Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was raining. 

Kirishima didn’t really care for rain. He preferred bright sunny days. Sure, rain may be good for the environment, but what could you do in it? Jump around in puddles? That was kid stuff. Sunny days, on the other hand, had nearly infinite potential. You could go to the beach, sunbathe, play a sport, go for a jog, or even just lie on the grass and take it all in. 

You can’t do any of that on a rainy day.

He sighed wistfully and watched the rain fall through the window in the hallway outside his classroom, wishing the sun would come out even for a few minutes. At least long enough for him to see the rays of sunlight cut through the sky. That would really brighten his day, no pun intended.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Kaminari, who was by now very familiar with the way rain affected Kirishima’s mood. “Cheer up, dude! It’s not like the sun’s gone forever.”

The redhead flashed a shark-toothed smile. “Yeah, you’re right.” He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. He didn’t mean for his moodiness to affect his friends. He reminded himself to make an effort to be cheerier; no reason to drag them down with him, right?

He looked over at Bakugo who was standing against one of the windows with his hands in his pockets, watching something outside. Kirishima had a feeling he liked the rain about as much as he did, but for more quirk-related reasons. He couldn’t exactly make super powerful explosions if all his sweat was being washed away by the rain, right?

Even so, there was something intriguing about how his eyes roved over the scene before him. Normally, he looked disinterested in everything his gaze fell upon, but the emotion behind his eyes didn’t quite look like disinterest. It looked more like he was searching for something. 

A flash of lightning lit up the sky and Kirishima could swear he saw excitement hiding in the blonde’s expression. The redhead watched as Bakugo closed his eyes and leaned closer to the window in what appeared to be anticipation. A few seconds passed before the following crash of thunder filled the air. The explosive teen’s lips quirked ever so slightly into a pleased smirk. 

Oh.

Kirishima must’ve been wrong about Bakugo not liking the rain if just the sound of thunder could bring a smile to the explosive boy’s face. 

“Dude.” Kirishima jumped when Kaminari’s hand came up to lay on his shoulder. “If you keep making goo goo eyes at Bakugo, you’re gonna be late for class.”

The redhead’s eyes widened, blood rushing to his cheeks in embarrassment. He threw his hands up in front of him and shook his head vigorously. “Oh! No, no, I wasn’t- I don’t know what you mean. I was just admiring his eyes- I mean the skies!” 

Kaminari laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes dramatically. He reached out and took hold of the flustered boy’s arm and started dragging him into the classroom. “Just come on, Lover Boy.”

Kirishima shut his mouth and let himself be led by the blonde, still red with embarrassment. He couldn’t believe Kaminari had caught him staring at Bakugo… again. What was that, the tenth time? He wasn’t exactly sure, but he knew it had to be a lot. 

He slumped into his seat, and tried to hide his pink cheeks while he dug through his bag for his journal. At least it was Kaminari who had noticed him staring and not Bakugo. He wasn’t sure if he would still be breathing if the self-proclaimed Lord Explosion Murder himself had caught him.

Their homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa, sat up from his place on the floor and set about extracting himself from the large yellow sleeping bag he was cocooned in. Once free, he rose to a standing position and took his place at the front of the class. By that point, every eye in the class was on him, waiting to hear what he had to say. “Good morning, students. As you may have heard, the board decided it was time to get all of you accustomed to handling weekly patrols, a necessity to be a Pro Hero.”

Kirishima perked up at the idea of patrolling. Now that the whole class had their provisional licenses, they would be legally allowed to act as heroes and use their quirks. It truly was an exciting thought. 

Mr. Aizawa continued. “These patrols will be starting today, just after Hero Training. You will be split into pairs and those pairs will be assigned to one of ten Pro Hero staff members here at UA.” The teacher faced the board and started writing down names. 

Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki with All Might. 

Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure with Ectoplasm. 

Momo Yaoyarozu and Kyoka Jiro with Present Mic. 

Eijiro Kirishima and Katsuki Bakugo with Eraserhead.

