Maskless (Bakugou public identity reveal and au)

Chapter 8: Friendship

A good portion of class 1-A is allowed into the hospital the day after Bakugou woke up. Midoriya, Kaminari, Sero, Todoroki, Jirou, Asui, Iida, and Yaoyorozu sit in the waiting room. Kirishima, sitting in Bakugou's room next to Ashido, both of them in the uncomfortable plastic chairs hospitals wouldn't be hospitals without, fidgets with a card in his hands.

Everyone in Class 1-A had pitched in to decorate the card with personalized notes and comments of thanks. Even a few students from other classes sent cards with them to be brought to the hospital. Kirishima bites his lip.

"Stop that," Ashido says firmly with a furrowed brow. Her voice is held down in a whisper so that she does not wake their slumbering friend.

Kirishima glances at her for just a moment. He stops biting at his lip, but the tense air in the room does not loosen its grip on their straining shoulders. It takes a while before Kirishima murmurs, "Look at him, Mina. He's hurt. Bad. Where were we when that happened? Oh yeah," he scoffs morosely, rolling his eyes in disgust, a deep sadness filling them icily beneath the tsunami of self-directed anger. "We were at a coffee shop. Relaxing."

Ashido frowns. "Don't go pulling this crap again, Kirishima. Nobody knew anything, and that's how he wanted it." Her sad eyes roam Bakugou's firmly wrapped body. She turns toward Kirishima and speaks firmly. "He'll be mad at you if he hears this stuff coming out of your mouth, so quit it, yeah? It's not good to ruminate on regrets."

"Ruminate is a big-ass word for you, Raccoon Eyes. When'd you learn it?" comes a scratchy and weak rasp from the bed. Kirishima and Ashido's eyes widen as they stare at one another before both of their necks snap toward the bed.

Bakugou sneers up at them, though it looks more like a grimace.

"Bakugou!" Kirishima shouts in surprise. His hands come up to hover over the side of the bed, shaking like leaves. "Bro, do you need anything? Water?"

"Shut the fuck up with that crap, Shitty Hair. I don't fucking need anything right now other than for everyone to not get all up in my face," Bakugou retorts, voice saying otherwise.

Kirishima frowns but slumps back into his chair. Ashido looks between the two of them before she smiles impishly. "You know, Bakugou," she starts up, a suspiciously teasing tone in her voice, "this dumbass has been so worried about you for days. I almost started thinking he has a crush on you."

Kirishima's mouth snaps open, and he slams back and twists towards her in shock, almost knocking himself off of his chair even as he grabs its arms in a death-grip. From the look on his face, his classmates can tell he is baffled and disturbed, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "WHA—ASHIDO!" he exclaims in disgust.

Bakugou snorts from the bed. "Fuck, Shitty Hair, I knew you follow me around like a lost puppy, but I didn't know you liked me that much," he says, sounding way too serious.

Ashido leans towards Bakugou with her mouth open wide in silent, shocked hilarity before falling back into her chair with seizing laughter. "Oh my GOSH, BAKUGOU! I didn't know you could even make a joke like—"

There goes her chair. "Ah—"

Kirishima wants to roll over and die, his expression one of horror as he sits in his chair, staring out the window.

Bakugou smiles. A real smile, though a small one twisted a bit into a sneer. He knows most things won't be like this, now, and most people won't act like this with him...this moment, though? These people? A bit of normal stupidity after everything makes him feel so much better.

His teeth clench, lips thinning, and his blood-red eyes stare up at the ceiling. He knows he needs to address it. Throat going dry—feeling that way more-so than they already were, at least—Bakugou swallows, Adam's apple bobbing.