And now onto Chapter 2~ Kacchan land! :D Or well, Kirishima land. The POV was going to go to Bakugou, but Kirishima decided he wanted to be a threat to Izuku and my Fic. So here he is. XD

And it turned out for the better because I'm happy with how this turned out, so let's do this and get this chapter on the road. I've now got a plan for the story up through the next chapter, so that's good, too. Ha ha.

Thanks & enjoy!

Chapter 2

"Okay, so let's hear it," Eijirou said, dumping open his books on the diner table he and Bakugou met at for their study sessions. He prepared himself for the conversation at hand, but there was no getting around it: Eijirou and his best bro needed to have a chat, and the local diner was a nice neutral location to have it. "What was up with you and that green haired kid the other day? You totally lost it, bro."

"We're here to study and I don't want to talk about it," Bakugou said, shoving the condiments aside to the end of the table and setting up his school work. He reached across the table and opened Eijirou's book for him. "So drop it."

Eijirou narrowed his eyes together and crossed his arms over his books. Bakugou wasn't get out of this that easily.

"Come on, you haven't been the same since yesterday." Eijirou frowned, tapping his finger. "You've been like ten times grumpier than usual, and I know what happened yesterday is bothering you."

Bakugou huffed under his breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Eijirou stared him down, stressing the "Dude, I know when you're upset, so go ahead and open up" in his gaze.

Bakugou caved (as Eijirou knew he would; the "look" never failed) and sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he slumped on the table. He killed a few seconds ordering some food from the waitress before caving to the inevitable heart-to-heart conversation.

He glared at Eijirou through the corner of his eyes and muttered, "It's just like I said before: we used to play together as kids and then he kept following me around. Deku hadn't gotten into U.A. last time I checked, so I was surprised to see him. That's all there is to it."

"It's not manly to lie," Eijirou said, waving his finger back and forth. He leaned across the table, lowering his voice in case there was another student around to eavesdrop. "You don't nearly strangle someone over a simple 'I wasn't expecting to see him here' scenario. Be straight with me. I'm not going to judge, man."

Bakugou grunted, avoiding eye contact. If Eijirou didn't know better, he'd almost say Bakugou was embarrassed. The other kept staring at the table, brows creased and eyes focused on a spec of salt.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Eijirou said, adjusting his plans. If Bakugou was this upset, pushing him might not be the best idea. He reached across the table and fist-bumped Bakugou in the shoulder. "But I bet you'll feel better if you do, and I won't tell a soul if you don't want me to."

His prickly friend stayed silent for a few more moments before he huffed and started packing up his things. Each shove of a book or pencil was with enough force Eijirou was surprised nothing had broken or snapped yet.

"Bakugou?"

"Not here," he said. He shoved the last of his things in his bag and threw money on the table for the food they'd ordered. "We'll go to your place."

"Sure," Eijirou said, grabbing his things and flagging down a to-go box.

The smell of burgers taunted him the entire way home, but thankfully he was too distracted by how much Bakugou had closed in on himself the entire walk home. He kept this eyes straight, his shoulders tense, and looked like he was going to sprint and run away before Eijirou got him to open up.

Thankfully they made it to Eijirou's house without issue or Bakugou chickening out.

Whatever was up with that boy from yesterday might be more serious than Eijirou had originally thought.

"I used to beat him up," Bakugou said, glaring at the wall. It had taken him an entire hour to work up the nerve to speak. "A lot."

"Come again?" Eijirou asked, setting down a couple of drinks on his desk that he'd retrieved from the kitchen when it looked like his friend was going to take his time talking.

Bakugou groaned and covered his face with his arms, falling back on the bed and crumpling the covers. He grumbled through his sleeves. "Deku would piss me off. I'd beat him up. Rinse and repeat for ten years."

The gritted teeth, the flushed face, and the clipped sentences were clues that Bakugou's bullying of that kid was much, much worse than he was letting on. Eijirou straddled his desk chair and crossed his arms over the back.

When he first met Bakugou in class, Eijirou's first thought was Bakugou was the manliest man he'd ever met: Confident, fit, strong, and well, manly. Eijirou instantly knew this was a guy he was going to be friends with.

After he got to know him, he realized the guy was also short tempered, kinda full of himself, and socially awkward on top of all that (Eijirou had started to get the vibe that Bakugou didn't have many friends after about the fifth insult in a row and Bakugou's inability to learn anyone's names).

