Read Between The Lines ||TodoBaku||

One

It was 8:30 pm and Katsuki Bakugou was already in bed. Was he asleep? No. Did his classmates know that? He'd be caught dead before they did. He never truly went to sleep until about 8:45 or 9 o'clock anyways. He refused to go to sleep any later, even if it meant taking melatonin in order to do so. He was strict about that, more so than anything else, which was saying something because he was pretty strict when it came to a lot of things. He would run everyday before classes but if worst came to worst he would skip it every now and then. He might (not often) slip on his diet and eat a piece of cake Sato had baked. He would even break his childhood vow of never hanging out with Deku (sometimes he was cool, though Katsuki would literally never admit that, ever), but he would never ever stay up past his bedtime. Going to bed early was more important to him than he would ever really admit, even if he truly did have a good reason for it. Not that he would ever tell anyone. That was a secret he would take to his grave.

   When his class mates had asked him why he went to bed so early, he replied with the retort "fuck off, none of your business," then proceeded to walk back to the dorms faster than everyone else, borderline jogging. Once he got to his room, he locked the door and stayed in until an hour before his bedtime, and only came out to shower and grab a snack. He would rather die than tell a single soul the true reasoning behind his early hour departure. It wasn't that it was bad, just embarrassing. And even then, it probably wasn't even embarrassing, Bakugou just felt weak to think about it. He thought it made him weak. He thought a lot of things made him weak.

   The second time the question was presented was when Kaminari had called him "lame. Why the hell do you always go to bed so early, man? You miss all the fun, I mean it's nice not getting blown up past 9 pm but we all kinda miss having your angry ass around at night. I mean, even Todoroki stays up later than you, and he's just as strict as you are when it comes to-" and that's as far as Denki had made it that day before Bakugou blasted his face, bringing him to the brink of a short circuit. He was beginning to become scarily good with that task. "Wanna know why I go to bed so early?" Bakugou had asked, grinning wildly with his palm sparking, his other fist wound tight in Kaminari's shirt. There was nothing he found funny, but he had this way about him that if he were upset, sad, angry, etc, he would still smile. He guessed he copied that from all might as a kid and it just never went away, only twisted into something more sinister looking as his personality went to shit. Oh well. He thinks it makes him look more intimidating anyways which will come in handy eventually.

"It's because I'm gonna be #1, and while all you losers are getting half assed sleep and coming in groggy the next day, I'll be fully rested. So, dunce face, the next time you come in half asleep during training, I'll be sure to target you first. Because I would love to see you short circuit yourself to sleep. Kay?" He smiled sweetly, which was far more scary than him being boundlessly angry.

Far more scary.

Needless to say, Kaminari never brought up the subject again. The rest of the class having witnessed the interaction, didn't feel like bringing it up either which no one could blame each other for. Teasing Bakugou was fun to some friends in his circle but there came a time when certain topics were simply off limits, and that needed to be respected. Bakugou wasn't secretive, so when he did have one, his friends stayed within their boundaries. They knew they owed him that much. Regardless of how shitty Bakugou used to be or how currently emotionally constipated he is, he was still their friend, and they were his. He would sometimes take interest in their conversations, but he never pried, so why should they?

   The third time the question was asked, it was by Shouto, who meant for it to be in secret. Not that he was sneaking around trying to get dirt on the blonde, he just knew that it was an off-limit topic and he wanted to respect that. That didn't stop him from asking Midoriya what was up with him though. It never did. One of Shouto's biggest faults? He was nosy, but damn if he wasn't excellently good at hiding it.