their careers, houses, and families. Homes. 

Bakugo is somewhere locked in a military base probably, and he can´t do any of that. So Kirishima promised himself, that he will build the home that Bakugo will be able to return to one day. Bakugo gave him the starting line, and now Kirishima will take care of the rest. 

“Or you just don´t want to admit you are a secret millionaire.” Mina didn´t drop it. “But anyway, don´t offer me that twice, because I might come to crash on your couch tonight to settle my nerves a little.”

“I will set up the spare room for you once I come home from patrol.” Kirishima glanced at the clock. He should get going already. 

“Spare room? Oh god, how big is that apartment?”

Kirishima laughed as he stood up and picked up his empty plate. “Come visit, I´ll give you all a tour. Friday? Game night?”

“Oh, you bet.” Mina laughed, standing up as well.

It became a tradition after that. 

At least once a month, on some random Friday, they met at Kirishima´s apartment. Some nights they played party games. Some, especially after failed or hard missions, just sat around with drinks in their hands, talking softly. At some, they were too tired to do anything than just crash on a couch and watch a movie.

Years passed and the tradition went on. At first, it was just the four of them. Kirishima, Mina, Denki and Sero. But slowly the small circle started to widen.

First, it was Jiro. After a failed mission, Denki as her self-proclaimed best friend forced her to come with him so she could forget about the horrible week. After that, she started to come every month. 

But playing with uneven numbers was hard. That´s how Shinso got roped into coming as well. 

After a few years, Mina found the love of her life, and so once a complete stranger to the rest of them joined their squad. The woman, Itchigo, was sweet and got on really well with everyone. No one protested.  

Just a year later, Sero come with his own girlfriend. It went pretty much the same as with Mina´s girlfriend. 

Then finally Shinso and Denki started to date. And Jiro started to bring Momo along. They were back at uneven numbers, Kirishima being the only one without a partner to play with. But the time went by too fast, and no one seemed to realize the lack of his love life. 

Before Kirishima knew it, they were twenty-eight, and the invitation to their old class meeting appeared in his mail. It´s been ten years since they graduated…

Ten years since Bakugo disappeared. 

It was just as he predicted back in their last days together. It´s been ten years, and no one even questioned anymore what happened to him. They all seemed to accept the fact that one of their classmates was missing. 

Only Kirishima stared at their graduation photo, framed at his bedside table, every time he went to sleep.

 “Man, I am so glad you made it.” Sero sighed as he was leaning against the doorframe of the fancy restaurant. He was holding a glass of whiskey, and the loud noise from behind him reminded Kirishima of good old times. 

“You were the one who told me I am the glue of this class.” Eijiro showed past him inside, patting him on his shoulder. “I wouldn´t miss it.” 

The restaurant where they held their first class meeting after the graduation, was a big and expensive place. Of course, it took only one call from number one pro hero Deku and they had the whole place reserved with no problem. 

“Kirishima! Long time no see! How are you?” 

The redhead turned around. Right towards him was walking Uraraka, her still short hair brushing just her shoulders as she moved. She didn´t change since the last time he saw her. He couldn´t even remember when he saw her last time. Probably on some mission. 

“Hi, Uraraka. I am good. As good as I can be at least. How about you?”

“Oh, there is so much that happened since the Tokyo mission. Come sit down, we still have time before dinner, others want to chat with you too.”

She grabbed his hand and started to drag him across the hall toward the smaller room. The room was already full of people. Some were missing, but he counted sixteen people in total. 

Just four more to go…

Because one of them wasn´t coming. And Kirishima was the only one who knew. Because exactly that day, it was ten years, since Bakugo Katsuki disappeared. Some little part of him was hopping, that the door at the end of the hall would open once more, and inside walks the tall figure of his best friend. 

But that didn´t happen. 

“It looks like we are all here. Can we start the dinner?” Iida, living his class rep life asked when twenty people were sitting behind the long table. Kirishima looked at the one empty space at the end of the table. 

God, he missed him. 