It was around that time that Eijirou decided that shell of Bakugou's was worth cracking to find the awesome guy underneath all the "I'm the best and I'm going to crush all of you" spirit that was admirable, but needed a bit of fine-tuning to include teamwork and friendship into his "I'm going for number one" goal.

Sure enough, after getting knocked down a peg by Todoroki in their first hands-on hero training course, and a few humility checks from the rest of the class, Bakugou's temper and one-man-show attitude chipped away just enough that it was easy to see the awesome hero Bakugou would be in the future.

Bakugou was still prickly and foul tempered, but Eijirou was proud to hold the spot of his best friend.

But this? Eijirou leaned his head on his arms. He hadn't really predicted this. Bakugou could be a bit of a jackass, but he hadn't pegged him for a dedicated bully with a long-term victim. That wasn't hero-like at all.

No wonder he didn't want to talk about it.

"Are you sorry about it?" Eijirou asked, curious despite himself.

"What?" Bakugou asked, looking through his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"Beating up that kid for so many years," Eijirou clarified. "You're embarrassed about it because you know it was wrong, right? Maybe you'd feel better if you apologized to him. Whether or not he accepts it, you'll at least be able to get it off your chest and move on."

"Can I say no?" Bakugou asked. He snorted and held his hand back over his eyes. He rolled over on his side, ruffling his hair and yelling. "Every time I see that shitty nerd I just want to punch him in the face and that sure hasn't changed. He's lucky I usually restrain myself and stick to telling him to get lost."

"Is there a reason he makes you so angry?" Eijirou asked.

"No," Bakugou said, far too quickly. That meant the answer was "yes" but he figured they wouldn't be touching that subject today. Bakugou sat up from the bed and slid to the floor, back to the mattress. "Half of it was just habit. I've been pushing him around since we were like six."

"That's…" Eijirou trailed off. He studied Bakugou's flushed face and embarrassed pout and rubbed the back of his neck. "Something."

"Whatever," Bakugou said.

"You should still probably apologize," Eijirou said. Bakugou glared and he shrugged. "Even if it's just for your freakout yesterday. You're going to run into him again and if you bully him here like you did before, you might get written up or suspended. That'd suck, dude."

Bakugou groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Fine."

"Awesome," Eijirou said, holding his arm up in the air. This was all going much better than he had been expecting. And once it was settled, Bakugou could go back to working on being the number one hero. "I'll even come with you to be your support if anything goes wrong!"

"Like I'll need it," Bakugou huffed. He got off the floor and stretched with both arms behind his back. "Deku'll roll over and just be glad I'm talking to him. He's a freak like that."

"Oh?" Eijirou asked.

"Deku thinks we're best friends," Bakugou said, smirking with an odd look in his eyes. "It's as pathetic as his lack of a Quirk."

"We're going to have to work on this 'bully Deku' thing you've got going on," Eijirou said, realizing that this thing ran deep in Bakugou's system. He might not even be aware he's doing it. "And I'm absolutely coming with you tomorrow."

"Do what you want," Bakugou said. He picked up his bag and headed for the door. "I'm going home and good luck studying by yourself."

"Studying," Eijirou said. He jerked up and headed after Bakugou. "Wait! I really need that help for the test."

The asshole laughed as he ran out the door.

Eijirou probably had that coming after making the guy confess his soul. He snorted and rubbed under his nose. A few lost test points were worth it for that sort of thing.

"Hey, shitty Deku," Bakugou called out, surprising the other kid enough that he jumped in his seat.

Eijirou wanted to cry; this apology was off to a great start.

The few lingering students from the General Studies class stared at the two Class 1-A students as they invaded during the lunch break. Bakugou loomed over "Deku" (Eijirou needed to get that guy's actual name) and glared at him so hard that Eijirou was scared he might develop a second Quirk.

(Bakugou with laser eyes was a frightening thought.)

"Kacchan," Deku said, looking up with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Eijirou blinked when Bakugou did absolutely nothing in response to that positively precious nickname. It was like the name hadn't even registered.

"Yesterday didn't happen," Bakugou said. He huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking off to the side. "You got that?"

