Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three faint knocks rang through the deadly silent hallways of the dorms. Kirishima groaned softly to himself as he reluctantly pulled himself out of his warm bed to open the door. All traces of melatonin flushed from his system as he opened the door to see Katsuki, cheeks painted with streaks coming from his obviously exhausted ruby eyes. Tears from what, he had no idea.

“Bakugo?” he spoke slightly below a whisper, “what are you-“

Katsuki opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. He looked conflicted, like he wasn't sure if he really wanted to be there or not. He let out a shaky breath and looked off to the side. This wasn’t the Bakugo he knew at all.

“Can I come in?” He mustered in a weak but pained tone. it physically pained him; he couldn’t believe how lame he was, showing himself like this to any living being.

Kirishima nodded and stepped aside, turning on a light to illuminate the room so Katsuki could see where he was going. Quietly closing the door behind his friend, he grabbed some tissues off his desk just in case. As Bakugo found a seat on his friends bed,  He cautiously approached the issue.

“Something bothering you?” He kept his usual brash and energetic voice in a sweet and soft tone, genuinely concerned about his friend.

His question seemed to make Katsuki tense. He hated talking about his feelings, it was always stupid to talk about. He hated the way it made him feel but at the same time he felt like if he didn't say something soon, he’d never get out of this rut he’s in. His brows furrowed in concentration to find the right words, picking at his fingers while the anxiety inducing silence made everything worse

With an empathetic look, Kirishima placed a friendly hand on his shoulder to ground him some before joining the other on his bed. “It's okay, take your time. Whatever has you freaking out, we can fix it, okay? Im here for you, I’ve got you.”

Katsuki nodded slightly and let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. Trying to find the words to explain how he was feeling became obsolete, seeing as all that came to mind was the question he'd asked himself millions of times before. 

“am I really fit to be a hero?”

The hardly audible question shocked the redhead. He could tell Katsuki had contemplated the question himself many times.

 “What are you talking about?” He said with a small laugh, only it lacked humor. “Of course you are-“

“You saw how I did at the provisional exam" the troubled blond boy interrupted. "I'm not good with people and I never will be. I failed because they all hated me. I failed because I'm nothing like All Might and I never have been. I'll never get to beat stupid Deku at this rate..." His next words caught in his throat before coming out "I'll never be a real hero.” Hot tears of frustration spilled over at the thought of the probable outcome on his career.

Kirishima sighed.  “Look, I won’t say you’re not rough around the edges but everyone has something they can work on. We can work on your people skills. I mean, sure it's important for people to like you but It's not everything people look at. You have great potential, Bakugo. Id rather keep you a hero than become a villain.” He joked a little to try and lighten the mood.

A moment passed before Kirishima continued.

“We’re still training... We’re still learning. You can’t be perfect going into everything, Bakugo. Hell we’re only first years and we’ve seen more combat than any other class. You got kidnapped by the biggest threat to hero kind and made it out alive. Not only are you fierce in heated combat, you’re smart about your moves. With a little bit of tweaking, I’m sure you’ll be running laps around Midoriya in no time." A warm smile spread across his face as he tried to make eye contact with Bakugo, who’s eyes seemingly haven’t come off the floor since he opened the door.

by now his tears have dried, only to be replaced with the look of sheer drainage before slightly lifting his head to look at Kirishima.

“Do you really think that?”

“Of course”

Katsuki flashed him a weak half smile

“Thanks”

A moment passed again.

“Since we’re here, is there anything else you want to get off your chest. I know how you are, I promise nothing leaves this room”.

Kirishima is such a good friend.

With a small nod from Katsuki, he leaned back and made room on his lap for his troubled friends tired head to rest as he continued to talk about whatever came to mind. Kirishima Mindlessly played with Katsuki’s hair to distract him while Katsuki spoke. Time quickly dissolved into nothingness during the hours that passed as quiet conversation rallied back and forth. The red head had never seen the other talk so much, let along openly discuss his feelings and memories with him. It was interesting to see this side of Katsuki, it made him smile a little as he looked down at the blond boy.

"The fuck are you smiling at? I'm telling you my shitty life story and you're smiling?" he growled through his teeth. Kirishima brushed it off; at least he was feeling better. 

“You know...you're not a bad person, Bakugo and you’re certainly not a bad hero, er well, hero-in-training. You’re gonna be great” he spoke with upmost sincerity

You’re gonna be great

Before Katsuki could process the words completely, tears welled up in his eyes again. Stupid shitty hair and his stupid supportive words making him cry again.