The dinner went by too quickly. Kirishima didn´t even realize how much did he miss all of his classmates. Of course, he was in contact with them once in a while, but this… meeting while not working, being able to just talk, enjoy their time and not care about anything else… was nice. 

Or at least it could be… 

“I am so glad we could all meet here.” It was a harmless comment. Simple statement. Kirishima didn´t even know who said it. But yet he reacted.

“I mean, not all of us are here.” He said it absentmindedly, maybe the little bit of alcohol that was in his veins helped too. 

“What do you mean, Kirishima? All twenty of us are here.” Tsu pointed out. 

And it really wasn´t her fault. Because of the war and everything going on throughout their first and second year, people tend to forget about Shinso. They didn´t seem to notice that it wasn´t twenty but twenty-one people in their class in their last year. 

“But there was twenty-one of us. Bakugo couldn´t make it tonight.” Kirishima replied quietly.

“Who?” 

And that simple word, one question, hurt more than anything. It struck right through Kirishima´s heart. The heart that was holding together with tiny strings of hope. Hope that shattered with that one word. 

“Come on guys, you can´t be serious.” He looked around himself. The eyes of his classmates looked empty. No recognition could be found in them. “Blond hair, red eyes… he was the top of the class all the time!”  

Kirishima´s eyes fell onto the green ones on the other side of the table. There were tears in Midoriya´s eyes. 

But no one else seemed to remember. It was just like Bakugo said on that night.

After ten years, no one will even remember that some Katsuki Bakugo ever existed.

“Excuse me.” He stood up from behind the table and hurried towards the bathroom. It felt like he couldn´t breathe, even though he knew that was irrational. There were too many emotions clogging up his throat. 

“Kirishima! Kirishima, wait!” Midoriya shouted after him. Steps were running after him. But he didn´t stop till he reached the bathroom. 

“I am so sorry for them.” Midoriya´s wild curls pushed past the door right after him. 

“You don´t have to apologize. They don´t have to either. It just… I need a while, please.”

“Do you know what happened with him?” Midoriya leaned against the sink, watching as Kirishima slumped against the wall on his left. “I tried to talk with his parents after graduation but… they said he went on a trip for a week. And the next time I knocked on the door of their house… they weren´t there. Their neighborhoods told me they moved to Europe.”

“Midoriya…” he tried to stop the ranting man. 

“And as hard as I tried, even my mom tried to call Kacchan´s, there was nothing. Like Bakugo´s disappeared from the Earth. But Kacchan… he wouldn´t leave. I know he wouldn´t. He wouldn´t let me win so easily. All his life he was fighting to be the best. This feels so…”

“Midoriya, I know nothing.” Kirishima interrupted him because he couldn´t handle listening. He knew how Midoriya felt. He felt the same, even knowing what happened to the blond. But if Midoriya continued even for a little bit, Kirishima would spill the truth that he is forbidden to say. 

“I… I really know nothing.” He slid down the wall and lowered his head into his hands. His fingers tangled in messy red hair that needed to get re-dyed. Tears were trying to fill his eyes but he refused to let them. 

This was supposed to be a happy day.

“I am sorry, I just…” Midoriya´s words faded into the silence of the bathroom. Kirishima didn´t look up at him, but he could hear the soft clapping of Midoriya´s shoes as he walked toward him. A strong hand landed on Kirishima´s shoulder.

“I guess I just miss him.” Midoriya whispered.

Kirishima looked up. Midoriya was smiling, even if his eyes were filled with tears. 

“You can´t even imagine.” The redhead whispered. His throat was burning. He knew logically, that it was caused by the tears and sobs that he was trying to hold back. But maybe… it was a quilt that was slowly crawling up.

Because he knew, what happened with Katsuki Bakugo.

He just couldn´t say it. He was destined to suffer alone. It was his burden, to hope that Bakugo will come back.

 “Thank you all for coming!” Kirishima smiled at his friends standing in the corridor before his apartment.