Kirishima’s heart skipped a beat. He’d been paired with Bakugo. He wasn’t exactly surprised, but he was still excited to spend more time with the blonde. Any amount of time they spent together was precious to the redhead. 

He turned his gaze over to the teen in question to find him staring at him with an indecipherable look. The pair locked eyes and Kirishima managed a nervous smile. 

This would either be the best day of his life or the worst.

<*><*><*>

The time had finally arrived and Kirishima was buzzing with nervous energy. He was beyond ready to get out into the city and fight some villains. With his hero costume in tow, he headed to the locker room with Bakugo, struggling to keep an enormous grin off his face. He could barely keep himself from rushing the rest of the way there. The sooner he was dressed and ready, the sooner they could get out into the field.

He turned to Bakugo. “You ready to get out there and fight some baddies, Blasty?”

The blonde scoffed in indifference, but a smirk was already creeping onto his face. “Always, Shitty Hair.” He glanced at Kirishima briefly. He seemed to notice something before facing the hall in front of them again. “Are you?”

Kirishima shrugged his shoulder. “I’m a little nervous, but I’m sure it’ll all be fine!” He flashed Bakugo a winning smile and pushed open the locker room door, gesturing for the blonde to go ahead of him. 

Bakugo wasted no time getting undressed, shucking his blazer as soon as he entered the locker room and tossing it onto a bench. Deft fingers found their way to shirt buttons and quickly worked them undone. 

Kirishima found himself immediately distracted in his own undressing by the newly exposed skin of Bakugo’s back, pausing with his hands hovering near the last button on his shirt as Bakugo’s button down joined the blazer. He swallowed as he watched the blonde undo his belt. 

The redhead quickly turned around to face his locker, face burning, and speedily discarded his own clothes. He needed to get a grip. It wasn’t manly to stare at someone while they were changing! That was totally an invasion of Bakugo’s privacy and he was sure the blonde would sock him in the jaw if he ever caught Kirishima doing it. 

“Oi.” Kirishima whipped around, afraid Bakugo had somehow sensed his thoughts, but was instead met with the boy - now clothed in most of his hero costume - holding up an eyeliner pencil. 

Oh. He’d started helping Bakugo with his eyeliner ages ago. He wasn’t sure how it all started, but he was more than happy to do it. 

He took the pencil and Bakugo closed his eyes, expression neutral. With a deep breath to steady himself, Kirishima placed his hand on Bakugo’s cheek, guiding his head into a better position. Bakugo let the redhead reposition him with no qualms, he was fully complacent and willing to be moved whichever way was most convenient. 

Kirishima wasn’t stupid, he knew that Bakugo had to trust him an awful lot to even let him place his hands near him, let alone around his eyes. It felt nice to know that he had the blonde’s trust, but at the same time it was the things like this - that only he and Bakugo shared - that fed the ever present jumbled up ball of nerves in his stomach. 

He wished he could lock those pesky nerves and all the emotions that came with them in a vault somewhere and never open it again. They were the one thing standing between him and maintaining this amazing and completely platonic relationship with Bakugo. 

Kirishima finished Bakugo’s eyeliner quickly, not allowing himself a second to indulge that part of himself that yearned for something more than just friendship. He gave Bakugo a smile and handed the pencil back to him before rising from the bench to put on the rest of his hero costume.

He heard the blonde scoff behind him, but Kirishima changed the subject to what they could face while out on their patrol. “Do you think we’ll get to fight some villains?”

The teen shrugged. “Probably not. They’ll be too scared of your horrific hair to come anywhere close.” 

Kirishima laughed, playfully punching Bakugo’s shoulder. With the mood light, they made their way to meet with Eraserhead and start their first official patrol.

Chapter Text

Patrolling started off incredibly slow. For the most part it was just Bakugo, Kirishima, and Aizawa walking the streets of Shibuya and keeping an ear out for any trouble. Bakugo flexed his hands and rolled his neck, feeling impossibly bored. “Where the hell are all the villains?” he grumbled, annoyed. He just wanted to blow something up already.