"I wasn't going to tell anyone if you were worried about that," Deku said, laughing nervously. He looked at the desk, and shrugged. Eijirou crossed his arms, watching the kid shrink into his desk. "It was my fault anyway for not telling you I was coming. It was unfair to surprise you like that, huh?"

"Whatever," Bakugou said. Eijirou had half a mind to tell the kid to speak up for himself more, but he didn't get the chance. Bakugou pushed the conversation forward with another line: "Everything I said didn't happen, either, so if we see each other in the halls or something, it's whatever."

Deku smiled so brightly Eijirou thought he might go blind.

Somewhere between the shock of this Deku actually being fond of Bakugou despite what the other had admitted and trying to process there was someone who could get away with calling Bakugou "Kacchan" (he was still stuck on that), Eijirou almost missed it when Deku addressed him.

"Who's your friend, Kacchan?"

Bakugou huffed and nodded toward Eijirou. "This is Kirishima. He's in my class."

"Aw, don't I get a better introduction that that? I'm your best friend!" Eijirou laughed, elbowing Bakugou in the side. He batted Eijirou away, but it wasn't an explosion, so they were in the clear. Deku twitched slightly watching them, and Eijirou caught the slight strain on his smile. He backed up a step and held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Izuku Midoriya," the other said, shaking Eijirou's hand. "Kacchan's the only one who calls me 'Deku.'"

"Got it," Eijirou said.

"Alright, this mush fest has gone on long enough," Bakugou said. He grabbed Eijirou by the shirt sleeve and started dragging him to the door. "I said what I wanted to. See you later or something, Deku."

"Bye, Kacchan," Midoriya said, waving. He stared long and hard at the two of them as they left the room, and Eijirou felt a tiny sliver of bad vibes.

He hoped he was imagining it.

It was about a week later when Midoriya came to visit them in their class. During lunch, he timidly tapped on the door, waved hello to Iida who recognized him as "The transfer student I helped direct to class last week" before stopping at Bakugou's desk.

He put a small bento box down and said it was from his mother. Bakugou said nothing in response, staring at the box like it might explode. Eventually, Midoriya asked softly, "Can I talk to you later, Kacchan? Alone?"

"What about?" Bakugou said, glancing around the room, subconscious of all the eyes on him. "I'm busy."

"It will just take a minute, but it's personal," Midoriya said. He wrung his hands together, shifting in his slightly too-large blazer. "Can we talk after school? Please?"

"Fine," Bakugou said. "Whatever."

"Thank you, Kacchan," Midoriya said. He smiled quickly before dashing out of the room, avoiding eye contact or conversation with anyone else in the class.

Eijirou took cover under his desk the second some idiot said "Did that guy just call Bakugou "Kacchan"?" and the explosions started.

Somewhere in the chaos, Eijirou reminded himself to check in with Bakugou later concerning whatever conversation he was going to have with Midoriya.

"You did what!"

Eijirou broke into a sprint the second he heard the enraged yell and the following explosion. He knew it had been a good idea to wait for Bakugou to finish up and walk home together. His gut feeling told him to be there for his friend and his gut hadn't been wrong. Something had gone very, very wrong with that meet up with Midoriya.

Digging his feet into the grass to run faster, Eijirou hoped he wasn't too late.

Turning the corner he saw Bakugou leap toward Midoriya, already on the ground next to a burnt chunk of dirt.

Activating his Quirk, Eijirou threw himself between Bakugou and Midoriya, taking the full brunt of the attack.

The surprise broke Bakugou out of his rage as the smoke cleared, but now it was Eijirou who was furious.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eijirou yelled, pushing Bakugou back hard enough that he stumbled and had to catch himself. "You could have killed him!"

"He!" Bakugou yelled. He stuttered over his words, so enraged he couldn't find his voice. Bakugou eventually pointed and his palms continued to spark. "Deku—"

"I don't care what he did," Eijirou said, standing his ground. He stayed in Bakugou's line of sight, keeping him from seeing the other boy. Eijirou asked as seriously as he could, trying to stress the importance of what was going on. "Do you want to get expelled?"

"No," Bakugou yelled. "But I can't—"

Eijirou pointed, "Get out of here and cool your head! We'll talk later."

Bakugou still looked a step away from murder, but Eijirou wasn't going to let his best friend destroy himself over some messed up relationship with someone he bullies.

