2:40 AM

Bakugo is lying awake in his bed, he's holding Izuku firmly and gently in his arms. Izuku cried terribly over the course of the day which left him so exhausted that he passed out as soon as they lay down together.

He glances downwards at their intertwined hands and looks at the scars they both have. He affectionately caresses the scars on Izuku's, the ones he undoubtedly got when he was recklessly using his quirk. His gaze then falls on the scars on his own hand. There is a long one that runs along the back of his palm, from the point of junction between his thumb and index finger, and all the way to the other side of his hand. He frowns. That scar has always bothered him because he doesn't remember where he got it. It's sort of like the ones that Izuku has, which is weird because Katsuki never fights in quite the same way that Izuku does.

Maybe it's the exhaustion of the day, or maybe it's just his brain playing tricks on him, but he slowly drifts off. He's not asleep, but he's not awake either. A thought, or perhaps a distant memory plays in his head.

Him and Izuku, fighting against Nine, struggling to defeat him. Him and Izuku, joining hands and somehow combining their powers. Him and Izuku, winning against the villain.

Bakugo faintly smiles in his tired state. The repressed memory plays in his mind like a dream. How did this happen? The dream starts disappearing like the fog on a cold winter day in the presence of the sun, and he snaps awake in frustration before he can even comprehend what happened.

He tries to fall back asleep so that he could somehow continue his dream but sleep evades him. His mind is clouded with today's events which have been way too stressful for the both of them.

Izuku stirs in his sleep and Bakugo tenses for a moment. He looks at his boyfriend's face to make sure that he's still sleeping peacefully, and then he slightly relaxes again. He's aware that Izuku is probably troubled too, but he needs to sleep and Bakugo wants to be here to hold him comfortably while he rests.

He still remembers the time when they got detention together.

It was a thankless task to clean up the mess their classmates had left behind in the living room. Bakugo tried not to take the punishment personally, but all he could do was look at the mop with hatred and resentment.

Right now he could've been sitting in the class and learning about hero stuff, but no, here he was in the dorms because he had detention.

He looked over his shoulder in annoyance at Izuku who was also mopping the floor. He was unsurprisingly upbeat. It was like nothing could bring down the boy's ever-so-cheerful spirit. Bakugo tried to hate this aspect of his personality, and he always tried to prove the same when he was in front of Izuku, but on the inside, he almost admired it, almost as much as he admired the person who possessed it. Not that he'd ever admit that to himself or to Izuku.

They had been mopping for about 7 minutes when Izuku looked over his shoulder at Bakugo who was staring at the floor grumpily, dragging the mop across it. He had been thinking about their fight. He wasn't upset that he'd lost, Katsuki had more experience with his quirk, and more practice too, after all, he had been born with it. All Izuku could think about was how he could improve his technique, and Bakugo was right here. They had fought together, surely, he had some thoughts on his opponent's fighting style.

So, he decided to ask Katsuki what he thought about his shoot style.

"About my Shoot style… How was it?"

He immediately regretted asking, the question made him extremely nervous. He cared what Bakugo thought of him, because he had always looked up to him, but it had been said now.

Bakugo's eyebrows shot up, even after everything that had happened, Izku still cared about his opinion. Bakugo realized that the fight had meant as much to the other boy as it had meant to him. Instead of being snarky for once, he decided to respond honestly.

"The motions when you are preparing to do a move are too big. Even when you got faster, I was able to just barely react in time. It's not good for a slugfest."

"I see…" Izuku replied, staring at the floor nervously. It was almost a compliment! Yes Bakugo had dodged him, but just barely, and Bakugo admitting that was a big thing. So, Izuku now knew that he had to work on making precise motions during close combat, in order to make good use of his speed and power.

After last night's fight, Izuku was looking at Katsuki in a new light. He felt a tug on his heart towards the other boy. And the next thing he knew, his body was moving on his own accord.

Before he lost Bakugo's attention, as the boy started to mop the floor again, Izuku nervously muttered out, "Kacchan, there's something I have to tell you…" Blood rushing to his cheeks, the anxiousness making him lightheaded.