Aizawa sighed wearily. “It’s a good thing we haven’t come across any yet, Dynamight.” 

Bakugo whirled on his teacher, scowl on his face. “That’s not my fucking name. It’s Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight! Get it right,” he barked. Ever since he’d told everyone his hero name, everyone had been shortening it to Dynamight and it was starting to piss him off. Why all the fuss about choosing his own name if people were just gonna change it?

Aizawa sneered in disgust. “I’m not calling you that.”

Kirishima laughed and Bakugo whipped around to scowl at him, too. How dare he think this was funny? The redhead wiped at his eyes and flashed a smile at Bakugo that made his knees weak. Goddamn this stupid crush. It was getting on his nerves. 

“Your name is kind of a mouthful, Blasty. Not exactly the easiest to yell out in battle,” Kirishima reasoned thoughtfully. He put a hand to his chin and Bakugo couldn’t keep carmine eyes from following the movement. “Dynamight’s just easier sometimes, you know?” he added, flashing another shark-toothed grin at the blonde.

Bakugo frowned, but didn’t argue. “Whatever,” he muttered, finally looking away from the other teen. The redhead was like sunshine incarnate and it almost hurt to look at him when he smiled like that. He could feel something in his chest clench just seeing it. It was infuriating.

They kept walking, Bakugo stomping a little bit more than was necessary to communicate his displeasure at the current lack of enemies. They’d only be patrolling for a couple hours. If something didn’t happen soon, he’d lose a prime opportunity to kick some villain ass.

Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wait much longer. As they rounded a corner, the team heard a fearful scream break the quiet and immediately they started sprinting towards the scene. 

Bakugo let a smirk spread across his face. Finally, some action . 

The scream had come from a small café along the main street. Civilians were standing fearfully around the tables in front of the building, staring at the shattered glass door of the entrance. Two villains ran out with money drawers tucked under their arms. One was big and bulky looking with a giant horn on the center of his forehead, curved up like a rhinoceros. He looked like he had some kind of strength quirk.

The other one was gangly with arms that stretched longer than they should’ve. Based on appearance alone, Bakugo guessed his quirk probably had something to do with stretching his limbs.

He grinned maniacally. These guys looked like easy prey.

The villains looked over and noticed the heroes in training and their supervising Pro Hero. The big one immediately got angry. He let out a yell and charged, head held horn forward. 

Kirishima jumped into motion before Bakugo could. Guess he’d be taking the gangly dude on. As long as he got to blow a villain up, he would be fine.

As Kirishima reached the horned villain, he ducked low to avoid the horn and threw a hardened uppercut to the guy’s jaw. The man grunted in pain and staggered back, hand rubbing the spot gingerly. 

Bakugo turned from the pair and prepared to jump into the fight as well. Unfortunately for him, a teenager with short grey hair rushed out of the coffee shop at that moment and got directly in his line of fire, hands held up towards the gangly villain’s face. A bright flash of light emitted from her palms, stunning the villain. Securing her opening, she grabbed the guy’s arms and slung him to the ground, pressing a knee into his back to effectively immobilise him. 

“Hey!” Bakugo called out, anger rolling off his body. “That guy was mine!”

At the same time, Kirishima managed to get the big villain on the ground as well. He looked up at Bakugo and flashed him a goofy grin that had the blonde’s heart skipping a beat. “Don’t worry, dude! You’ll get to fight some villains eventually.”

Bakugo huffed, opening his mouth to respond. Before he could say anything, both villains twisted to grab their captors’ arms and held tightly. The ground beneath them turned into quicksand, starting to swallow the group up. 

Bakugo rushed forward, propelling himself with powerful explosions from his palms. He had to reach Kirishima. From the looks on those villains’ faces, they knew they weren’t about to die, which meant that they were trying to kidnap his friend, just like Bakugo had been kidnapped one year prior. 