He cleared his throat and sat up, wiping way any trace of his tears before they could fall. He took a shaky breath, looking at the red head. God he was so tired now. What time was it? A quick glance at the digital clock told him it was around 2 in the morning by now. He had hardly realized how late it had gotten, or more importantly, how long he kept the other up on a school night.

“It's late, we should go to sleep. You never heard any of this and you definitely never saw me cry. Got it?” Katsuki hissed, accompanied with his usual threatening claw

The other laughed slightly with a small nod

“Got it.”

Katsuki then moved to get off his friends bed, making his way to the door while Kirishima followed to see him out.

“Hey Bakugo?”

“Hm?”

“Why me of all people?”

A handful of reasons why came to mind but knowing the cool Katsuki, he just shrugged it off.

“You were the closest person”

Kirishima rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly, not reading too much into it as he pushed his door closed only to have it pushed back to him. 

Katsuki looked at him “thank you for everything and uh…goodnight” he mumbled softly.

Obviously uncomfortable saying thanks for letting him rant, he spoke quickly before turning on his heel and heading to his room, disappearing behind the soft click of his own door.

Kirishima shook his head with a soft smile before closing his door, hitting his light, and plopping back down on his bed.

Somewhat awake now, he couldn’t help but think of his conversation with Bakugo. He picked up his small stuffed shark he’d kept from his childhood and played with it while thinking out loud.

“I wonder what else he’s got pent up. Being like that for forever and not talking about it?” His pout melted into a smile.

“That doesn’t matter now, we’re gonna help him Sharkboy. We’re gonna make him nicer and he'll be back on track in no time.” He set his stuffed animal down with a small sigh.

This is gonna be a lot of work.

Chapter Text

Sheer panic was the first thing Kirishima remembered feeling as he shot into an upright position, looking at his clock. A loud “FUCK” rang through the air as he stumbled out of bed oh-so gracefully and getting dressed in record time.

He woke up so late he didn’t have time to shower or brush his teeth but he definitely had time to kiss his little Sharkboy before grabbing a granola bar and booking it out the door for class. He attempted to fix his hair as he sped walked down the hall, packaged bar in his mouth, before he gave up all together and left it down in a slight disheveled look. his prominent black roots peeked through the red strands, reminding him to get some more dye when he has the chance. 

On his way out he caught a glimpse of Katsuki getting up from his seat in the dining area, quickly washing the dishes he used and setting them aside to dry. Without thinking, Kirishima smiled brightly and waved at him which elicited the same response it normally would; Katsuki rolling his eyes in annoyance while throwing his bag over his shoulder and walking towards the front door. He expected nothing less and honestly didn't mind; it took Katsuki this long to just talk, no need to rush it. 

He followed out the door after Katsuki, meaning to talk to him while he could, but that plan went out the window when Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido swarmed him.

“Man I can’t believe you slept through your alarm, even I could hear it” Kaminari laughed. Ashido joined in ridiculing, poking at Kirishima's sides with a curious grin “What were you doing, huh? You must’ve been up pretty late to miss your alarm”. Still within earshot, Katsuki tensed a bit. He only relaxed again when Kirishima brushed it off, making up some bullshit excuse like he was studying or something. Kirishima ate his granola bar as he deflected Ashido's impossible (and rather embarassing) accusations or Kaminari's snarky remarks. 

Katsuki shook his head and increased his speed to get away from the small group. Walking up the entrance steps, he noticed a familiar mass of green out the corner of his eye. His lips curled up into an impish smirk as he drew closer to Midoriya, smacking the back of his head as he passed him.

“What was that for, Kaccan?” Midoriya whined, rubbing the back of his head.

“You were in my way"

“Kaccan, there’s literally a whole staircase for you to walk on." he gestured to the open area of steps. "Was I really in your way or do you just enjoy pushing me around?” he raising an eyebrow, knowingly calling him on his shit again.

Before Katsuki could threaten the other boys life for accusing him of such things, a solid smack landed on the back of his own head. He turned to see who dare hit him, teeth bare and ready to fucking fight.

“ICYHOT, WHAT THE HELL? YOU GOT A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHING?”

“What? You were in my way” Todoroki mocked, straight faced before smirking at Midoriya.