"Huh?" Bakugo said in befuzzlement, turning around to look at him.

Before he could make sense of what was happening, Izuku rushed up to him and pulled him in for a kiss by grabbing his shirt.

Bakugo's eyes widened in astonishment as he looked down at Izuku who had his eyes squeezed shut in concentration. He looked so pretty.

Katsuki let himself enjoy the moment by closing his eyes too, but to his dismay Izuku pulled away way too quickly in embarrassment. The kiss had only lasted a few seconds, which Bakugo decided was in no way close to enough.

Izuku stammered out, "I-I don't know what I'm doing-" but Katsuki decided to spare the energy this time by fisting his shirt and pulling him in for another kiss.

Needless to say, there was no going back after that. The unresolved tension had finally been let out in a wonderful way and Bakugo did not want to go back to forcing himself to hate this boy.

Bakugo knew that he had liked Izuku for a long time. He adored him when they were kids. Which is why he always tried to act as an even bigger arrogant jerk in front of him. Always showing off his quirk, and feeling elated when Izuku fawned over him was something Bakugo couldn't live without. At the same time he disliked the passion Izuku had for becoming a hero, and the kindness he possessed for every living thing. Izuku always liked him plainly and Bakugo couldn't handle it. He didn't believe in being emotional or kind. He only wanted to win, and he realized that once Izuku developed a quirk, he would soon be in the way of that.

As they grew up Bakugo tried to push Izuku away in any way he could, by bullying him and calling him names. He had also discovered that he had developed a small crush on the cute freckled boy. But how could he ever like someone that was quirkless, and hence weaker than himself? He was also afraid that his affections would never be returned. Yes, Izuku was a kind person, that much was obvious to everyone around him, but who was to say that he would still be kind if the person that bullied him confessed his feelings for him. He would surely be laughed at and considered a social pariah. So, it was simple, Bakugo had to despise every aspect of him.

After the fight, and the incident in the living room, Bakugo decided that this would not go on forever. Maybe this was the moment when it had to stop for good, and it did.

Katsuki smiles wistfully at the memories and closes his eyes to try to sleep again but to no avail. He also realizes that he's parched. He doesn't want to untangle himself from Izuku and get up but he finds that he's really thirsty.

He reluctantly gets up, taking great care to not disturb Izuku too much. He unwraps his arms from around him and tenses again when Izuku groans in his sleep from the disturbance, but after a moment of frowning and shifting around he's asleep again. Bakugo admires him for a moment while standing and then walks over away to pour himself a glass of water when he realises that the canister he uses to store drinking water is empty. He decides to go downstairs and fill up some drinking water from the cooler in the lobby when he notices soft white light flooding in from beneath the door to his room and people talking in hushed voices.

"There's always some idiot awake at ungodly hours." He mutters and opens his bedroom door.

He pokes his head out and finds the hallway empty. The sounds he heard are coming from the room beside his.

He firmly knocks on Kirishima's door three times. Kirishima softly yells out "Who is it?" in response, but instead of replying Bakugo simply turns the doorknob and lets himself in.

"Hey!" Kirishima yells again, this time indignantly. "You can't just barge into people's rooms like that!"

"I knocked, didn't I?" Bakugo replies in a bored tone then takes in the scene in front of him. Kirishima is sitting on his bed, his back against the headboard. Mina is sitting beside him. They seemed to have been having a private moment, judging by the way their bodies are pressed so close to each other. Katsuki curls an eyebrow up in amusement. Interesting. He thinks.

"The next time you want some privacy, lock your door." He says and then simply stares at the couple with a thoughtful expression.

"Or you could just knock." Mina says with a roll of her eyes and detaches herself from Kirishima. He whispers "Aw" in disappointment and he giggles and pecks him on the cheek. Bakugo pretends to gag in disgust.

"If you can't watch, leave." Mina says, straightening her clothes. "Anyway, I'm going to go. I need to catch up on some sleep, and so should you guys. Also, it seems as if Bakugo wants to talk to you."

"Yeah, I can't sleep and we need to discuss something." Bakugo says looking between the both of them, hoping Mina would leave soon.