When he reached a high enough momentum, he thrust his arm forward and stretched as far as he possibly could in Kirishima’s direction. He couldn’t let them take his best friend. He wouldn’t allow it. Bakugo had been lucky not to get tortured or worse while he was kidnapped, but he had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for Kirishima.

So he desperately reached for the redhead. “Kirishima!” he yelled. He was getting so close, but with every foot he covered, his best friend sunk even further into the asphalt.

Kirishima snapped his head to face Bakugo, still struggling to escape from the iron grip of the villain beneath him. There was genuine fear in his eyes. He wrenched one of his hands away and raised it toward Bakugo. “Come on!” he called out.

Memories of that same hand held out and those same words being shouted reverberated through the blonde’s skull and he grit his teeth. Kirishima was there for him back then, he’d be damned if he couldn’t be there for the idiot now. 

He let off another blast to propel him even faster. They were going to make it. Even if Bakugo reached him and ended up getting pulled into the ground as well, it’d be okay because they would be together. They were powerful enough together to defeat the villains and escape. They could probably even save a few civilians while they were at it.

The blonde liked his chances. He let a confident smirk take over his features. 

He would save Kirishima.

After what felt like ages, they were within arm’s reach of each other. But right as he was about to grab Kirishima and let off a blast to propel them both out of harm’s way, his forward momentum halted. His smile faded. He was falling. As he fell, his fingertips brushed against Kirishima’s.

Then Kirishima and the villains were gone and the ground returned to its solid state.

Bakugo screamed. 

Chapter Text

Aizawa watched Bakugo hurtle toward the villains, his blood running cold. All he could see before him was Bakugo ending up captured again. He couldn’t let that happen. The teen had gotten lucky the last time he’d been kidnapped. This time, he’d likely be in the custody of far less merciful villains.

Acting on instinct, he thrust his capture weapon in the direction of the explosive teen, praying that he would manage to grab ahold of the boy before it was too late. Please, for the love of all that is good, let this work, he thought desperately. 

The gray fabric encircled one of Bakugo’s legs and Aizawa pulled on his scarf with all his strength, effectively halting his movement. He watched as Kirishima disappeared from view, swallowing thickly. Well, at least he’d managed to save one of his students. The teacher frowned. No, he was a Pro Hero. He should’ve been able to save them both, or better yet, not even allowed them to get into that situation in the first place.

Aizawa was ripped from his thoughts by an agonized scream. It was Bakugo. 

At first, the hero thought the teen was injured, but when Bakugo placed his palms deliberately on the pavement and set off several explosions, Aizawa realised he had it wrong. Bakugo was in a different kind of pain. 

The teacher activated his quirk quickly to avoid any unnecessary destruction to public property. “Bakugo! Calm down!”

Either the blonde couldn’t hear him, or he was actively ignoring him, because Bakugo just let out an even louder scream. His voice was rough and scratchy, the sound breaking as if it was straining his throat. It was heart-breaking to hear one of his strongest students sounding so utterly broken. 

Unfortunately, the need to blink crept up on the hero too soon. As soon as his quirk returned to him, Bakugo let off a larger explosion.

This wasn’t good. He didn’t want to resort to it, but if that was what it would take to calm down the situation, he’d do what he had to. 

Aizawa pulled a syringe out of his utility belt and rushed to the boy’s side. Before another explosion could ignite, he punctured Bakugo’s upper arm and pressed firmly on the plunger, injecting the teen with a sedative manufactured from Midnight’s quirk.

Bakugo’s entire body tensed before rapidly relaxing. Aizawa saw the tears on the teens face and his heart clenched. Before the blonde fell completely unconscious, he let out a weak, “ Kirishima .”

The teacher sighed, placing a hand on the sedated boy’s shoulder. “We’ll get him back, Bakugo. I promise.”

<*><*><*>

“How did this happen?” All Might shook his head in disbelief. He, Aizawa and Recovery Girl were gathered in the med bay, waiting for the sedative to work its way out of Bakugo’s system. 