"You'll never be a hero if you get thrown out of school for attacking a classmate," Eijirou said. He dropped his arms and grabbed Bakugou by the shoulders and squeezed. "I know you're upset, but you need to calm down. I'll take care of Midoriya and meet you at the gate where we're going to go to my place and talk this out, okay?"

He words must have gotten through, because Bakugou's breathing evened out enough that he could talk without yelling. He pointed at Midoriya and yelled, "You stay away from me" before stomping toward the front gate.

Eijirou deflated, dropping his Quirk and running his hand through his hair. What a mess.

He held out a hand to help Midoriya up from the ground but he didn't take it. Midoriya was too busy staring at Eijirou with an unreadable expression.

"You just yelled at Kacchan and he listened," Midoriya said, matter of fact but the hint of awe was unmistakable. "No one can tell him what to do."

"Well, he's grown up a lot since he started at U.A.," Eijirou said. He reached down and tugged Midoriya up off the ground. "Though apparently not enough if he's still doing stuff like this."

"It's fine," Midoriya said, softly. His shoulders dropped and he shrugged. "I had that coming."

"Dude, that's messed up," Eijirou said. He shook his head back and forth slowly. "I'm not sure what's going on, but nobody deserves to get beaten up like that for wanting to talk."

Midoriya stayed quiet for a second before slowly speaking, "Do you remember that student who was caught by the sludge monster last semester? The one All Might saved?"

"Yeah," Eijirou said. "It was all over the news."

"Kacchan was the one who was caught," Midoriya said. He sucked in a slow breath and exhaled. "And it was all my fault."

"You're a strong guy, Midoriya," Eijirou said. He sniffed a bit, eyes still tearing up from the manly tale of Midoriya's own capture, and how much he suffered feeling guilty over what happened to Bakugou. "I know you think it's your fault, but you got caught, too, remember? You're completely glossing over that you went through the same thing as Bakugou because you're thinking of him first. That's some real heroic thinking."

"I'm not a hero," Midoriya said, soft and stern. "And it was very different circumstances. Kacchan had it much, much worse."

"Still," Eijirou said. He patted Midoriya on the arm and smiled. "Not only all that, but you worked up the nerve to even tell Bakugou what happened."

"The guilt's been eating me up inside since it happened," Midoriya said. He grabbed his arm and stared at the grass. "I wouldn't be able to keep looking him in the eye knowing that he didn't know what I had done."

"Which was still an accident and not your fault," Eijirou stressed. He patted Midoriya on the shoulder with his most reassuring boost of strength. "You're a good guy and I'm sure this will all work out okay."

"Maybe," Midoriya said.

"But for now, I'm going to go make sure Bakugou cooled off," Eijirou said, letting go of the other boy. He gave Midoriya a thumb's up and smiled. "I'll make sure he comes to apologize."

"Right," Midoriya said. He squeezed his hands together and that strained smile that twisted Eijirou's insides returned. "You two are good friends, aren't you?"

"I like to think so," Eijirou said.

"And your Quirk," Midoriya said. His focus intensified and Eijirou felt like he was under a microscope slide. "You took a direct hit from Kacchan to the face and are fine."

"Hardening," Eijirou said, holding up his hand and showing off his Quirk. "I'm indestructible."

"It compliments his Quirk," Midoriya said. He picked up his backpack and smiled at Eijirou, eyes cold and focused. "You'll have to tell me all about it later."

"Sure," Eijirou said, attempting to ignore the squirming sensation of warning his gut kept throwing at him.

It took a while, but Eijirou finally found Bakugou near the far corner of the U.A. outer wall by himself. He had huddled himself in a corner, half hidden behind his bag. Eijirou walked slowly over, picking up his pace when he got a better look at his friend.

"Are you crying?" Eijirou asked. He leaned over, putting his hands on his knees. "Dude, are you okay?"

"Shut up," Bakugou said, wiping away the loose tears. "I wasn't crying. Go away."

"We need to talk about what happened," Eijirou said. He squatted next to Bakugou and nudged their shoulders together. "I really don't want you to get in trouble. What if it had been a teacher to intervene and not me?"

"I hate him," Bakugou said. He bit his thumb and shook his hair out. "I hate Deku."

Eijirou didn't comment when Bakugou started to cry again. He just leaned against him and prayed that he could help sort this mess between the two of them before this exploded into something bigger.

(The things he did for his friends.)