“The last one of us is joining the thirties club! We couldn´t miss this.” Mina hugged him once more, leaving a single kiss on his cheek as she pulled away.

“Yeah, dude. You are finally old. Like us!” Denki giggled, leaning heavily against Sero who sighed more to himself than to anybody else.

“Denki, we are all old now.” 

They laughed. Because what else were they supposed to do. They were old. In the end, Mina dragged the boys away. And Kirishima waved at them, as the elevator door at the end of the corridor closed. 

When his friends left, the apartment stayed quiet. It wasn´t unusual. He was living alone for almost twelve years now, and he was quite used to it. It was too late anyway, after he cleans up a little and showers he would probably just crash right to bed.

He was exhausted. 

The cleaning didn´t take much time. They were old now, as they all joked. Being thirty isn´t yet a tragedy, but it´s a lot. They are not the messy teenagers that they used to be till their mid-twenties. All he needed was to clean up the wine or whiskey glasses and a few plates from the food they ate.

He fixed the blankets and pillows on his couch. They looked cozy enough to just crash right there, on the couch. His eyes were falling shut and his limbs felt heavy. 

The soft knock on his front door woke him up right away. 

Who would knock on his door at eleven in the evening? His first thought was that Denki or Sero forgot something. Probably keys. Or phone. Or wallet. Basically anything, it wouldn´t be the first time. But he didn´t find anything while cleaning…

So with little uncertainty, he went to open the door. 

The door creaked at its hinges as they opened slowly, revealing someone, he didn´t recognize. 

By the build of the person´s body, it was some man. His face was hidden by a hoodie. One very dirty hoodie. Old one probably too, judging by the many tears it had. At his feet, there was a miserably looking duffle bag, and… was it blood that was covering the man´s pants?

“Happy Birthday, Ei.” The man pulled down his hood.

Eijiro continued staring at him, puzzled but equally worried. He really looked like a homeless person, maybe he even was. His face was covered with fresh bruises and old scars. Unevenly cut hair was covered in dirt and blood so it was hard to guess their original color. Brown? Black? 

Wait… blond?

When the man finally lifted his eyes and looked at Eijiro, it was as if his gaze pierced straight through him. 

Those eyes.

Piercing red. Sharp. But a little glassy with tears.

Eyes couldn´t change. And Kirishima could never forget those eyes.

“Katsuki!?” He almost screamed into the hallway, ignoring the late night hour. 

A soft smile tugged at the corner of Bakugo´s lips.

“You didn´t forget.” The blond whispered as he closed his eyes. It probably wasn´t even meant for Kirishima. A single tear slid down his cheek and he started to laugh. Hysterically. The sound terrified Eijiro a little bit, but what worried him more, was how Bakugo could hardly stand at his own feet. He looked ready to faint.

He was swaying, putting his weight from one foot to the other constantly. 

“Come on. Let´s get you inside.” He rushed forward, wrapping his arm around Bakugo´s waist to support him. What he felt under the thin material of the hoodie, broke his heart into million pieces. No muscles, no fat… just the bony body of once the strongest man he knew. 

“Just what they did to you?” He asked but didn´t get an answer. Bakugo went limp in his hands so he didn´t have a choice but to lift him up and carry him inside. 

The lack of weight in his arms scared him. Of course, Kirishima got stronger than he was the last time he lifted Bakugo. But the man should get stronger, therefore heavier, too.  

“You didn´t forget me.” The blond whispered as he gripped Kirishima´s t-shirt weakly. 

“I didn´t, Kats. Of course, I didn´t.” The door closed behind them, and Kirishima was more awake than he´s been all day…

Bakugo woke up with a startle. 

He was in a room he didn´t recognize. But he was lying in a bed. A real bed. Not a dingy mattress on the floor. And the window didn´t have bars on it. Sun was peeking inside, blinding him. 

He quickly sat up, regretting his decision when his head spun so badly he fell right back into the bed. Eyes glued to the white ceiling, he listened to his surroundings. He was so dizzy, he couldn´t do anything else than listen. And pray. Pray that no one will come inside, because he won´t be able to fight.

