The Heart Exchange (bnha agere)

Chapter 31: Fix It, Somehow

Cws: mentions of self-harm
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Katsuki felt like they'd been waiting centuries for lunchtime to roll around. They fidgeted at their desk, doodling, and waiting. Just waiting. They had a hope that Kirishima would be in a better mood now, and Bakugo was starting to crave some attention from his Daddy. Mr Aizawa peered at the clock, and nodded his head.
    "You can go to lunch, Bakugo. Just come back here afterwards, yes?" He barely gets his words out when his student goes flying past him towards the door. Yet when he grabs the handle, and swings it open, about to race into the hallway, he finds Eijirou standing outside.
    "Kiri?" Bakugo blinks at rapid speed. They weren't expecting him to just… Show up.
     "Bakugo? Hi, are you okay?" Kirishima smiles nervously. There's no question left about his mood; it's pretty obvious he's not as aggravated as earlier. Additionally, he has two packaged sandwiches in his hands. Mr Aizawa leans back in his chair, rolling his pen between his fingers.
     "Kirishima, you may come in if you'd like." He says, nodding at the boy. Eijirou trots into the classroom, and dumps his bag down, before shooting a guilty look at his boyfriend.

"Okay, but… Are you okay? I haven't seen you all day. I was, well, I was a bit angry earlier." He sighs, taking a seat at a desk. Katsuki follows, sitting beside him. "I wasn't angry at you," Eijirou tries to continue, but the sight of Katsuki's doodles catches his eye. Bakugo swings their legs, and clings to Kirishima's arm, and it starts clicking into place. Bakugo nuzzles his face against Kiri's shoulder.
     "Daddy, I bet you were so bored without me." They smirk. Kirishima chuckles softly, rolling his eyes.
     "And you weren't bored?" The redhead retorts, playfully nudging them. "Come on, show me all these drawings you did, cutie pie." Kiri reaches for the notebook, and starts flicking through the pages. He sees cats, and dragons, and Mr Aizawa. And as he turns another page, he giggles, and ruffles Katsuki's hair. "Aw, no way, did you draw me, kiddo? He can't wips the grin off his face; Katsuki is positively adorable. Bakugo nods. His face is vaguely pink.
    "Yeah, I drewed you." He states, proudly. "But stop messin' up my hair!" They grumble, trying to remove Kirishima's hand from their hair to no avail. Kiri ruffles their blonde hair more, laughing. He kisses them on the forehead, and slides a sandwich over to him. "Eat, I got it for you so you didn't have to sit in the noisy cafeteria."

Katsuki grins, and unwraps the sandwich, whilst Kirishima rambles. Mr Aizawa might be listening, or he might not; neither of the boys particularly care. Eijirou flips through the drawings again. He thinks it's all rather sweet, and he's glad theses pictures are confined to paper, and not his bedroom walls. Kirishima's eyes wander to Mr Aizawa, and he asks why he kept Bakugo behind. Katsuki wasn't making much of an attempt to hide his regression, so Eijirou was becoming curious that it was involved with their class skipping.
    "Well, I do wonder if you can add any insight, Kirishima." Aizawa grunts after a short pause. "I was concerned about him going to lessons whilst he's in… that state." Mr Aizawa's eyebrows furrow momentarily. Katsuki's eating their sandwich, and appears to be daydreaming. Eijirou rubs their back, before dragging his chair closer to Mr Aizawa's desk.
     "Bakugo… They sometimes have this thing where they feel like a kid, sometimes a really young kid." Eijirou begins. He doesn't feel like an expert on the topic, so trying to explain it to his stoic sensei, makes his hands sweat. "I don't know if Bakugo even knows why it happens, but I don't think they can control it. I'm pretty sure it usually happens when he's feeling bad. It's called age regression."

All of the information seeps into Mr Aizawa's brain, and he sighs deeply. "Age regression, yes? I believe I've heard of it." He scratches his head, eyes falling on Katsuki once more. The boy is done with his food, and has returned to doodling, unconcerned with the evils of the world. "And how often does this occur for him?"
     Eijirou narrows his eyes. It would be difficult to give a number.
     "I don't know. It's at least like… Once a week. I think it helps him though. It helps him to calm down."
Mr Aizawa nods at this, and the pair silently observe Katsuki for a while. After a while, Mr Aizawa speaks, although his voice is softer than before. The tone primes Kiri for something rather serious, and personal.
     "Kirishima, when you asked me about how to help someone that self-harms, would I be right to assume that Bakugo was that someone?" He carefully sets his pen down, and locks eyes with the boy. Kirishima fidgets in his seat. Hearing "self-harm" and "Bakugo" in the same sentence made him feel like he was being lit on fire, and stabbed with a thousand knives. And for a moment, Eijirou fought with himself. He didn't want to betray Bakugo's trust, yet at the same time, it wasn't right to keep this dangerous secret from a teacher. And besides, Eijirou had a painful feeling that Aizawa was already fully aware of the answer. Bakugo's sleeves were up. Kirishima sighs; he supposed that was a good sign - that it signalled he felt safe enough around Mr Aizawa to show them.
     "Yes." Kirishima murmurs. His eyes feel all stingy. "It's Bakugo. And… I don't know what to do." And in the middle of the sentence, his voice breaks.

Mr Aizawa rests his hand on his shoulder, and squeezes. "Don't worry. I'm here to help." He replies, and immediately, Kirishima is overcome with this sensation of security, and peace. He smiles weakly, and he realises for the first time in a while that, well, he's just a kid. He's a dumb, idiot boy, trying his best to look after his equally dumb, idiot boyfriend. Mr Aizawa may have spotted such a realisation in his eyes, as he nods at him, and says, "You don't know the right thing to do, but nobody expects you to." He tilts his head, black hair sliding over his shoulder. "You are young. Nobody should depend on you, not even yourself, Kirishima. Things will go wrong, but that's why I and the other teachers are here." Eijirou nods back, and rubs his eyes. That made him feel a small amount better about this whole situation.
     "What are you going to do?" He asks.
      "I'll talk to Bakugo about this issue tomorrow when he's hopefully in a clearer mind to have that mature conversation with me." Aizawa glances in the blonde's direction, and chuckles to himself, eyes twinkling with a hint of adoration. Quickly, Kiri follows his gaze, and giggles. Katsuki's head rests on the desk, and his eyelids are shut. His thumb rests between his lips, and there are pencils strewn across the desk.
      "I guess he needed a nap." Eijirou smiles. Mr Aizawa simply rolls his eyes in amusement, and goes back to his paperwork.
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A/N: im sorry this is late, yall, I've had a pretty awful week mental health wise, but I'm OK don't worry :)