"Why can't we discuss it later?" Kirishima asks, mildly annoyed.

"Because it's driving me nuts."

Mina chuckles at that, "Misery loves company. See you in the morning then, Eijiro. Bakugo."

"Yeah…" Kirishima says with a pout, then gives her a soft smile. "Goodnight." He says fondly and she replies similarly in response, letting herself out and shutting the door closed behind her.

"So… What's up?" Kirishima asks, grinning stupidly at Bakugo.

"What the hell is going on with you and Ashido?" He questions annoyingly.

"What the hell is going on with you and Midoriya?" Kirishima counterattacks, still grinning.

Bakugo huffs in irritation. "Whatever… I guess we both have things to discuss then."

"You first, my friend. You came to me, remember?"

Bakugo pulls out a chair and sits down in front of Eijiro's bed. "Why don't you try to guess." He really doesn't know what to say, or how to even say it.

"Gee, I wouldn't know where to start." Kirishima teases, but takes a shot at it nonetheless. "So are you two dating?"

"Yeah, he's like my boyfriend, or whatever."

"Wow, such warm words." He teases again and Bakugo glares at him. "I'm kidding… It's nice to see though, you've pretended to hate him long enough."

Bakugo sighs. "I wouldn't say that… I think I actually hated him for a long time, but I think I was only hurting myself in the process."

"You are in a better mood nowadays." Kirishima commented. "It's good to see… The asshole persona was getting really old."

Bakugo glared at his friend, "If you think I'm an ass, why did you still hang out with me?"

Eijiro grinned. "It doesn't bother me that much. It was really annoying when I had to team up with you for a fight, but I can deal with it. Doesn't mean I want you going back to being that way though."

"Fair enough." Bakugo huffed. "So yeah, now you know."

"Now!?" Kirishima barked out a laugh. "Do you really think that my IQ is that low?"

"What!?" Bakugo said, his eyes widening.

"Dude… We share a wall…" Bakugo seemed mortified. "Sometimes I had to leave the room and go over to Mina's just so I wouldn't have to hear you…"

"Wow… I had no idea…" For the first time in his life Katsuki was so embarrassed that he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. "Why didn't you say anything!?"

"It's easier to simply turn a blind eye and not have to deal with any of this." Kirishima shrugged. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

Bakugo sighed, he decided to give his friend a general overview of the situation instead of getting into details. The exhaustion of the day was really getting to him.

"A lot of weird stuff has been happening." Kirishima only frowned and let his friend continue.

"A few days ago Izuku found a suitcase in his room, and the suitcase had some of the most bizarre things we've ever seen. Manga, some DVDs, and dolls that freakishly resemble us and our classmates."

Kirishima only frowned in puzzlement. "Anyone can make some dolls Bakugo. It could've been one of our classmates…" Bakugo opened his mouth to comment on that but shut it when Kirishima continued on. "And I don't see anything strange about some manga and DVDs."

"I don't think it was one of our classmates, and it's not just about the stuff, it's about what's inside them…" Bakugo tried to explain.

"What is inside them?" Eijiro inquired, only mildly curious. This did not seem like a big deal to him.

"It's freaky… You have to see it for yourself. The books and DVDs have details about what happened in our lives and what's going to happen next. Everything is with Mr. Aizawa at the moment, otherwise I could've shown you."

Kirishima only stared at his friend in disbelief. "Are you drunk or something? What are you even saying?"

"I am telling you the truth!" Bakugo retorted in annoyance.

"Even if I were to believe you, how could something like that even be possible?"

" I'm sure that they'll show it to us and the rest of the class soon, you'll have to believe me then."

Eijiro shook his head. What was wrong with Bakugo? He obviously was too serious to be joking or lying. Maybe he was hallucinating? Or was Kirishima hallucinating? It was way too late in the night to tell.

"Sure dude… Look, it's way too late in the night and we should sleep, we have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right." Bakugo yawned, rubbing his eyes with his fist. Too tired to argue and assure his friend that he was serious. He got up and walked towards the door, opening it and bidding Kirishima goodnight over his shoulder.