A Light in Darkness

Chapter 4

The sun finally rises high enough to be seen out of the 3rd story window. The fog on the window from the cool air begins to disappear in the sunlight. The shark toothed boy, the only one awake in the room, shifts his gaze from his unconscious friend to the rising sun.

The light shows the dark circles under his eyes. He squints to look out the window, not because of the light, but because he is exhausted. The thought of what his friend has gone through has played on repeat within his mind for the last hour. Nothing he does can get the thoughts out of his mind.

The sound of breathing grabs the attention of the redhead. He quickly looks over to his sleeping friend, but the noise isn't coming from him. He then looks to the bed with his best friend lying unconscious on it. The boy's chest is rising up and down sporadically and it causes Kirishima to get up from his seat and walk over to the bed.

"Bakugo." His voice is soft and desperate. It sounds nothing like Kirishima, but it is the most that he can do.

Bakugo's chest continues to rise and fall in a sporadic way and after a few minutes the boy begins to move around. He rocks side to side, shaking his head the entire time. Shortly after the sound of humming leaves his mouth. He is trying to scream, but he is still affected by the talking quirk so the only noise he can make is a hum.

"Bakugo!" Kirishima calls out. He lightly grabs both of the boy's arms, trying to get him to stop thrashing around, but it doesn't work. It only makes the humming louder.

"Bakugo!" He screams out again. His scream wakes up Todoroki who jumps up from his seat, ready for anything. He looks at the pair next to the bed and rushes over to them.

"Is he okay?" Todoroki asks, looking down at Bakugo.

"I don't know he just started doing this all of a sudden."

Just then Bakugo shoots up. He jumps up from the bed and is in the corner of the room in an instant. Tears are falling down his face as his humming reaches its max volume and his erratic breathing makes it appear that he is having a panic attack.

The other two stand frozen, shocked by how fast Bakugo had moved and unsure of what to do.

"Bakugo." Todoroki's voice is as monotone as usual.

At the sound of his name, Bakugo looks at the other two for the first time. His eyes widen at the sight of them. They all make eye contact and the pair hold their breaths, waiting for what's to come.

Bakugo stands up, his tears stop falling from his eyes instantly and his breathing evens out. He looks down at himself. The blonde is almost fully nude except for a pair of boxers. None of his wounds have appeared to heal, but while he was sleeping his broken rib and jaw were fixed. The missing part of his skin has also started to heal over, but Recovery Girl's quirk just started healing that so it didn't seem like it healed.

He tries to talk, but only a hum can be heard. The other two boys look at each other before looking back at Bakugo.

"You can't talk until tomorrow." Kirishima says. Bakugo makes no indication that he heard Kirishima, but he did. Kirishima glances at Todoroki again before speaking a little louder. "They said that you got hit with a quirk so you won't be able to speak until tomorrow. But if you want to talk, you can write it down or text us." Kirishima gulps. "I want to talk to you and I want you to talk to me."

Bakugo tries to back up farther but he hits the wall.

Kirishima walks around the bed to get close to his friend. "A lot happened last night. I...I am sorry I wasn't there for you. I am sorry I couldn't save you or help you or protect you. I know you are strong. You are the strongest person that I know. But I want to protect you. I want you to be happy. I want you to be safe and to live a good life." His voice changes; now speaking in a harsh manner, "I won't let anyone hurt you again. I am going to make sure that whoever did this to you is going to jail. I won't let you be abused again!" He pauses and again his voice changes, this time going back to a soft tone. "You said you are in the darkness. You said that despite my light, your darkness prevailed. Well then I am just going to have to shine brighter. I won't let your darkness win. I will bring you out of that darkness and save you. I heard you. You don't want to die, Bakugo. You want to live, I know you do and I am going to make sure that you get to live the life that you want, not the one that you have been living."

Tears drip down Bakugo's face as Kirishima finishes up talking. For Bakugo, Kirishima was the only hope he had. He was the only person that he loved. Kirishima was everything to Bakugo in Bakugo's horrible world. And that is why he tried to kill himself. Bakugo didn't want Kirishima to worry about him. He didn't want Kirishima to be sad. He didn't want to make Kirishima sad or worried with his problems. But now Kirishima is sad. He is sad and worried and stressed and concerned about Bakugo. Bakugo made Kirishima upset.

Bakugo hangs his head down and holds his hand out. Without missing a beat, Kirishima pulls out his phone and opens up a blank note before handing the phone to Bakugo. Bakugo begins typing and when he is done he hands the phone back to Kirishima, making sure to not look at the redhead.

Kirishima takes the phone back. He didn't take his eyes off of Bakugo the entire time and it concerns him that the boy won't look back at him.

He looks down at the phone and gulps.

Leave. Just forget about me. I am fine. I made you sad and I don't want to make you sad. So leave and stop worrying about me. I am fine.

Tears drop onto the phone screen. Kirishima's breath hitches for a few moments. He looks down at the ground and he realizes exactly what he needs to do in order to save his best friend. He knows exactly what he has to do to save Bakugo.

He takes a deep breath with his head hanging down. As soon as the air leaves his lungs he wipes his tears and looks up at his best friend. Bakugo is still looking down and Todoroki stares at the other two from the other side of the room. He wants to talk. He wants to read what Bakugo wrote, but he knows he can't say anything. He trusts that Kirishima can take care of it.

"Bakugo." Kirishima tries to make his voice sound as normal as usual. "Please look at me."

Blonde hair starts to rise up and Bakugo's eyes look upon a smiling Kirishima. A shark toothed, ear-to-ear smile that is so big it causes Kirishima's eyes to close. A smile that Bakugo so dearly cherishes.

Kirishima holds the smile for a few seconds before he speaks again. "Bakugo." This time his voice is weak. Kirishima is trying to hold back tears and it is obvious in his voice. "I am not sad Bakugo. You didn't make me sad. I am so so so happy that you are alive. I am so happy that I get to be here with you. I am not sad, Bakugo. I am happy that you are here." He smiles once again, but his body seems to move on it's own and it launches itself at Bakugo.

He knows that Bakugo is injured and hurt, but it doesn't matter.

If Kirishima wants to save Bakugo, he can't treat him like a porcelain teapot. He can't pity him. He can't feel bad for him. He can't treat him any differently than before.

Bakugo needs to be treated normally. He needs to be treated as though everything that happened to him was just a bad nightmare. He needs to be treated like he was before everyone found out. He doesn't need pity. He doesn't need worry or concern. He needs normalcy and Kirishima is the only one who could fulfill that role for Bakugo.

Their bodies make contact and Kirishima wraps his arms around a crying Bakugo, squeezing him as tight as possible. Kirishima knows that his hug is greatly hurting Bakugo, but he doesn't ease up. "Bakugo. You are the manliest man I know. And I know that you don't need any protection, but I will still be here to protect you and I know you will always be here to protect me. That is what best friends are for."

Even though Bakugo can't talk, both boys know that he wouldn't have said anything either way. Instead he hugs Kirishima back as a stream of tears roll down his cheek.