Nomu

Part 29

Bakugou was startled awake by the blind's suddenly being opened wide. The morning light streamed into the room.
He rubbed his eyes and glared at the perpetrator.

"Morning you two!" Kirishima grinned, plopping himself down on the end of the bed.

Bakugou ignored him and turned to check on Deku.
He was now awake, but still curled up against Bakugou.

"No school today." Kirishima continued. "Makes sense with everything that happened yesterday. But I'm still happy for the day off though." He rambled
Bakugou laid his head back against the pillows, pulling Deku closer to him.

"Has recovery girl been in yet?" Kirishima asked. "She said she might be able to take you off the ventilator today."

He shook his head. He hadn't seen her since last night. He was desperate to get off the ventilator though. He hated not being able to talk.
As if on cue, the door swung open, revealing recovery girl as she stepped inside.

"Morning Bakugou, Kirishima." She smiled, making her way over to the bed.

"Good morning." Kirishima smiled.

She didn't say good morning to Deku. Damn bastard, he's here too. He thought angrily, throwing another glance at the boy cuddled up with him.
Recovery girl made it over and without warning gave him a kiss on the forehead.

He would've sighed if it weren't for the ventilator when he felt most of the pain he was feeling vanish.
But as a side effect, he was now super tired.

"There we go." She smiled. "Let's see how much that did." She said as she unwrapped the bandages from around his chest.

To his relief, the incision made yesterday had been almost completely healed. Although he realized he now had a new scar, one unfortunately similar to the one Deku wore down his chest from the league.
He quickly looked up at her and gestured to the ventilator.

"Yes, I can take that out now." She smiled at him. "And I'll let you go back to the dorms later today. But you have to come back tomorrow for more treatment. And you have to rest." She instructed him, unstrapping the mask from around his face.
He listened impatiently, waiting to be able to talk again.

One she had everything that had been holding the ventilator in place removed, she wrapped her fingers around the tube.
"Alright I'm going to take it out now. Get ready to take a breath. 1, 2, 3." She pulled the tube out of his throat and he coughed, taking a deep breath.

"You ok?" She asked, beginning to put supplies away.

"Yup." He croaked out.

"See I told you you'd probably get off that today." Kirishima smiled at him.

Bakugou ignored him. "Can I go back to the dorms now?" He asked.

"I want you to wait a few hours. I need to see how your lungs do on their own without any help from the ventilator."

He groaned and sunk back into the pillows.
"Come on! I'm obviously fine!" He yelled, his voice still gravelly from the ventilator.

"Yes I can see that." She grinned at his outburst as if he were a toddler having a tantrum. "But I need to make sure you stay that way." She left the room to head back to her office before he could retaliate.

"Just be glad you're not spending another night." Kirishima laughed. "Plus, Midorya can stay if you want. So can I."
Although he was glad he would be able to go back later that day, he didn't appreciate being treated like a child. Or the fact that everyone had basically begun treating Deku as some sort of stuffed toy. He was still a person and it made him so angry that no one regarded him as one anymore.

At least that's how it looked to him.

The way they'd been dressing him up like a doll the other day, or just passing him around like he was an object. He hadn't seen it so much at first, but since he got hurt the day before, they'd been treating Bakugou like a child and Deku was his toy. A way to snap him out of his tantrum.
He glared at Kirishima, his jaw clenched. "I think we'll be fine on our own."

Kirishima sensed his hostility and his smile dropped. "Hey what's wrong?"

"I said we're fine on our own. You can leave." Bakugou said, his voice a little more harsh.

"Are you sure? Why are you so angry all of a sudden?" His eyebrows creased in concern.

"Just leave." Bakugou looked down, speaking through clenched teeth.

"No I'm not going to leave. Tell me what's wrong. I'm on your side I promise. You can't just push me away!" Kirishima said a little more forcefully, leaning towards Bakugou.

Bakugou looked back up, seeing the concern on his face.

He's part of the problem! I can't talk to him!

"Whatever it is we can't fix unless you tell someone. Talk to me man!" He said, as if reading Bakugou's mind.

Bakugou sighed, bowing his head again. Kirishima waited for a response, staring at his friend. After a few moments passed he opened his mouth to keep talking when he was cut off.

"Ok." Bakugou laid back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling.
He recounted to Kirishima how he was feeling. About Deku's night terrors, his moments of consciousness, his own feelings of guilt, the terror of the league coming back for Deku, how angry he was about how Deku was being treated as an object.

Kirishima was careful not to interrupt and listened patiently. Once Bakugou was done he looked up, waiting for his reaction.

"Mina talked to me a couple night ago." He said worriedly. "She told me what happened when you went back into Uraraka's room after we talked. Bakugou, we're all worried about you. We've all seen how hard you've been taking everything. How much of a toll Midorya's situation has taken on you."

Bakugou nodded. He couldn't deny what a wreck he'd been. Especially those months when Deku had been missing.

"Do you want me to talk to the class? I'm sure they didn't mean to treat  Midorya like that." He paused for a second. "And neither did I. I would apologize to him if I could, so I'll apologize to you instead. I'm very sorry." He bowed his head.

"Yeah whatever. It's just - he's not an object." He squeezed Deku's hand a little tighter.

"And don't take this the wrong way. But I talked to Mr. Aizawa a few days ago, and I found out that there's an on campus counselor. I think you should consider talking to them." His voice was laced with worry again and he placesd his hand on Bakugou's shoulder.

"I'll go talk to them now, before you come back." He said, turning towards the door.

"Thanks Kiri." Bakugou said quietly, keeping his eyes lowered.

Kirishima's face lit up. "Of course man, you know I'm always here for you."

He shut the door behind himself, leaving Bakugou and Deku alone.

He pulled Deku closer to himself.
"Not a damn object." He whispered, ruffling Deku's hair.
He thought back to before he was kidnapped. His big goofy smiled, how his face would go bright red when he was embarrassed. His constant muttering which used to drive him crazy, but now he missed so damn much. His adorable freckles and vibrant eyes full of warmth.
He looked into his eyes now and saw nothing.

None of that zest for life he'd had before. The way he'd watch him in awe as they trained or fought.
He'd never understood why he looked up to him so much.
That vibrant personality was gone and along with it the light his eyes. The league had even managed to take the sight from one of his friends eyes.
Now instead of vivid green, his eyes were reduced to muted tones. Devoid of thoughts and emotion as they stared right through him.

He bags under his eyes looked heavier everyday and it drug Bakugou down. He hated seeing him like this.

"Damn it this is awful." He sighed, leaning into his friend. "That brat better hurry up with her training. I need you."