Pop Rocks

Chapter 8: First Fight

(A/N: Beware: major cringe & angsty bakubro in this chapter, prepare urself lol)

"Are you ashamed of me, Kirishima?" Bakugo says, stopping in his tracks and looking me dead in the face. He has a mix of hurt and anger on his face.

I stop slightly ahead of him and stare back at him, confused. "What in the world are you talking about?" I say, turning so that I'm completely facing him.

"Well, you told me to change the way I act in front of your mom so that she would like me, so I just figured that you're ashamed of the way I act normally," he says, not changing emotions or raising his voice at all.

"Okay, I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted you to stay calm and not blow up or anything while we were with Mom. She's sweet, but I don't know how'd she'd handle an explosive personality like yours," I respond, taking a step closer to him.

He stares at me for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, that makes it so much better," he mutters sarcastically, looking away from me.

"Oh, come on, Baku. It was just a misunderstanding, you know I love you and your personality," I say with a small smile, reaching out and touching his arm.

He pulls away and scowls at me. It takes me by surprise, he rarely directs looks like those at me. "Look, Kirishima, I honestly don't care what you meant to say, because what came out of your mouth told me that you're ashamed of me and the way I act," he says angrily, "I know I can be explosive and honestly kind of a bitch sometimes, but I'm trying to work on that. Even so, I thought you saw past all of that. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, because I know how you really feel."

After that, there's a short moment of silence. I honestly don't know how to respond. I feel like crying, but I'm too stunned to even do that. Eventually, he shakes his head and turns away from me. As he starts to walk away, I find my words enough to say, "Hey, where are you going? We still need to catch the train." My voice is raspy and quieter than I expected it to be. I'm still going through what's happening in my head, and I just can't seem to figure it out.

Without looking back or skipping a step, he says to me, "I'll walk. It's not that far." School is practically on the other side of town, so that's a blatant lie. I know he's only walking because he doesn't wanna be around me any longer.

"O-Oh, okay," I say, so quietly that there's no way he heard me. As I watch him walk away, I stay frozen in place, unable to do anything. Once I loose sight of him, I'm finally able to move my feet and get myself to the train. Luckily, I made it just in time to get on the next train headed towards UA.

The whole ride back to school, I try to wrap my mind around what happened. Right before I have to get off, I think I finally get it: I messed up. Pretty bad.
~~~~~
When I get back to the dorms, Ashi is waiting right outside the doors for me. As soon as she sees me coming, she runs up to me, a concerned look on her face. "Hey, Kiri, where's Bakugo? Did something happen?" she asks.

Holding back tears, I shake my head. "I messed up, Ashi. He's pissed at me."

Realizing that I'm upset, Ashi takes my arm and leads me inside. As she does, she says, "Let's go up to my dorm, you can tell me about it."

Once we're in her room, I lean against the back of the door and slide down to the ground. Putting my head in my hands, I say, "I can't believe I did that."

Confused but also concerned, she squats next to me and puts a hand on my knee. "What'd you do, Kiri? You're making it seem like you left him on the side of the street or something," she says.

I look up at her and lean my head against the door. With a sigh, I tell her about what happened. Once I'm done, I look at her for advice. She just looks even more confused than before.

"Okay, so, you basically told him to not be himself in front of your mom and now he's mad at you?" she asks, trying to piece everything together.

I groan in response and lay my head on my knees. Getting the point, she says, "Alright, that's not as bad as you're making it seem. Overall, it was just a big misunderstanding. I understand why he's mad, but if you just explain to him what you were trying to do and apologize, it should be fine. I know you were only saying it to begin with because you love him and wanted your mom to love him as much as you do, and I know he's so upset because he's just hurt. So, it's just a matter of talking through it, now." She talks slow and quiet, and her voice is oddly calming like that. Plus, her advice actually helped me a lot.

Lifting my head again, I give her a small smile. "Thanks Mina, that really helps," I say.

She smiles back at me and replies, "Glad I could be of service."

After that, we both stand up and hug as a goodbye. Once I leave her room, I think about what she said. I decide it's best to go ahead and talk to him now so things can get better sooner. I don't like feeling like I do right now.

So, I march myself with as much confidence as possible down to Baku's room and knock on the door, hoping he's made it back by now. Luckily, a few seconds later, a very tired looking Bakugo opens the door.

The sight of him breaks my heart. His hair is all messy, he's got tears streaked down his face, and he just looks miserable. I try not to remind myself that I'm the cause of all that as I say, "Hey, Bakugo, let's talk. Let me explain myself, please."

He gives me a nasty look before he replies, "Hell no. I don't wanna talk to you right now." I start to say something else to try to convince him, but he slams the door in my face before I can say anything.

The only thing I can do now is go back to my room and hope he'll let me talk to him sometime soon. As I crawl into my bed and begin to fall asleep, I realize that this is our first fight. I really hope it's our last, because I don't like it.
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A/N: hello my fellow quarantined peoples! I hope you are all staying safe and washing your hands (seriously, wash yo damn hands please). I'm gonna try to update more regularly so you guys have something to read while you're stuck at home. If I don't follow up on this, you could always check out the other two stories I've started writing..! (Please, I'd rly appreciate it if you did.) Anyways, stay safe, wash your hands, and thank you again for reading! See ya next chapter~