"Eyyyyy, Bakugo, what're you up to?" Kaminari sauntered casually into detention with the confidence of someone who had already faced death and won.

Bakugo sent him a piercing glare.

"None of your damn business, fucking side character."

"Oo! Upgrade!" Denki grinned. "No longer an extra, just your old buddy, Kaminari the side character!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes at the words, but didn't reply. Kaminari flopped into his seat and kicked his legs up onto the desk, before looking around, instantly bored.

"But really, what are you doing?"

Kaminari leaned over, attempting to peak over into Bakugo's hands, but when Bakugo pulled away, Denki was instead greeted by the cold, harsh floor.

But not to worry, Kaminari jumped right up again, his unfaltering goofy grin showing how unaffected he was.

"OoooOo, you're blushing. Is it for Kiri?"

"None of your goddamn business fuckmunch," Bakugo replied, face turning ever so slightly more red, as he aimed an explosion right at Kaminari's face.

Luckily, Kami managed to duck right out of the way (really, he was expecting it).

"Maaaaan, and here I thought we were finally getting along. Reminds me of that time you called me useless when all our friends were dying."

Kaminari joked about his past hurt with a reminiscent chuckle.

"Hah? What are you talking about?"

Kaminari's chuckle died off. Now he was crossing into dangerous territory. Telling Bakugo that something he'd done was wrong was not the greatest of ideas.

Their friendship was also relatively unstable at the moment. They weren't avoiding each other, like before, but they weren't exactly friends again either (if you could even call what they had before friendship). Kaminari didn't exactly want to be back on Bakugo's 'fuck you' list.

"Uhh, you know... when I was all stressi depressi from that quirk, and then you blew up the building and told me I was useless and wasn't worth being alive?"

Bakugo's face went as white as a sheet.

"... did I really say that?"

Kaminari was expecting a more... violent reaction.

"Uhh, it might have had more to do with hero work or something, but yeah, that's the general message I got."

Bakugo groaned softly, followed by a quiet 'shit'.

They sat in awkward silence for a while, before Bakugo cleared his throat.

"So um... sorry about that. That was a shitty move on my behalf," he took a deep breath, and looked like he was reciting something. "I was really stressed out and thought that I was the only one who could help the situation, since I'm stronger."

Kaminari stared at him, stunned.

"Where the hell did that come from?" He asked bewildered.

Bakugo frowned stubbornly.

"To be honest, it's something I've been working on with Ei, but you're the-"

He couldn't even get the rest of his sentence out before he heard clattering of a falling chair, and the sound Kaminari started screaming on the floor.

~~~~

The screaming just kept going. And going and going and going. And when it finally stopped, it receded into quiet, agonising sobs. Bakugo wasn't even in the room, he hadn't been for half an hour, and he could still hear it all.

As he waited, he ran through all the things he could have possibly done better. He could have called another student from his phone, instead of trying to call down the hallway, unable to leave due to the forcefield.

He could have checked on Kaminari immediately, instead of staring in shock.

He could have demanded to stay in the ward, by Kaminari's side, instead of allowing himself to be escorted outside.

To late now, though.

It was only when they finally managed to get Kaminari asleep, probably due to some drug or another, did they allow him back in.

Kaminari was lying on the bed, one of the nurses still carefully removing the restraints from his arms and legs.

"What the... hell happened?" He asked, choosing his words carefully. He'd rather just get answers, than told off for swearing.

Recovery Girl sighed.

"It's seems he's had a relapse from that quirk that affected him before," she explained, voice dripping with empathy. "Poor boy," she added, quieter.

She noticed Bakugo staring at the restraints that were being packed away.

"He was in so much pain, I don't think he had much control over himself. He was tearing his hair out, scratching at his skin... I'm sure you could hear his screams."

Bakugo nodded silently. Recovery Girl said he'd leave them alone, she had other things to do, but Bakugo didn't notice or care.

He sat down next to the bed and spared a glance at Kaminari. He didn't care about him, he wasn't going soft but... Kaminari looked a wreck. His face was tear stained, the pillow soaked, his breathing ragged.

He wasn't going to stay long. No way was he going to stay and end up in the awkward situation of Kaminari waking up. But maybe if he...

Bakugo rummaged through his bag, and pulled out a photo. It was of Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina, and Sero. Bakugo was also technically in the picture, but he was leaving and flipping off the camera. He'd bluntly refused it when Mina tried to give it to him, but she'd pushed it upon him, so he'd ended up taking it.

He carefully set it up on the small table attached to the ward bed. That way, when he woke up, he'd at least know that someone had been there.

And so Bakugo stood up and left. He basically got a get-out-if-jail-free card, and he sure as hell wasn't going to waste it.

As he left UA, he pulled another picture out of his pocket. It was from the licensing exam, when they were walking back to the area. Ururaka, the little bitch, had taken a Polaroid of them, and had the audacity to hand it to him of all people afterwards.

In the photo, Bakugo was ranting angrily about something or other, but that wasn't the reason he'd kept it. What he'd been looking at, earlier in detention, was the attentive, loving gaze that Kirishima had on his face in the shot.

But now that Bakugo thought about it, he'd had two idiots follow him that day. Not just Kirishima, but Kaminari too. In this specific photo, if you hadn't known Kaminari, you would have thought he was tired and ready to go home. But his eyes were glittering with mischief and amusement, like he knew something that they didn't, but he wasn't going to tell.

Bakugo looked closer to see if he could figure out exactly what it was he knew, but quickly decided he didn't care and it didn't matter.

Shitty Pikachu didn't matter anyway. He kept that photo because of Kirishima.

His soulmate, Kirishima.