Aizawa sighed. This wasn’t where he wanted to be that day. He pressed a hand to the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. “There was no warning. Both the villains had been knocked down when they started sinking into the ground.” He took a breath, not meeting either of their eyes. “I erased their quirks. There must’ve been a third we couldn’t see.”

All Might crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrows furrowed. The situation wasn’t good. They didn’t have a single lead. Not to mention that this was the second time that a student of UA had been kidnapped while under Aizawa’s supposed protection. 

The underground hero felt a hand come down on his shoulder and looked up to see All Might giving him a small supportive smile. “Sounds like you did everything you could. So stop beating yourself up about it, okay?”

Aizawa’s frown grew and he shook off All Might’s hand with a sharp jerk of his shoulder. “Yeah,” he replied, but he didn’t think All Might believed him. Hell, he didn’t believe himself. After all, this all shouldn’t have happened with him in charge. He grimaced and hid his face behind his capture weapon.

Shifting on the bed in front of them drew the teachers’ attention. Bakugo was waking up. The teen blinked slowly, eyes on the ceiling. After a moment, his eyebrows furrowed and he moved to sit up. The moment his eyes landed on Aizawa, it was like the memory of what had happened a few hours earlier smacked into him and he gasped. Then his face twisted into a nasty snarl. He jerked forward violently only to be held back by Quirk-erasing restraints holding him to the gurney.

He didn’t even seem fazed by the restraints, which spoke volumes on its own. The blonde leveled a fierce glare at Aizawa. “Why the fuck did you stop me!? I could’ve saved him! He would be here right now if it wasn’t for you and your stupid scarf!”

The teacher looked back, unflinchingly. “Or we would’ve lost both of you.”

Bakugo’s face scrunched into an impossibly more severe expression. His upper lip was pulled back in a threatening snarl. “We would’ve been fine . We would’ve beaten them together .” He growled. “Now he’s alone. Let me fucking go so I can get him back.”

Aizawa sighed. He knew this would be difficult. “You know we can’t let you do that.”

“Like hell you can’t. You let him come when it was me!”

All Might spoke up, taking the weight of Bakugo’s aggression off of Aizawa for a moment. “Young Bakugo, what Kirishima and his classmates did back at Kamino was dangerous. They could’ve been seriously injured or worse.”

Bakugo scowled darkly. “Just let me go.”

Aizawa crossed his arms with a deep frown. This was going nowhere. “There are heroes already on the case.”

“Then put me on it, too!”

“Bakugo,” Aizawa warned. “If you went, you would only get in the way. You’re too close to the case emotionally.” Bakugo let out an indignant noise of complaint at the idea that he was emotional about anything. The teacher pressed on. “The best thing you can do is stay in the dorms, out of harm’s way.”

The blonde glared daggers at Aizawa. “Go fuck yourself,” he snarled venomously. He was practically shaking with anger, his muscles straining against the cuffs holding him down.

Aizawa released another exasperated sigh. This was getting on his nerves. He was beginning to think trying to reason with Bakugo was a mistake. He needed a bargaining chip that even the stubborn Bakugo wouldn’t be able to refuse. Then an idea popped into his head. It was harsh, but could work. 

He narrowed his eyes at his student. “If you try to rescue Kirishima, I’ll expel him.”

That got Bakugo’s attention. The blonde’s vicious expression melted away into one of shock. His eyes widened. “You… But he hasn’t even done anything!”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, as if asking for Bakugo to challenge him. He would absolutely do it. And he knew the threat of ruining Kirishima’s future as a hero would be something Bakugo wouldn’t risk.

The teen’s carmine eyes flicked between both of Aizawa’s searchingly. Apparently seeing the resolve to follow through with the threat, Bakugo hung his head, stopping his struggling and going almost limp where he sat. It was like the fight had instantly drained from him. “...fine,” he mumbled quietly, not looking up.

Aizawa seemed satisfied and stepped forward to undo the restraints on Bakugo’s arms. He didn’t miss the tears that hit the white sheet covering the teen’s lap.