Not anymore.

His eyes were heavy, and his head was pounding. He almost gave in and dozed off. When he heard something rattle on the other side of the door, panic flooded his body. 

“No. No. No. No.” He whispered, trying to sit up again. 

Unsuccessfully. 

The door slowly and quietly opened. Bakugo didn´t want to see his own end. With closed eyes, he listened. Waited. Maybe his capturers will let him be if they will think he is still out cold. 

Maybe his cover would work if he would be able to pretend he is still passed out. But the moment he felt a soft cold hand touch his forehead, he flinched. The other person in the room hesitated for a second, Bakugo could feel it in the gentle touch.

“Okay.” A deep voice whispered before the touch was gone. 

He heard footsteps again. The person was moving around the room, but Bakugo was too scared to open his eyes. He heard the water running somewhere, and then the same footsteps. The mattress shifted next to him as the other person sat down. 

Instead of the pain that the blond expected, there was soft touch again. A damp rug run all over his exposed skin, and a comb run through his tangled hair. 

What…?  

Despite the fear, Katsuki decided he needed to open his eyes. This was suspicious. Slowly, he opened his eyes and let them focus on…

“Eijiro?” He asked, more confused than before.

“Hi, Kats.” The redhead above him smiled, but the smile didn´t reach his eyes. He looked as if he was crying just minutes ago. 

There were no words left. Bakugo didn´t know what to say. What do you even say to an angel when you see one?

He tried to sit up again when a strong hand pushed him back down.

“Don´t. Please. You look like you are about to die and I refuse to lose you when I just got you back.”

Bakugo´s body collapsed into the sheets. There was no danger. Eijiro was with him. He wouldn´t let anything happen to him. 

“I missed you, Ei.” He whispered as he let his eyes close. For the first time in a long time, he wasn´t afraid to fall asleep.

“Hey, Mina. I need a favor from you.” 

“Anything, Ei. How can I help?” Mina´s voice on the other side of the phone line was cheerful as always. It was her day off, and Eijiro felt guilty for bothering her. The truth was, he was scared more than anything. 

He didn´t know what to do. 

Because Bakugo was back. But it wasn´t like he was imagining it for the past twelve years. There were no public announcements, no hero Dynamight returning to protect Japan. Instead, half dead man showed up at his doorstep, scaring the soul out of Eijiro´s body.

“Your girlfriend is a nurse, isn´t she?”

“Oh, yeah. Did you hurt yourself again? I swear I should have bought you bandages for your birthday.”

“No. Don´t worry, I am fine but… could you send her to my apartment?” Kirishima´s gaze fell on the closed bedroom door. 

“Okay? Yeah, we can come.” Mina replied a little confused. Kirishima heard some rustling on the other side of the line.

“No, Mina. I love you but… can you just send Itchi over.”

“I don´t like this, Eijiro. What happened?”

“I can´t exactly tell you.” He sighed. 

“I am gonna trust you on this one but I want an explanation later.” Mina resigned, already yelling to her girlfriend to take her stuff and go.

“Thank you.” Kirishima hang up with another worried glance towards the bedroom door. 

He did what he could. Cleaned Bakugo´s wounds and took care of the ones that look too serious. He cleaned his hair and body of dirt and blood. When he wanted to put him into some clean clothes, the sight underneath the clothes that Bakugo was wearing scared him even more.

His ribs were standing out, and there were no muscles on his body. And the bruises… his porcelain white skin was covered with them. He didn´t even want to know, what happened. One thing was sure, Bakugo wasn´t where he said he was. 

Kirishima walked back into the bedroom and sat on the side of the bed. Bakugo was still sleeping, his chest rising and falling slowly. It was the only thing that calmed Kirishima at least a little bit. He reached out for Bakugo´s hand, as he did many times in his life, and grabbed it. 

The bony fingers in his hand felt like he was holding a skeleton.

“Please, be okay.” Kirishima prayed to no one in particular. 

