A black boot with a thick platform stepped into a pile of slush with a squelch, spraying the ugly grey substance in all directions and causing the owner to let out a frustrated growl as it splattered his jeans. He hesitated for a moment before giving up and stomping forward with his other boot, splashing his way through the slush pile directly behind his apartment building with tense shoulders. It seemed that not enough students had braved the back entrance to the building yet to make a path through all of the snow and slush that had collected by the doors over winter break, but the owner of the now-wet jeans preferred the less-used door as it helped him avoid as many people as possible. He stomped the melting substance from his boots as he entered the doorway before heading for the stairs, walking past the much more commonly used elevator and ignoring when a passerby recognized him from a previous class and awkwardly greeted him with a hey! It's Bakugou, right? It felt like forever before he reached his room on the third floor, fishing for his keys in his coat and sighing with relief when he finally unlocked the door and shut it behind him. He immediately locked it again.
Half of the small living room was a mess. His roommate, Kirishima, had apparently arrived at some point while Bakugou was at work and then taken off quickly, probably excited to see Kaminari for the first time since Christmas break began. His possessions were scattered haphazardly about with clothes draped over the back of the armchair. Visible through his half-open bedroom door was an unzipped suitcase that was resting on his bed. It looked as if a bomb had gone off inside of it and thrown things all over his room. He had, however, somehow managed to keep all of his mess in his bedroom and on the furniture he'd brought himself; a slob, but ever respectful of Bakugou's space. A slight smile tugged at Bakugou's mouth before he scowled at the softness he'd felt for a moment. He himself had stayed in the apartment over winter break, the idea of extra hours at work and more time away from his mom proving to be too tempting.
Kicking off his [ridiculous, honestly Katsuki, what on earth prompted you to buy those?] chunky boots, he hooked his [are you having a goth phase or something?] jacket by the door and headed to the bathroom to wash his hands. He heard the front door open and Kirishima and Kaminari's voices flooded the apartment.
"I'm just saying, I think I'd make a great Tik Tok e-boy," Kaminari's voice said, and Bakugou snorted, silently shutting the bathroom door for some privacy. Their voices faded away as he heard Kirishima's bedroom door shut too, and suddenly the silence from before felt heavy. Bakugou looked in the mirror and scowled. The faucet let out a drop and it sounded deafening when it hit the drain. Ping. Silence. Then, again, ping. It sounded slightly off rhythm, and Bakugo didn't like it. Ping. He took a deep breath. Tap. Fuck. He couldn't do this right now. Tap. No, no, all wrong. Tap tap tap. Like the syllables in his name. Odd numbers were bad, though, imbalanced unless they were a multiple of five. Ready to fall and crush him. His fingers tapped the counter again, tap tap. Like the syllables in his name. But not Bakugou; Kacchan. No. Katsuki. Only one person called him Kacchan. Don't think don't think don't think-
"Kacchan! Take my hand!" Deku's eyes were huge and afraid. Bakugou barely noticed through the pain. Everything seemed to hurt, his head, his neck, his torso...everything. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how Deku had even managed to climb out and get on his feet. In the front of his mind all he could think was dizzy dizzy dizzy, pain. Dad, where was dad? His eyes flew to the front seat and oh- oh god. Oh god.
"Kacchan, don't look up there right now, okay? Look at me. Please." Deku's voice trembled.
Stop thinking. Stop thinking. Oh my god. Broken glasses on the crumpled center console. Red liquid dripping onto them, hitting the rim and sliding down the shattered lenses. Pooling. Sliding down onto the floor. His eyes refused to move further to the left, to look at his dad. So much blood. Bakugou leaned over and threw up.
