Everyone agreed to act normal around Bakugou and to let him open up to them at his own pace. Meanwhile they still needed to make sure he was okay and someone was with him at all times. Which lead to Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido and Sero all staring over the kitchen counter at how skilfully Katsuki cut up the ingredients and prepared dinner. It already smelled delicious and they were really thankful that the angry teen still wanted to cook for them.

Bakugou had explained to Eijirou that it was one of his coping mechanisms, together with writing those poems and making those drawings. It kept his mind distracted, allowed him to express himself. Besides, he liked it.... He would never let anyone take his cooking away from him, not if he had any say in it at least.

"What are you making Kacchan?" Deku asked as he entered the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Katsudon!" Mina answered for him.

"Really?!" the green head gasped, getting super excited about it.

"Oh shut up, I know it's your favourite but that's no reason to freak out about it" Bakugou hissed, trying to focus on what he was doing even with all those eyes on his back. It made him feel uncomfortable, at least in this setting. When he was out destroying everyone that stood in his way on the battlefield, people could stare all they want.

But now he felt vulnerable, doing something so completely ordinary and having this many people watching.

"Aw Kacchan~ You're making Midoriya's favourite for him? That's so cute" Kaminari teased.

"Fuck off Pikachu! I'm not making it for him!" Katsuki snapped, glaring at him.

"Hm, no dunce face. I see that as improvement" Sero commented to Kami, who was laughing with Bakugou's predictable reaction.

"Oh come on guys, lay off" Kirishima said, yet unable to hide a chuckle as well.

"That's enough! Out of my fucking kitchen!" Bakugou yelled, his palms releasing small explosions in a threatening manner.

"We're not even in the kitchen though-" Denki began.

"Fuck off! Get out!"

Kirishima was reminded of the moment Bakugou woken up from his nightmare and instantly wanted to push him away. He's uncomfortable...

"You guys leave, I can watch him on my own" Kirishima said, starting to push them away and adding in a more quiet tone.

"He obviously doesn't like it and we shouldn't push him too much right now"

"Yeah, you're probably right... Come and get us when the food is done, okay?" Mina asked, giving one last smile before dragging the others along with her. Izuku left too and it was just Eijirou and Katsuki. The ash blonde felt a lot less suffocated already and returned to his cooking as the red head walked around the counter, now fully entering the kitchen.

"You don't like the teasing, do you? I'll go talk to them if you want? Get them to stop-"

"It's not that I don't like it..." Bakugou mumbled, glaring at the food before sighing and glancing at the red head.

"I-I don't... I haven't had this before, okay?"

"This? You mean friends?" Kirishima asked carefully.

"I've always been alone and nobody dared come near me, let alone tease me... People are scared of me, Kirishima. I've been treated like a villain so much I... I don't know how to act like a hero... Let alone a friend"

The room fell quiet after that as Eijirou tried not to faint. Bakugou had used his actual name, oh my God! He would be freaking out a lot more if it hadn't been in such a serious setting.

"You don't have to force change upon yourself dude. Take your time, we're not going anywhere" he smiled, catching those ruby eyes for a moment.

"I'm not going anywhere..."

Katsuki gave him a small smile, nodding.

"Yeah, okay..."

Oh that little smile... Eijirou hoped to see it more in the future. He wanted to make him smile, to make him happy. He deserved it, maybe even more so than anyone else because of what he's been through. And maybe also because of his crush, that had only been developing more and more as time went on. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help falling for Katsuki... He's handsome, can cook, keeps everything clean and organised... The perfect wife!

"What the hell are you staring at?" the blonde hissed, snapping him out of thought.

"You were looking all fucking dreamy and far away. Aren't you supposed to watch me or whatever?"

"But I was watching you"

"You were daydreaming" he deadpanned, crossing his arms. Kiri shrugged, he couldn't deny that, yet he really was watching Bakugou the whole time.

"You're hopeless" Katsuki complained. 'Yeah, hopelessly in love with you' Ei thought to himself, blushing a little. Bakugou himself refused to let those dreamy red eyes get to him, knowing that even though Kirishima wanted to be his friend, they'd never be anything more than that. The red head was already going through all the trouble of bonding with him even though he's a giant mess. He would never want to date someone like him... Not when he was so much better to choose from.

It didn't take long to finish up the cooking and Kirishima notified the others it was ready as Bakugou was taking a portion for himself. Deku was the first in line after that, being absolutely crazy for a simple thing like katsudon. Katsuki sat down at an empty table, which was soon filled with the whole dumbass squad, happily chatting away without a single care in the world.

It almost made the blonde forget what happened... That one of his secrets was out in the open now and he wouldn't be able to cut anymore... And even though people didn't bring it up, he could feel it hanging in the air like a gas that was slowly suffocating all of them with the tension it created. They had questions, he was sure of it, but they were too scared to ask them. It meant he wouldn't have to talk about his messed up life, but it also left his classmates to guess and wonder why he would ever do such a thing.

If only they knew about all the other shit he's been through...

"Everything okay? You're unusually quiet" Kirishima commented, making him blink.

"I'm going to my room" Bakugou stated, not wanting to be a bother any longer. It was like they didn't realise he could see them glancing his way, like he didn't feel he was the kill joy. Everyone was tiptoeing around him as if he was some precious fragile piece of art and he hated it! They all saw him as weak and uncapable of looking after himself... He wasn't some helpless little child damnit!