“ILL KICK BOTH YOUR ASSES-“

A hand fell over his mouth and forcefully pushed him along inside, Kirishima apologizing on behalf of the now violently thrashing boy while leaving his other friends behind. Katsuki went to bite his hand only to be unpleasantly shocked when his jaws came down at full force onto his friends stupid quirk. A small exclamation of pain seemed to be enough for Kirishima to move his hand, only after pulling him to an empty hallway. “You okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you-“

“YOU GOT A FUCKING DEATH WISH TOO, SHITTY HAIR?” Katsuki growled while holding his jaw. Definitely not his smartest choice.

Kirishima scowled, he has GOT to stop cutting him off. he did a quick once-over of the hallway to make sure it was clear before scolding him in a hushed tone. “Remember that thing we talked about? that 2+ hour talk? How you've never been good with people? Well lesson one: don’t go around smacking classmates! These people are supposed to be your future colleagues, how can people look up to you and trust you if you don’t get along with your colleagues?”

Katsuki took a long hard look at him before rolling his eyes. “It's too early for this shit” he grumbled before pushing past Kirishima and heading to class.

Kirishima sighed and shook his head while heading to class as well. Classes took place as usual. Aizawa told the class briefly about community opportunities and how students are encouraged to help out. They’ll be running 3 times a week for the next couple of months so everyone has a chance to earn some extra credit. Regular academics took place soon after, nothing too exciting.

Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, definitely feeling that late night now. Time moved so slow he could even see the will to live fade from his classmates. Resting his face in his palm, he let his mind wander. Maybe Aizawa would let him use the gym after school. Maybe he would help them; input from a pro hero is never a bad thing. Or if he could get his hands on some simluation time, that'd be good too. He shouldn't focus on just fighting, Bakugo wants to be more likeable. How do you make someone like him, likeable? Maybe Midoriya could help. Oh but Bakugo hates him..which is perfect! Not only would they make a powerful duo, but the history they already have would be a great place to start. But if Bakugo wanted him to know then he would've gone to him instead, right? He sighed and glanced over at Katuski before deciding. He'll ask Midoriya for help. 

Not that much time passed after his little zone session that they were dismissed for their lunch break. Heading down to the cafeteria, Kirishima collected his lunch and immediately scoped out the room, searching for Midoriya. Sure enough he was sitting at the far end of the room with Todoroki, seemingly engaged in lively conversation. If he can bring that out in Todoroki then why shouldn't he be able to with Bakugo? with another quick scan across the room, Katsuki was nowhere in sight. he must be eating in the classroom.

Perfect

Kirishima approached their table, sitting across from them with a friendly smile. Midoriya reciprocated the smile along with a friendly wave while Todoroki went back to casually eating his food.

“Hey Kirishima, what’s up? You look tired, have you been sleeping properly? don't tell me you cut your punching bag open again.” he sighed. Kirishima shook his head but smiled slightly; Same caring Midoriya as always.

he rubbed the back of his neck as he quickly went over the pro’s and con’s again. no, this is whats best for him, it'll help.

“It's nothing like that, my punching bag is fine. I have a favor to ask actually..”

Only now did Todoroki look up from his lunch. “What is it, rocky? Cmon, out with it” Even with no real malicious intent behind his words, Midoriya still jumped to shush him for coming off rude.

“I need your help. It's about Bakugo” he finally said quietly, careful to not let any of the surrounding students hear.

Midoriya’s friendly smile melted into a concerned look “is Kaccan okay? What’s wrong?”

Todoroki rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

Kirishima put his hands up and waved them “he's okay. Well more or less.. he uh..well he came to my room with an issue last night. We talked for a while, which is why I'm so tired, and I want to help him with the issue he’s having but I don’t think I could do it on my own”

Midoriya nodded along, listening intently while Todoroki played the "Friends" intro in his head, blinking along to the claps. 

“I want to help him improve his fighting technique, as we always do, but I also want to improve his people skills. that's where you come in”

he raised an eyebrow, “Kaccan hates me though, wouldn’t it just make things harder?”

“That’s what I first thought but no. After thinking it over, you’d be perfect to help Bakugo. If we can find some common ground for both of you to talk to each other then the rest should follow, right? besides who could refuse to work with you, you're a literal ball of sunshine”. He realized the mistake in his words as soon as they came out. "Worst case scenario, we lure him in with the possible power duo you guys could put together"

Midoriya gave him a skeptical look as he took a second to think it over. It’ll help Kaccan move forward and be greatly beneficial in the long run but Kaccan absolutely hates him. Getting a dog to speak German would be easier than getting Kaccan to work with him.