Mina´s girlfriend was sworn to secrecy before Kirishima even let her in his bedroom. After that, she almost collapsed when she saw the body in his bed. 

“What the hell happened here?” She gasped before she walked inside and immediately rushed towards the bed.

Kirishima knew Itchigo. She was with Mina for so long, that it would be hard not to know her. He could see the exact moment when she switched to work mode. Her bubbly personality was gone, and the serious nurse that was taking care of him after many fights surfaced. 

“I wish I knew. He showed up like this and pass out and I panicked. I don´t know what to do.”

“He should be in a hospital!”

“It´s complicated, but I can´t take him there.” Kirishima leaned against the wall, out of her way.

“Okay, okay, okay. I can do this. But I need Mina to bring me some things. If you told us I could take them right away.”

“Just don´t let Mina see him.” Kirishima sighed, watching as she pulled out her phone.

“Why? Does she know him?”

Yes.   

“Probably no.” He shook his head with a small smile. “But I want as few people as possible to know.”

Itchigo nodded, understanding luckily. After a quick phone call, she got to work.

When Bakugo woke up for the second time, he was disoriented. His body hurt, but the fog that was clouding his mind was clearing out slowly. 

He felt safe.

Something he didn´t feel in such a long time that he forgot how it felt. There was a warm hand holding his own. And that was safety for him. 

He turned his head, looking at the hand that felt too warm on his cold skin. He looked at his other arm, where IV was put in, some solution slowly dripping down the needle. 

He felt clean. Something that he didn´t know anymore. His hair didn´t feel greasy. There was no mud, or dried blood on his skin. No dirt in his hair. His skin wasn´t itchy as it used to be and the clean clothes on his body felt soft… and smelled nice too.

“Katsuki?” 

He turned his head towards the person lying on the other side of the bed. A familiar face and even more familiar red hair.

“Fuck, Eijiro.” He groaned, wanting nothing more than to crawl to the other side of the bed and collapse into the arms of the other man. But he was lucky enough to be breathing. Moving, was out of his capacity right at that moment.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Better.” The blond turned his head to look at the IV stand once more. “You did this?” he looked back at Kirishima a little bit worried. 

“God, no. I would hurt you more than help you if I tried. One nurse helped me.” He watched as Bakugo´s eyes widened in fear. 

“But don´t worry, she didn´t recognize you and she won´t tell anyone. She´s a good friend.” Bakugo slowly relaxed, but the suspicious gaze didn´t disappear from his face right away. 

“I want to know so badly what happened to you, but I don´t think it´s a good idea to talk about it right now. Unless you want to?”

Bakugo shook his head, and Kirishima nodded. They could talk about it later. They have all the time in the world now…

“Why are you out of the bed?” Kirishima turned around in the kitchen, glaring at the blond who was slowly limping towards him. He watched as Bakugo collapsed into one of the chairs behind the table.

“I´ve been in that bed for five days. I am fine now.” 

“You don´t look fine.”

“It will take some time before I will look your standard of fine but trust me. I didn´t feel this good in a really long time.” Bakugo crossed his arms on a table and laid his head on them. 

Kirishima didn´t say anything. He chose to trust the other. With that in mind, he turned back towards the stove, stirring the vegetable in the pan. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Cooking.” Kirishima laughed.

“Wow, you know how to do that?” 

Kirishima froze at the sound of Bakugo´s laugh. Once again, in the past six days, he had to fight tears of happiness that were trying to blur his vision. He was so happy to have him back. He didn´t even realize how much he needed him. And with every little gesture, he remembered the past.

“Well, I was living alone for twelve years. I would spend all my money on takeouts if I didn´t.” He set the spatula on the edge of the sink and walked to the table to sit down.

“All this time you lived here alone?” Bakugo looked up at him.

“This is as much your home as is it mine, Katsuki. I didn´t want anyone else here.” Eijiro reached out his hands over the table, waiting patiently if the blond will grab his offered hands.

He did. 

He always did. 

“Sappy bastard.” The man snickered, grinning.

