"Yo, Bakubro?"
Bakugo hummed in acknowledgment, continuing to scribble answers on his English worksheet judging by the sound of his moving pencil.
Kirishima looked at the trees that danced in the wind in front of the window, holding his head in his hand.
"I saw a graffiti earlier when I was coming back from town. It said: "Free is the man who doesn't have secrets." What do you think that means?
The scribbling stopped. There was a pause, then:
"Did you hit your shitty-haired head or something? What's with the sudden philosophy?"
Kirishima turned to grin at his () face.
"Dude, I'm totally philosophical! Don't act this surprised!"
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Hair-For-Brains."
Kirishima mocked being offended.
"Seriously, though. That phrase...it sounds so dark, yet so wise at the same time!"
Bakugo looked like he was actually giving it a thought this time.
"I guess."
Kirishima continued. "Everyone has secrets, right? So we're all prisoners? But of what? What is freedom?"
He received an unimpressed look in response.
"Who are you and what have you done with my dumbass?"
Kirishima took the pencil that was lying beside the worksheet and flicked him in the forehead.
"Your dumbass, huh?"
Bakugo grabbed for the pencil that Kirishima hastened to keep out of his reach.
"Shut it and give it here! This assignment is for tomorrow. Also, I will remind you that your loud ass hasn't even started on it yet."
Kirishima had stood up to prevent him from reaching the pencil.
"Not until you tell me what you think it means! Please, Bakugo! I admit that you're smarter than me. You would understand something like that, while I wouldn't."
That made Bakugo pause in trying to obtain his pencil, still leaning over the side of the table where Kirishima had sat. A thoughtful expression entered Bakugo's face again, eyes looking somewhere far off.
"I think, that's exactly what it means."
Kirishima was even more confused now.
"Hah?"
Bakugo looked looked him in the eyes again.
"What you just said. You admitted that I'm smarter than you."
"Aw, c'mon, bro, Stop flattering yourself!"
"That's not what I meant. You admitted that someone is smarter than you. You don't try to hide the fact that you may be not as smart as them. You openly admit it even. You're not worrying about anyone finding out, because you accept yourself. You're-"
He cut himself off to give Kirishima a small smile.
"You're free."
Kirishima smiled back, warmth settling in his chest.
"That's-that's so sweet, dude!"
The fond expression slipped off Bakugo's face immediately.
"Who are you calling a sap, Shitty Hair, huh?! I'm not being sappy, I'm just stating facts that should be obvious!"
Kirishima snickered. "Never said you were a sap, bro."
"Shut it, you implied it!"
Bakugo sat back down again, pretending to focus on his worksheet to hide his blush from Kirishima.
"Ain't gonna work, dude. I've still got your pencil."
Grumbling, Bakugo stretched out his hand without looking up from the questions. Kirishima handed it to him, chuckling.
They sat in silence for a while, Kirishima turning his head to look out of the window again with writing sounds filling the space between them. The wind had picked out some more, dark clouds grouping together in the skies. All in all, it looked as if it was going to rain soon. Bakugo was the one to break the silence this time.
"I'm not. Free, that is, following that quote," he mumbled.
Bakugo didn't meet his eyes as Kirishima gave him his attention.
"Why's that?", Kirishima asked.
Bakugo seemed to startle. Bakugo of all people.
"I don't...I don't talk about my weaknesses. Scratch that, I tell everyone I don't have any. Even though that's not true."
That was...very introspective of him, Kirishima thought. He felt like he was witnessing a completely new side of his friend, all thanks to some random sentence he'd seen sprayed on the wall of a building. Sure, he'd known that. Everyone had insecurities. Even Bakugo had to have them, he was, believe it or not, human after all. But this? It was very foreign to Kirishima to see Bakugo show vulnerability of all things.
"I think it's manly of you to admit that," he said earnestly.
That earned a snort from Bakugo.
"You and your damn manliness," he said, mocking exasperation, "Go get started on your assignment. I don't feel like listening to you whine about it at eleven P.M."
Kirishima raised an eyebrow, even though he was already getting up.
"You're usually asleep at nine. How would you know?"
"Remember all the times you woke me God knows when to help you with your shitty homework and answer that question yourself."
Half way to the door, Kirishima paused, indignant.
"Dude, that was one time!"
"One time too many.", Bakugo replied, "Now, go get your stuff and your ass over here."
Kirishima sighed at the number of problems in front of him, before resigning himself to his fate and starting on the exercises.
"Can I borrow your eraser?"
Bakugo clicked his tongue.
"Five minutes in and you already got something wrong. There are no brain cells under that shitty red hair of yours." There was no bite to his tone as he handed over his eraser.
Kirishima smirked. Fine. Two could play at this game.
"Forget it, I don't want it anymore," he announced, marking the correct answer over the wrong one to fill in later when he got back to his room.
"Pfft, tease."
Kirishima continued working on the next question.
"I'll tell you, someday. So I can be free, too."
Kirishima frowned in confusion, concentration torn away from his work.
"My weaknesses," Bakugo specified.
Kirishima smiled in astonishment. That...he hadn't expected that when he told Bakugo about the graffiti. Pride swelled in his chest.
"You really got into that quote, huh?"
Bakugo smirked.
"Surprisingly enough, it's a pretty good one. Not something I would have expected to come from you."
"Hey! You're not fair, bro!"
"Go back to work."
"But it's you who started talking first!"
"Shut it and do your homework."
"Yes, mom."
"What did you just call me?!"