“If it helps Kaccan then I'm in. I'll give it my all, plus ultra” he said, face gleaming with determination and optimism.

Kirishima’s face lit up “you will? That’s great!”

“If he’s in then I’m in too.” Todoroki chimed in.

“Really?” Replied the other two in unison.

“Yeah I mean, I’m his classmate too right? Besides, I gotta keep you from getting your ass kicked” he continued, shooting a glance at Midoriya. “Should be fun, I can’t wait” he deadpanned.

He couldn’t tell if Todoroki's monotone voice at the end was supposed to be serious or sarcastic but for optimistic sake, he went with serious.

“So I was thinking..” Kirishima pulled out a notebook and began drafting a schedule for training time and how to incorporate charismatic exercises to improve his people skills. The schedule went as far as the end of the school year, keeping some parts blank for rest days and opportunities to come. After the three of them added their own tweaks and details to the schedule, they reached an agreement.

Looking it over, a sense of accomplishment filled him. This Is how they were gonna help Katsuki. Now the problem is getting the go ahead to use school property, and telling Katuski that the last two people he would want to work with are part of the plan to help him.

lunch neared its end so the trio left before it was time to head back to class. Kirishima walked with Midoriya and Todoroki, stopping in on Aizawa's office to quickly pitch their plan and request access to school equipment. 

Aizawa looked over and studied the meticulous final draft of their schedule before looking up at them and handing it back. "You can use the gym but I'll have to ask principle Nezu about using Ground Beta for additional training. you can't use the simulations without a staff member there so if you're going to use it according to this schedule, you're gonna have to find some teachers willing to supervise." 

"Would you be willing to supervise us? Not all the time, of course, but it could be some quality naptime for you" Midoriya cooed sweetly, playing the innocence card.

Aziawa narrowed his eyes on the broccoli fluff. damn he's good. "Don't patronize me. let me run it by principle Nezu and if by some grace of god it's okay, I'll let you know when I'm willing to stay. Now go, before you're late to your afternoon classes." 

"yes, thank you Aizawa-Sensei" kirishima gleamed, bowing in graditude. Aziawa shooed them off as the group exited his office and headed to class. One down, one to go.

Walking into class, Iida was already screaming for everyone to get in their seats as the group dispersed and quietly sat down. Kirishima and Katsuki locked eyes for a second; immediately Katsuki could tell something was up. He glared at Kirishima as he tore a small piece of paper out of the notebook he'd been carrying and wrote on it, folding it up and handing it to Seto while nudging his head towards Katsuki to which Sero happily obliged. 

" Gym Gamma after school. We get started tonight."

Another look was exchanged before Katsuki slipped the note in his pocket, as a way of confirming that he'd be there before looking forward to start class. Sero glanced between the two of them before locking eyes with Kirishima with an eyebrow raised. Kirishima waved it off and turned to face the front as well.  

Chapter Text

okay so I originally started this trying to be cool and because my friend wouldn't role-play with me. sounds super cringy right? well anyway, I had so many great ideas for this story and like...putting words and storylines together aren't my strong suit if you couldn't tell. I tried to push past that and believe that I was writing a somewhat good story but the more chapters I tried to right the more I thought "OH THAT WOULD'VE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER IN CHAPTER SO-AND-SO" or "THIS CHAPTER SHOULD'VE HAD THIS SO IT WOULD MAKE THAT CHAPTER SO MUCH BETTER". It got to the point to where essentially everything should've been written differently and I just interally gave up on it. I started a chapter three but I never got pass Bakugo screaming at Kirishima. In addition to giving up because of my shitty writing, I've also been severely depresso and stressed and just a mess overall. I think i went wrong with just posting it right away instead of writing it ahead of time and proofing it all and then posting it all at once. I think thats the only way i'll be content with my writing. That being said, I will probably do just that. I've given up on this story because it needs alot of changes BUT....I will be back with a new and improved version for those who read it, liked it (unlikely) or for the people who just found it and wanted to read more of my heaping pile of dogshit. I guess just keep my account in mind? and the new version should be up at least by the end of the year or so I'm hoping. sorry in advance because I'm usually a fucking liar.

I sincerely love all you guys who even gave my story a chance, I'm sorry it was as bad as it was. thanks to the people who actually liked and commented on it, showing their support. I hope to see you guys when I come back better prepared and better organized, I just want to give you guys the perfect story you deserve.

Don't hate me, please <3