And that smirk right there filled Kirishima with a warmth that he didn´t know he lacked. Because even if Bakugo was with him for almost six days, only now did he come back as the person that Kirishima knew. Stubborn, sassy, and secretly sweet.

“I am glad that you are back. Not gonna lie, you scared me when you showed up here half dead.” The smile that Bakugo was wearing gradually disappeared. 

“I am sorry I…”

“No, that´s… I need to tell you what happened. You deserve an explanation more than anyone. And I need your help. Against government. And to get people on my side. God knows I can´t do that but you can.” The blond sighed pulling his hands away as he leaned back against the chair.

“But not now. I want to feel…normal. For a little bit.” 

“Come here.” Kirishima stood up and walked around the table, opening his arms. Bakugo looked up at him, at the gesture, and smirked. He tried to stand up, and if Kirishima had to help him in the end, they both pretend not to notice. 

Bakugo´s small skinny figure gets lost in Kirishima´s strong arms. He melted, literally, as he wrapped his arms around Kirishima´s waist. He pressed his head against Kirishima´s shoulder, his hair tickling the redhead´s jaw. 

Kirishima´s own hands wrapped around Bakugo´s shoulders.

“Is this the normalcy you want?” The redhead giggled a little high on good emotions at the moment.

“Tsch.” Bakugo snorted, as he tried to press closer. “The only one I ever needed.” 

Kirishima started to rub his back with one hand, the other tangled in blond hair. He leaned down and kissed the top of Bakugo´s head without thinking. It felt right.   

As a response, Bakugo just sighed softly, melting even more in Kirishima. He wanted to stay like that forever. And he would if only…

“Your dinner is burning.” He whispered.

“What?” 

“The dinner.” 

“Oh, crap.” Kirishima carefully showed him back onto the chair before he run towards the stove. The food was sizzling too much, and the air was starting to smell like fire. 

Bakugo loved every second of it. He was home… 

Bakugo was standing before the floor-length mirror in the living room. Kirishima´s clothes, which used to fit him back in high school, were hanging off of his figure now. He didn´t like the person that he could see in the mirror. 

Too many bones and too few muscles. He never looked this miserable. Grayish skin, sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones. He was just a skeleton with some extra skin on top. His hair was randomly cut or torn out in some places…

He bit his cheek, refusing to cry. Refusing to break down now, when everything was fine. 

“You know it´s okay, right?” Bakugo didn´t turn his head toward Kirishima´s voice. “You've clearly been through hell and I know you´ll be back in your top form in no time.” 

“It sucks to look like this.” From the corner of his eye, he saw the movement. A flash of red. And then Kirishima was standing behind him, hands wrapped around Bakugo´s frame. 

And it hurt even more. To see the difference. 

They used to look the same. Yes, Bakugo was always a little slimmer. He had to be because of his fighting style. But more or less, they were the same. Now… Kirishima was a brick house compared to him. 

“You are still pretty.” Kirishima smiled, his nose nudging the side of Bakugo´s face. In the mirror, he could see how Bakugo´s face morphed into a smirk.

“I meant it sucks to be weak, you Romeo. I don´t give a damn about the rest.”

Kirishima giggled. They both knew that weak wasn´t one of the words to describe the blond. He always fights till the end. And that is the exact opposite of being weak.

“Want me to fix your hair? Small steps. You might feel a little better then.” 

Bakugo nodded and so in no while, he was sitting on a stool in their bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror once again. Kirishima was standing behind him with combs and scissors, a hair clipper in the other hand. 

“So? What are we going to do with this?”

“Do what you want. I don´t trust you with scissors anyway.” Katsuki smirked, knowing that buzz cut would be as good as anything other if Eijiro fucks it up.

“Meanie.” The redhead laughed and started to work. The motions were slow and steady, and Bakugo closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling. 

“How did your hair get like this?” 

With a deep breath, Bakugo opened his eyes again to look at Kirishima in the mirror. It was time to talk…

“When I told you, I am going on military training… I really believed it. That´s what they told me at least.” 

