Never trust a grape... [Trans!Bakugou x Kirishima]

[NicTheDjinn]

Kirishima didn't know whether to be grateful for the closed door or not, breathing smoke wouldn't do either him or Bakugou any good, but the balcony was open and it helped a lot, and with the smoke from under the door they might actually scare more people than it was necessary. With the bleak light of the hallway cut off, it was harder to make out things in the dark, but he didn't mind one bit. It gave... some sort of security for now, like cutting off the real world.

Even if he doubted Bakugou would be able to feel safe in his own room after that. At least not in the nearest future.

Catching his panicked look in Shouji's direction, Kirishima quickly put a gentle hand on his ankle, hoping to both catch his attention and not spook him with a simple touch. "Hey, it's alright. It's just Shouji, he's safe, you're safe. He'd just get some help for us, okay?" Honestly, in the shell-shocked state Bakugou was in, he didn't really hope to get a coherent response or a reaction any time soon. So when the blond actually spoke up, he sighed in relief, not even aware how much the silence was bothering him until now. This was one of the scariest and fucked-up experiences in his life, he had no idea what to do or whether he was supposed to do something at all. It was wrong. What happened was so, so wrong, but undeniable, and Kirishima just couldn't wrap his head around the fact. Why would someone - who could - they were heroes! No hero would ever, ever do something like that.

And yet here they were, sitting in Bakugou's charred room, him staring at his hand like he saw something else and Kirishima barely keeping himself from bolting out of the room to kill someone.

There was little doubt he could... pretty much do that. The moment Bakugou spoke up, when his words registered, everything became a white noise for a moment - the frantic voices of their friends outside the door, Bakugou's heavy breathing, Kirishima's own quickening heartbeat. He was just so blindly, stupidly furious at whoever did that, he could feel ripples of his quirk running down his arms and back. Surely no one would mind if he broke the bastard's face, right? Whoever did this deserved that. Maybe others would even join. No one dared to hurt his friends and just walk away from that, he didn't care what -

His train of thought came to a screeching halt the moment Bakugou's body slammed against him, nearly toppling them over. And just like that, with a single sob from Bakugou all the anger seemed to just seep away like smoke, leaving behind only crashing guilt and heartache. "Shhh, it's okay, I'm here, hear me? I'm not gonna let anyone lay a finger on you, I swear. It's okay. I'm here for you," was all he could murmur, helpless, reaching to hug Bakugou before thinking against it. Instead, he reached for the blanket on the bed - charred, of course, but most part of it was still good, so he wrapped it around his friend's shaking form, only then hugging him tight and rocking slowly, 'it's okay' like a mantra he was probably tryint to convince them both in. How could a normal day end up fucked up so badly? Why on earth would anyone want to do this? Just - why? What made someone think that this was an okay thing to do? Kirishima didn't know what was worse, the fact that it happened at all or the fact that it happened to his best friend, the boy who already been through enough. Bakugou didn't deserve that, no one deserved that.

After what seemed like an hour there was a soft knock on the door, and only then Kirishima noticed that all the murmur outside quieted. Instead, almost painful relief flooded him at Aizawa's familiar drawl. "Bakugou? Kirishima? I'm going to come in now if that's alright."

"Is it okay with you?" Kirishima ran his hand through Bakugou's hair, ceasing his unconscious rocking. "If you wanna, I can just go talk to him instead, though I'm sure it'd be better if you do it."

-----

The smoke was being sucked out of the room via the open balcony door so it wouldn't be an issue for long. Thanks to his quirk, Bakugou actually didn't have much trouble with smoke inhalation as it took quite a lot to actually affect him. Kirishima wasn't so lucky in that regard, but at least the smoke was clearing. The door being closed helped calm him some, but it was hard to feel safe in his room at the moment. The sudden coming and going of Shouji didn't help things, but knowing that the guy was a gentle giant and had actively worked towards his safety in the past helped some. This didn't change the fact that his stress and anxiety were currently through the roof, but it kept it from getting SO much worse.

The touch to his ankle, sure enough, caused a tiny jump and for his attention to snap back onto Kirishima, but the spike in his panic only lasted a second before he was settling back down into that fearful shock of before. It was amazing how comfortable he was around the faux redhead after everything that had happened. He trusted him enough to force himself to speak and vaguely explain what had happened. Trusted him enough even to seek out touch. Rather suddenly at that. Thankfully, Kirishima responded well to his somewhat violent demand for physical comfort. He promised him safety that he didn't quite trust, then wrapped him up in his own ruined blanket only to follow up with a hug. Why was this boy so perfect? What did Katsuki ever do to deserve him? He had no idea, but he couldn't be more thankful in that moment.

He soaked in the comfort, the safe feeling, the reasurances, needing them at the moment as much as he needed to breathe. Slowly his sobs settled into quiet hiccups only for the boy to be startled by a soft knock of all things. He held his breath like he expected a demon to knock in the door, the muffled sound of their teacher's voice calling from the other side a second later. Aizawa had come to see what was wrong. Of course he had. Now he needed to make a choice, let Kirishima be his voice or speak to the man himself. Despite the fear and anxiety still thick in his blood, he knew what he should do. He took a deep, calming breath, forcing his tears to slow to a stop.

"It ain't locked!" He called back, though he hadn't moved from where Kirishima was hugging him, even going so far as to finally slip his arms around the other's waist and hold him close to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Some part of him was embarrassed to be seen like this and even ashamed for needing the comfort, but a bigger part of him needed it and in the end it was apparently bad enough for him to yield and do as that part told him. Like before, he had to mentally reassure himself that their sensei was safe and that he wouldn't be hurt.