Chapter Text

Kirishima woke up feeling groggy. Something in his head felt heavy and he struggled lifting it to view his surroundings. He was in a mostly empty room made out of what appeared to be concrete. Directly across the room, a large mirror spanned the length of the far wall. 

Looking at his reflection, he realised he was standing against one of the walls. Well, more like hanging . Both of his wrists were encircled by thick metal cuffs attached to iron chains, lifting him high enough that his toes barely touched the ground. He looked up at them and tested their hold, tugging sharply. He sighed when they didn’t budge.

This wasn’t how he thought his day would go. If only he had realised the potential danger he had put himself into back at the coffee shop. He should’ve just stepped back and let Mr. Aizawa handle it. Surely he wouldn’t be in this situation right now had he just waited for five seconds. He frowned. What an idiot.

A voice to his right stirred him from his thoughts. “Hey.”

His head snapped to face whoever was speaking to find the girl from the café staring back at him. Her eyes were a shockingly vibrant ultraviolet purple and were narrowed threateningly at him. He noted with surprise that, besides their colour, her eyes resembled Bakugo’s both in shape and the intensity of their gazes.

“Stop blaming yourself. None of this is your fault,” she ordered, her upper lip jerking to one side in a half snarl as she spoke. 

Kirishima’s eyes widened. Did she read his mind or something? “How did you-”

She scoffed. “It was written all over your face, hero.”

The redhead started at that. This girl thought he was a full-fledged hero! “No no no, I’m not a hero! Not yet anyway…” His hand itched to rub the back of his neck. He hadn’t realised he had made that a habit.

The girl rolled her eyes. A strand of her silver pixie cut slid into her vision and she glared at it angrily  before blowing at it fruitlessly. “Hero-in-training, then? Unless you’re just some weirdo who likes going around town with his chest fully exposed.”

Kirishima gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, I’m a student at UA.”

This seemed to impress her. She smirked. “No shit?”

He nodded. “I’m part of the Heroics Program!”

Something in her expression soured. “Fat lot of good that’s doing now, huh?”

Kirishima’s smile drooped and his gaze fell to the floor, eyebrows furrowed. She was right. He’d already been attending UA for a year. One would think he’d have learned at least something that could help him in this situation. “Yeah.”

The girl shrugged. “No use moping. What’s your name, Shitty Hair?”

Kirishima flinched. That was what Bakugo called him. She couldn’t have known that, but it still stung to hear someone else say it. Bakugo had tried to save him. He remembered watching the blonde soar across the pavement in his direction, hand outstretched. His fingers flexed, still feeling Bakugo’s fingertips brush against them. He had been so close to reaching him. The redhead was sure that the teen was raving mad right now, angrily trying to find the villains who kidnapped him. At least he could be sure someone was looking for him.

He looked up at the girl and gave a friendly smile. “Eijiro Kirishima. And you?”

“Chiara Coccio.” Her surname rolled off her tongue in a way that sounded foreign. He tried to mimic it, adding a respective suffix to it, but it sounded clunky coming from him. The girl smirked. “Just call me Chiara. Hate the formalities anyway.”

Kirishima gave a small thanks coupled with a nervous laugh. “Is your name European?”

She nodded. “Italian, yeah. My parents lived there before moving here for work,” she replied factually. Then she flashed a proud smile. “My mom’s Beacon.” 

Kirishima’s eyes widened. He had heard of her. She was one of the leading rescue heroes. Her quirk allowed her to produce light all over her body, helpful for disasters that happened at night. She was known as one of the leading rescue heroes around the globe. “Wow, that’s amazing! What about you? Do you want to be a hero?”

Chiara nodded. “Doesn’t everyone?”

Kirishima couldn't argue with that. Being a hero was every kid’s dream come true. He tilted his head. “Are you in a hero program?” 

She shook her head, suddenly looking wistful. “No. Not yet. But I will be.” She sounded determined. Kirishima admired that.

He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the door to the room creaked open. A pair of villains entered the room. One was slender and short with thick glasses and the other was stocky and balding. They both wore disturbing grins on their faces. 