Kirishima realized that they are getting to the point of this messed-up story and he only nodded. 

“I went to the airport, said goodbye to my parents, and got on the plane. I didn´t even know if I was in America. The second the plane landed, I was blindfolded, dragged into a car, and driven somewhere. I didn´t fight. It was supposed to be a secret base.”

The blond sighed as Kirishima grabbed the hair clipper and moved it gently against the back of his scalp.  

“I knew it was all bullshit when they snapped a quirk canceling handcuffs on me and threw me into a place that looked like a prison cell. With a mattress on a cold floor, a toilet, and a sink. Bars on the window and everything. No one talked with me. No one told me anything. I could scream and yell, threaten whoever I fucking wanted to. It did nothing.”

Bakugo visibly shivered as he was thinking about his next words.

“I lost count of days. Then the guards brought me a phone. It was my mother. They put a gun to my head, saying to act nice and I wasn´t ready to die back then. But I probably should. Because the hag ended the call with: I love you, Katsuki.”

Kirishima put the machine away and instead put his hands on Bakugo´s shoulders. Their eyes locked in a mirror.

“She didn´t call me by my name for years, Eijiro.” Bakugo whispered, tears glazing his eyes. “It was always son or brat or devil´s spawn… anything but my name. I knew she couldn´t talk freely either. And I haven´t heard a word from them ever since.”

“Katsuki…” Eijiro was already crying. He leaned his forehead on top of the blond´s head. Bakugo lifted his hand, reaching for the one resting on his shoulder. Their fingers intertwined, giving him some comfort that he needed. 

“Since that call, I knew I needed to get out of there. I don´t know how much time passed. I broke both of my thumbs to get the handcuffs down. I fought to get out, knowing I have only one chance. I was just lucky in the end.”

When their eyes met again in the mirror, Bakugo´s were cold. Lifeless.

“It took me years to get to some civilization. To figure out where the fuck I am. And all this time, I was wanted. Everybody was searching for me, promised price to get me to the government again. I had no one to trust. And then they caught me. The second time, they weren´t so nice. The cell smelled of blood and burned skin every day.”

“Oh, God, Kats.” Eijiro whined as tears spilled freely out of his eyes, running in rivers down his cheeks. He grabbed Bakugo by his waist, lifted him, and sit on the stool instead of the blond, putting him on his thighs. He was trembling as he clung to Katsuki. 

“One day, when I thought I was about to die if they beat me one more time… they didn´t drag me into the room they usually did. Instead, they threw me outside. Saying I was as good as dead. And deep down, I knew they were right. I was on my own.”

“It´s all blurry after that. My brain was too busy keeping me alive to actually process what was happening. I was moving a lot, not staying in a place for too long. Living on a street is… something. You don´t know what it´s like until you had to fight for a piece of food or some clean water. In the end, it turned out I never left fucking Japan and I knew I needed to get back home. Back to you.”

“How did you know where I live?” Kirishima whispered, his voice all shaky. 

“I didn´t. I was lucky once more. I saw you after patrol one day, and I followed you to the apartment building. I thought you were just going somewhere and then just going home, that I would just wait for you outside. Then I saw the squad, talking about your birthday as they went inside. I thought it was a fucking restaurant or something, but when they left without you… I went to go look for you.” 

“I don´t even know what to say.”

Bakugo grabbed his face and force the redhead to look at him. “I don´t need you to say anything. But please help me get back into the game. We need to stop this shit. Hero Commission got away with too fucking much. We need to change it.” 

“We are, don´t worry. Do you… do you know what happened with your parents?”

Bakugo shook his head. “I assume the worst.”

“Fuck… this is… I am so angry. For what they did. For what they still do to us. Once being a hero meant being the one who was helping others. Now it´s all about money and popularity and it´s fucking bullshit.”

Kirishima didn´t swear normally. But this situation was far from normal.

“We are going to change the way it is. I swore my life to it already.” Katsuki nodded, leaning his head against Eijiro´s.

