Tics and Scratches

Chapter 14

A small tentative knock pulled Bakugo out of the weird trance that he had found himself in. Finally able to focus on something other than the prospect of talking to his parents, he tiredly yanked his dorm door open revealing an anxious looking red head carrying his bag which he had completely forgotten about. The two stood in silence, staring at each other as Bakugo continued to whistle and flinch, the aftermath of the tic attack still haunting his body.

"You coming in or what then?" Bakugo finally muttered once he realised Kirishima was making no effort to move. Stepping to the side of his doorway, he allowed Kirishima directly into his room. It had been a while since they hung out alone and the idea of it set butterflies soaring through Bakugo's chest, which he quickly and efficiently squashed. He already had enough wrong with him without adding getting butterflies around his very much MALE best friend to the list.

Another rising tingle sent his head shooting up and backwards, bobbing a couple of times in place forcing him to just stare at the ceiling waiting for his friend to close the door. Somehow, before he even had a chance to lower his head he heard the door shut, his bag hit the floor and felt a set of arms encase his body. The sound of a sob tearing through Kirishima's body scared the blonde enough to prompt his body into giving him control of his neck again. The one thing he would admit he isn't good at is comforting crying people.

Bakugo's first call of action was attempting to calm his racing heart which was a spectacular fail so instead he turned to plan B and wrapped his arms around his friend, beginning to rub his back softly.

"uh -" He begun, trying to formulate a comforting speech in three seconds flat but the nerves were making his tics worse. He knew now wasn't the time to be letting them out but he was just so exhausted from earlier that he couldn't help it. "Red riot unbreakable! You're manly. Manly manly." He thanked his body for at least choosing to not tell the crying boy in his arms that he's an extra and should go die. The small victories count. "um Ei. Are you...okay?" He nervously asked as Kirishima seemed to go still in arms before shuddering again.

"Are your tics trying to comfort me?" Eijiro chuckled, burying his head further into the side of Bakugo's neck. There were still tears streaming falling onto his shoulder but Bakugo counted the small giggles as a step in the right direction.

"Well somethings gotta help me out here, Ei." Bakugo murmured, still slowly rubbing the other's back prompting another small wet chuckle to tumble out of Kirishima. "What's going on?" He continued after a few excessively loud whistles broke through the air of the room.

Suddenly Kirishima pulled away from Bakugo's embrace, wiping furiously at the tears that were still streaming down his face. Bakugo sealed the image of Kirishima's red nose deep inside of his brain. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to make this about me, I was just so worried and then Denki freaked me out by talking about seizures and then I got thinking and was like oh my god what if it is seizures and you were burning yourself and Aizawa wouldn't let me see you and -" The outpour of words from his friend's mouth left Bakugo speachless. Yet the other boy couldn't seem to stop as he rambled on and on about how worried he'd been, barely breathing before he moved onto his next thought. About how he hadn't known what was going on, how he was just so relieved to see that Bakugo was semi-alright. And with every new worry Kirishima shared came a stabbing pain in Bakugo's chest. He had thought he had been helping those around him by keeping this all of a secret but it was becoming clearer and clearer as the weeks passed by that he was so incredibly wrong. 

Therefore, while Kirishima was mid rant, Bakugo took a few steps forward and wrapped his arms back around his best friend. "I'm so sorry, Ei." He whispered, feeling tears creep into his eyes as his friend went silent.

"Wha-? What do you mean you're sorry?" Kirishima stammered. "None of this is your fault, Kats. I just wish that I could've helped you sooner." He felt Kirishima's arms snake back around him, returning the hug.