“Look who’s awake,” the one with the glasses intonated lyrically.

Kirishima swallowed. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever was coming next…

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Bakugo to be released and sent on his way back to the dorms. His head kept replaying the moment that his fingers brushed against Kirishima’s and he fell to the ground. He wished he’d just been faster. He wished he was with Kirishima now, helping him to fight off the villains. He wished a lot of things that he couldn’t change now. 

Aizawa escorted him back to the dorms silently. The air between them was tense and almost stifling. But it was nothing to the atmosphere when he arrived at the dorms. 

The second he opened the front door, all eighteen pairs of eyes were on him and Aizawa. He could see worry and concern in their expressions, but the thing that churned his gut was the pity . He snarled defensively.

Deku was the first to break out of the weird staring. “Kaccha-” 

But Bakugo wasn’t listening. He turned on his heel and marched over to the elevator. He didn’t have to sit here and listen to them all pity him for losing his best friend to villains. He jammed his thumb into the button for the fourth floor and glared at the class as the doors closed.

For a moment he let that delicious fury flood into his veins. And he had every right to be pissed. How dare they look at him like that! He wasn’t some weakling! He would’ve saved Kirishima if Aizawa hadn’t stopped him before he got the chance. He had been right there . 

He drew in a deep, steadying breath. This would get him nowhere. No. What Kirishima needed from him now wasn’t rage. It was help getting away from those villains. 

As the elevator doors opened, Bakugo stored his rage away and strode to his room with a newfound determination. He was gonna find those villains and get Kirishima out even if he couldn’t go after them physically.

Once in his room, he pulled out his laptop. There had to be articles on the cafe hit already. Maybe someone took photos or something? Anything to help him identify the fuckers that took Kirishima. 

He found no less than three articles and dove into them, looking for details he missed in person. Two of the articles have pictures. 

The first is a picture of that silver-haired chick taking down that gangly villain. He frowned. If she hadn’t been there, then Bakugo would’ve been taken instead. He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for what ifs.

He looked at the second picture. It was a clear shot of Bakugo hurtling toward Kirishima and Aizawa’s capture weapon wrapping around his form. What caught his eye was just how close his hand was to Kirishima’s.

He scrolled down to find a picture of him exploding the asphalt and cringed. Not his best look. 

He quickly went back to the image that showed the villains best. It was shaky and hard to see concrete details, but that made sense since it was taken in the middle of a fight. He scoured both villains’ forms trying to find any identifying marks. But it wasn’t like these guys were wearing their names on their sleeves or anything. 

He spent hours analysing the pictures, trying to find anything that would help. It took so long that he ended up staying up well past his normal bedtime. He yawned. Then shook his head. He couldn’t sleep now. Not while Kirishima needed him.

<*><*><*>

Bakugo was back at the cafe. Everything was the same. The smell of bread and fresh rain in the air. The light spring breeze. The puddles of water littering the pavement. 

And the villains. Except… no. These weren’t the same villains from earlier that day. These were the villains who’d kidnapped Bakugo: the League of Villains. And this time there was no quicksand quirked asphalt, but instead a big black and purple portal that swirled with foreboding energy. 

And Kirishima was being held by the back of the neck by a grinning Dabi, just like Bakugo had been. 

Only when the villain started backing up was Bakugo able to move. He shot forward, reaching his hand toward his friend and stretching as far as he could. “Kirishima!” he yelled.

The redhead held his hand out to Bakugo. “Come on!” And for an instant, his friend was flying through the sky like he had back at Kamino. He blinked and Kirishima was tugged through the portal with Dabi.

 His fingertips brushed Kirishima’s. “No!”

And then he was in the League of Villains’ hideout, staring at a bound and chained Kirishima. The normally sunshiney redhead was crying and looking up at him with his arms latched together in front of his body. “Help me…”

Bakugo jolted upright, his sheets scorched and his body dripping sweat. He took several breaths to try and calm his racing heart. Pulling his knees to his chest, he put his head in his hands and let himself fall apart.