“The hair looks good. Thank you, Ei.” He whispered as he looked at their reflection in the mirror. Simple undercut, matching the one that Eijiro had. 

“From now on, we are in this together. I promise.” Eijiro leaned in to kiss the blond´s cheek, watching as a soft pink blush appeared on his neck. 

Together and forever. Eijiro already knew that.

There was a knock on the front door of his apartment. 

Katsuki immediately tensed on the couch where they were both lying, enjoying the movie as a reward for the blond’s progress. It´s been two weeks. Most of his wounds already healed. He could finally eat normally, even if he ate a lot less than Eijiro, it still meant something. 

So why someone decided to disturb this peace?

“Don´t worry, I am not letting anyone inside.” Kirishima whispered as he stood up, fixed the blanket over Bakugo, and walked towards the door. 

The knocking got louder, more urgent. And Kirishima open the door a little bit, just so he could see.

“Oh my god, you are alive.” Mina immediately relaxed. Pushing past him inside so quickly Kirishima didn´t even have time to react. 

“First you ask my girlfriend to come to do some nurse stuff here, then you call off sick to work and keep calling over and over again. It´s been two weeks, Eijiro! Where´s your phone? Why are you not replying to anyone?! 

We genuinely thought something happened.”

When Mina finished her rant, Kirishima just rolled his eyes at her.

“I am here, alive, breathing, unhurt. You checked on me, now you can go.” He tried to show her out of the hallway, back into the corridor but she didn´t budge.

“What happened?” She demanded the answers, not moving. Eijiro didn´t know what to do. How to come up with a lie so quickly. What would be even believable that made you bedridden for two weeks?

“I happened.” Both of them, turned towards the living room door, where Katsuki was standing, finally steady on his feet. 

“Hi. Nice to meet you.” Mina said to Bakugo, not recognizing him in the slightest before she turned to her friends. “Kiri if you finally found a boyfriend you could have just told us, and we would cover for you at work. We were honestly already planning to get you on some dating app if you didn´t find anyone in the…” 

Kirishima´s cheeks turned deep red. 

“Raccoon eyes.” Bakugo whispered, and that made Mina stop her rant. Slowly she turned back towards the other man. 

In that weird silence that fall in the room, Kirishima sneaked into the bedroom and came back with a framed photo of five freshly graduated UA students. He handed it to Mina, while she was still staring at the blond man in shock. She looked confused until she looked at the photo.

And drop it to the floor. Glass shattered everywhere. 

Mina started to shake.

“I remember you.” She covered her mouth, silent tears running down her cheeks. 

“Yeah. Bakugo´s back.” Eijiro offered, knowing damn well that Mina didn´t remember his name. No one did anymore. 

“Katsuki.” She breathed out and crossed the hallway in a few quick steps to throw her arms around the blond’s neck. “What… how?”

“I came back from death for revenge.” 

Eijiro watched from afar. With a soft smile. Things could go back to normal. He knew that.

He knew it when Mina, Denki, and Sero laughed together with Bakugo just a month later.

He knew it when Midoriya almost cried an indoor pool when he walked inside Kirishima´s apartment only to find Bakugo standing there. 

He knew it on the day when all heroes of their year, and even some younger and older joined them to fight against the commission.

He knew it the day he saw Katsuki back in his hero uniform, strong and amazing, handsome as ever…

He knew that everything will be like it once used to be… 

…and maybe even a little bit better. 

How did he know that? Because Katsuki was once again within his arm's reach whenever he needed or wanted him to be. 

There was new warmth that filled their apartment. 

“I love you, you idiot.” 

Soft words said with a smile, as they were both laying in a bed, limbs tangled and hearts beating as one. 

Even Eijiro´s shattered heart recognized the love that Katsuki poured into him without knowing. He found all the shattered pieces and glued them back together. And if there was some piece missing, he wasn´t scared to use a piece of his own heart.

Knowing it was worth it. 

Knowing it was meant to be.

“I have always loved you.”