Familiarity

Chapter Fifteen

sorry this chapter is kinda short. i'm not purposefully trying to make them like that. my goal is usually 3k or more (the most being 5k), but for the sake of pacing, some of my chapters will come out a little shorter.

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Memories about your mother—good memories—tried to sift through your mind as you sat on the closed toilet, a tissue pressed against your nose. Your nose didn't hurt as much as it used to, though it was bleeding more than you wished it would. And such was a reminder of what happened. It stopped that brief happiness of your past joys and brought back images of pain.

You saw your brother in those images and felt a bit fearful for the short moment you forgot he was safe. He was down the short hallway and on the couch, holding a small pillow desperately as a kids' show played.

You weren't sure where Bakugou's parents were, but you knew where Bakugou, himself, was. He stood at the open doorway in front of you, his arms crossed. There seemed to be something he wanted to say, but it seemed to be something he couldn't seem to get out.

"Are"—he began to speak, but when you looked up at him, he shook his head in the slightest—"What happened?"

You wiped your nose, wincing. "Stuff."

"Seriously?" he said, almost annoyed.

"What do you think happened?" There was this tone in your voice that you tried to withhold, but couldn't. It made you sound angry when all you wanted was for him to understand you didn't want to talk about it.

"I don't know!" he said, an edge nearing his voice. "That's why I'm asking!"

You looked up at Bakugou. He didn't seem as angry as he sounded. His eyebrows were furrowed and lines of a scowl drew around his nose. He had looked that way the moment you saw him, a bit confused and possibly concerned. Maybe focused. Perhaps his voice had betrayed him the same way yours did—revealing things in ways they weren't supposed to be.

You looked down at your lap, the continuing rush of your nose bleed making your head hurt. You could see Bakugou moving in front of you, yet he stayed in the background of your vision, a bit blurry.

"Hey," he said after a few moments, his volume a bit startling. You looked at him with a quick snap of the head. "You're not doing it right!"

"What?" you asked.

"You're supposed to put pressure on it, you moron," he said, his tone never decreasing in volume and force, "That's how the bleeding stops."

You didn't say anything, only watching as Bakugou stepped closer and reached over your shoulder to grab a few tissues. He put a hand on the back of your head, and for a moment there was a mixture of surprise and panic settling within your bloodstream. He was close, less than a foot standing between the two of you. You weren't sure how you felt about that fact in this sort of context—the sort of way you initially thought the moment to be. Although, that train of thought shattered when he pressed the lump of tissues against your nose.

There was a flicker of pain from the pressure he inflicted and you closed one of your eyes, but after a few seconds of the lingering feeling, it no longer hurt.

You looked at Bakugou, who turned his head away and stared at the wall. You could see him swallow once before glancing at you only long enough to make sure you were okay. He seemed hesitant to look at you. Though unlike him, your eyes didn't scatter away. They stayed directed at Bakugou.

Maybe it should've been common sense for a nosebleed to stop under pressure. After all, that's how all other bleeding injuries worked. You felt stupid for a long second. You were fifteen and didn't know how to fix a stupid nosebleed. It was pathetic, honestly, but it was also something you had never been taught. You only had one nosebleed prior to that moment in the bathroom with Bakugou. You were with your aunt and uncle, sitting in the car with them. The nosebleed was small and short and random. You had wiped your nose with your sleeve and left it at that.