But as the elevator doors closed on him, letting him believe he finally got away, someone squirmed in with him. A certain spikey red head, to be exact.

"What the hell are you doing Shitty Hair?"

"Well, you've missed a whole day of school and I wanted to see if you maybe wanna go over my notes together?" Eijirou suggested.

"I already got notes from Deku" Bakugou hissed, making Kirishima realise he totally forgot about that.

"We can still look over our notes together! I mean, you don't wanna miss anything, right?" the shark boy shrugged, giving the ash blonde his puppy eyes. Katsuki was weak for those damn things and he had a feeling that idiot knew it.

"Ugh, fine..." he grunted.

"Grab your things and come to my room"

The elevator doors opened again and Bakugou marched out right away. Kirishima quickly followed, going into his own room to take his bag, which still held everything they had used that day, and going over to Katsuki's room. He subconsciously looked at the door, seeing it was brand new. The wood was a little darker than the doors of the other rooms, making it evident that the sunlight had bleached them a bit. The carpet was stainless as well, leaving him to wonder how they got the blood out. Isn't that hard to remove? Certainly from such a surface?

The thud of the door closing pulled him out of thought and the small click! from the lock startled him.

"Oh, uhm, I always lock the door so-" Bakugou mumbled, already reaching to unlock it again.

"No, it's okay! You can keep it locked if you want to, I don't mind. It's not like I can't open it myself anyway" Kirishima laughed, now thinking about that habit from another perspective.

Bakugou always kept people out of his room, always locking the door behind him. It must give him some sense of security, to know that nobody is able to enter without his permission. To have a feeling of safety, that nobody could come in and hurt him at any given moment. A sign he could relax...

"You're staring like a drunken idiot again" the ash blonde pointed out as he walked past him to his desk.

Eijirou snapped out of his haze, quickly following his friend and sitting down on an extra chair next to him at his desk.

"You're quite absent today... Is it about what I told you earlier?" Katsuki asked, his tone soft and his voice fragile, as if he was scared to say or do something wrong. Normally he was always so confident and sure of himself... Kirishima quickly decided he didn't like seeing him this way.

"Yeah... I'm sorry, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable" the red head admitted, staring down at the desk in front of them. 'Just as I thought...' Katsuki thought bitterly, thinking that Kirishima now thought less of him. That he was weak, pathetic, worthless, useless... Wasn't he manly anymore now? Did he throw away the image Eijirou had of him? Probably... But that was his own fault to begin with. If he just had the strength to fight her-

His breathing stopped for a second as strong arms pulled him into a tight embrace. Bakugou hadn't realised he started tearing up, let alone that his brain registered the fact that Kiri was hugging him.

"I'm so sorry! This is exactly what I wanted to avoid!" Ei muttered, panicking slightly.

"Please don't think about her, okay? I'm here... I will always be here. You're safe with me"

"S-stop babying me!" Katsuki exclaimed, pushing the red head away from him.

"I-I don't... I know I'm weak, okay?! You don't have to rub it in like that!"

This made Kirishima star at him in bewilderment.

"I-I didn't mean to-" he started off, frantically wanting to apologize for making Bakugou feel he thought that way. Meanwhile Katsuki sobbed, trying his best to get these tears under control.

He'd been crying a lot lately huh? Well, he'd never been able to before... What would the old hag say if she saw him like this..? He would probably be slapped across his face... Punched in the gut and kicked down until he couldn't move anymore, withering away in pain.

"I don't think of you as weak, okay?! You're the strongest, manliest person I know! A-and after finding out what you've been through... You're even stronger than I thought you were, for being able to take all that suffering! For still thriving to be the best hero you can be! For wanting to live!"

Great, now both of them were crying...

"Y-you're lying" Katsuki choked out, glaring down upon the red head.

"No" Kirishima simply stated, sniffling as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"It hurts me to see you this way... I-I just... I want to make you feel happy! S-so I didn't want t-to talk about all the bad stuff... But maybe we should..."

He grabbed onto the blonde again, pulling him into a tight hug.

"You can tell me anything Bakugou... If you ever want to talk about what you've been through, I will listen"

"Y-you're so fucking kind..." Katsuki grunted, giving in to the encouraging words and the soft embrace.

"So damn gentle..! I-I don't deserve that-"

"You do deserve it, so shut up and take it" Eijirou mumbled on a demanding tone, letting a dry chuckle escape Bakugou's throat, as if he thought that statement was funny. But he didn't pull away, letting himself melt into the affection. Even after they both stopped crying, neither of them moved away.

"You're way too good for this world" the blonde muttered, his eyes closed, leaning onto his chest. He was starting to doze off, like he had done before when Kirishima held him in his arms. Something about it made him feel safe and secure, like nothing could harm him.

"I hate that...I can never have...you..." he breathed, not realising he was saying all that out loud as he was leaning more and more onto Kirishima.

How could it be so easy to fall asleep in his arms when he normally had such trouble falling asleep? Eijirou froze up at those words, doing his best to support the extra weight as Bakugou's muscles gave out. Not that the blonde was heavy, but their position wasn't exactly the best.

"What do you mean? I'm here right now" Ei whispered.

"You'll never like me...the way I like you... You're...sunshine..."