Stay with me!

Chapter 24 - Be less - T

That was when Bakugo's voice recovered.

"Hey nerd."

He mentally kicked himself. No, he didn't just kick he grabbed his mere body and crushed it. Repeatedly punching and screaming a himself. An idiot he was, probably insane too as he shouldn't be able to beat himself up. But he felt remorse over the assumptions he had over Izuku, whether it was said aloud it still was significant and should be punished.

And his heart sank, but he had to ignore that sensation otherwise people would notice and that wasn't going to happen. At least the day was over and now he could... go home. It was a thin comparison between which place he preferred.

Entering, Bakugo dropped his bag and met eyes with his mother who crossed her arms, concentrating on the news.

When he subtly slid past, she called for him to join her and watch. The current story reported was a villain attack in another country, with the high amounts of deaths it was no wonder that it headlined.

Mitsuki uttered, "you know the villains aren't villains it's the media being biased. They're only fighting back for their own land."

Here she went on another tangent, passionately laying out her perspective and embedding in her learned information. She faced arguments with her husband over it, arguing that her points were controversial and if people heard there would be issues. Needless to say, that didn't stop her. The man had no control on her. The son's perspective was neutral, more that he couldn't give a shit on these topics. All it did was make him feel worse about life so he didn't want to know, his feelings were never considered. After a pitiful five minutes, he was allowed to continue with his day and he had a headache which deprived him of doing anything else than resting in his bed. His brain buzzed with a notification, a reminder of what he would do tomorrow. The gifts! At least he could apologise somehow for the selfishness he has. Comfort wrapped around him at the thought and God knows he needed that.

When Saturday came, he woke up without a headache and yawned, realising he slept in quite a bit more than his usual 6ams. Bobbling down the stairs, he met his father who smiled at him softly and offered to make him a cup of tea. The teen nodded and grabbed his phone, with no messages to answer. Bakugo enjoyed the small breakfast, dipping his biscuits into the tea and almost barking when it broke apart and rolled into the river before he could catch it.

"Ah, dad. I'll be going out shopping, I need some shit for school." Technically it wasn't a lie.

"Do you need me to take you?"

"Nah, I'll take the bus."

"Don't stay out too long!"

His father always worried too much, like a helicopter always watching over him. Always checking he was okay, it irked him. He wasn't weak and didn't need the extra treatment, he could just scold him like his mother did and be done with it.

Nonetheless, he took the bus and walked until a big building stood in front of him. The first thing he bought was for himself, a lemonade to quench his thirst. The rest would be for his friends. To remind himself, he took the piece of paper and scanned through.

First's Kirishima, but where the hell would he find shark-relatrd items? He sighed, knowing this would be a long day. He shoved his fists in his pockets and walked with the flowing past his raised head. The blonde entered a customised shop, finding a young woman waiting with her coffee in hand.

"Hey, how can I help?" She smiled.

"Uh, I'd like a keyring."

"Mhm! What image inside?"

"Just some random shark."

"Okay! It'll take about ten minutes."

He nodded and paid, going to grab the next item in the meantime. K-pop for Pikachu. He found a shop nearby that sold items relating to it and he searched the titles on the shelves. Where's the damn group, he scoffed to himself. After three minutes, he was prepared to leave, go home and give up but thankfully he found the NCT shelf. He randomly grabbed a poster and bought it, assuming the golden boy didn't already have it. It had been about ten minutes, guaranteed by the long-ass time he spent searching for NCT. The woman placed the keyring in his arms and he smiled, contempt with the result.

Moving onwards, he left the shop and saw Monoma walk past. His shoulders relaxed when the other didn't point him out and start whingeing. It would have wasted his time, not scared him or anything like that. The light shredded at his skin, making him feel more exposed as he entered the stuffed animal shop for Mina. In his opinion, there's nothing wrong with having soft creatures to hug and most designs are visually pleasing, it's society's bullshit constructs that think overwise and age categorise it. He crossed his fingers, searching through the uncategorised wild animal section of plushies. He saw two round feet that poked out the pile and he lifted it, nearly jumping in happiness at it being confirmed as a panda. The panda's head sank, looking up at the teen with navy eyes.

"Same, bud. I feel that." He mumbled, taking the soft item to the cashier. It was on a deal which was nice to save some money. The teen left the shop and heard his name, scowling at the other he thought he avoided.

"Wow, wow. I didn't expect to find the Katsuki Bakugo at a toy shop!" He wheezed, pointing at him with a stubby finger.

"Yeah, yeah. Get your laughs out." Bakugo crossed his arms, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, oh! It's because of the divorce, right? Looking for some comfort."

"What..." His eye twitched and he waited, only able to observe the boy nearing him. "What are you talking about? Ain't no divorcing happening."

"No need to lie son of a divorcee! Your face says it all. Which friend did you buy?" His lip twisted upwards as he leaned over, pushing his hands towards the bag as Bakugo defended himself.

"Get off! Get the fuck away!" He yelled, shoving Monoma back into a few passerbys. The viewers of this performance became irrelevant as the explosive student marched to shut the mutt up for once and for all.

He raised his fist.

"Wait! Don't do anything you'll regret!" He seemed fearful, good as he should be. The power dynamics had resolved itself.

"And why would I listen to a fucker like you?"

"I'm sure not many people know, we would want that to change, hm?"

Bakugo dropped his hand with his head, staring at his boots in defeat.

Monoma continued with a grin, "that's it. I also want a few favours."

"The fuck?" Bakugo stared at him with fire.

"Uh, uh, uh! Don't forget, I can tell people. It won't be much, I'm not that much of an asshole. I'll keep in touch." And just like that, he walked away to leave Bakugo in his worries. He stormed away, scratching at his chin.

"How the fuck could he know?" He didn't want it to stop his plans for today, his stomach squished in a grotesque way to warn him, telling him to go straight home. He couldn't listen, he had things to buy and he had to do it. Fuck his feelings, maybe this is karma for existing? Or whatever. Punishment as deserved so he will suck it up.

What was next on the list? The zone was completely shooken, not able to think prior from the conversation with that arse.