they all gave up on me (kiribaku)

9

Bakugou slammed his bleeding fist against the wall again and again--How could I have been so stupid? I knew. I knew all this time, and I still forgot.

Fucking useless, that's what I am. Can't do ANYTHING RIGHT!

In the back of his mind, that thing was laughing, laughing at everything he'd ever done, ever would do, ever thought of doing-

Get out, that's what the lion had said, the lion-who-was-a-dragon-in-disguise, this powerful beast that was so much more than he'd seemed, the mane of a lion and the scales of a dragon--a powerful beast that even the strongest wolf was no match for.

Get out.

Get out.

Get out get oUT GET OUT OF MY MIND-

Sorry, honey, I'm afraid I can't do that, you know~

I said GET OUT!

But somehow he knew it was a lost cause; somehow it would never matter what he thought. Because now that thing was somehow in control. Because, for some reason, he needed the lion-dragon.

Because the lion could make him sane again. The lion could drive the thing out.

X X X

Kirishima slowly picked through the wreckage their fight had caused. The room may have been on the larger side, but all the weapons and other things shoved haphazardly into it had been spread across the floor. So, Kiri slowly made his way towards the door, kicking knives and the like out of the way. And he still had to decide what to do with Bakugou, who was currently collapsed against the wall, tearing at his muzzle.

Hm. Kiri slowly approached the villain, as he would a raging beast. "Hey. Bakugou."

Bakugou immediately stilled.

"Bakugou. You're clearly not okay, so... can you tell me what happened? Can you tell me anything?"

Bakugou's eyes rolled in his head, dilated pupils coming to rest on Kirishima.

Kiri tried again--"Bakugou, what happened in Kamino?"

The villain snarled at that; lunging at Kirishima as if to kill. Kiri quickly darted back, hardening running along his skin, and Bakugou fell on his palms. There was a hacking sound, and Kiri could see blood leaking out from behind the muzzle, dripping down the villain's neck and pooling on the ground.

"Shit. Okay, shit. Bakugou--you know what, no. You're coming with me. I don't want to deal with the authorities right now." So the hero hoisted up the smaller villain, letting Bakugou collapse completely into him.

Well, this probably tops my list of 'things I never thought I'd do in life.' Silently, Kiri crept out of Bakugou's hideout, marking the location for later, and slunk across town to break into his own apartment through a back window. It wasn't that he didn't have a key; it was just that if he tried to enter by the front door, someone would surely spot him. And he did not want that happening.

Wait, no. Shit, my civilian clothes are still at the agency. Fuck. And so are my wallet and keys.

Well, looked like he was going to have to break into another building tonight. But first, Bakugou obviously needed medical attention.

X X X

Bakugou woke up to the lion standing over him, tending to numerous small wounds he had accumulated throughout... time. He didn't know. Didn't care. All he did know and care about was that these tiny cuts hurt like a bitch. And they were all over. All over. And for some reason, the lion was attempting to remove the muzzle.

"No." Bakugou rasped, then coughed a bit. He tasted blood. And his tongue felt oddly swollen.

"Yes," the lion answered, in that beautifully deep purr of his. Bakugou wasn't sure if he loved or hated it. "You're bleeding, or coughing up blood for some reason. We've gotta get the muzzle off of you." The lion was still unbuckling the muzzle; Bakugou barely noticed. He felt like blacking out again. How did he even get here? Where was here?

The muzzle slipped off his face fully. Bakugou couldn't remember the last time he'd taken it off. Maybe to eat, but when had he last eaten? He heard the lion sigh above him, felt a cold, damp cloth on his face, then let the darkness overtake his senses once again.

X X X

The lower half of Bakugou's face was covered in blood, unsurprisingly. Carefully, Kirishima wiped it all away, revealing thin scars on each cheek--almost like claw marks.

Kirishima had a feeling that the marks had been made by fingernails rather than claws.

At least the bleeding just seemed to come from a badly bitten tongue, instead of something internal. Kiri didn't have the supplies or knowledge to deal with all that on his own, and he didn't want to take Bakugou to a hospital unless completely necessary. That would mean turning the villain in, and Kiri didn't want to do that either. Even though it was obviously the most logical solution.

Kiri ran his fingers through his mane of hair, stopping every now and then to work through a knot. Now what? I have the Fire-Raiser in my apartment, and I'm just... not going to turn him in? Settling his back against the couch, he sat down on the floor. Maybe I'm just being an idiot.

Yeah, I'll turn him in tomorrow. It's too late to deal with this kind of bullshit.

So Kirishima patched the villain up, wrapped him in a blanket, and left him sleeping on the hero's couch, leaving the muzzle on the side table.

X X X

This time, when Bakugou woke up, the lion was nowhere in sight. It was still dark out, and the clock across the room read 3:34. He could feel cool air on his face. Reaching up, he ran his fingertips across the scars he knew were there. The villain couldn't remember when, exactly, he had gotten them; he just knew he'd done it himself. Funny thing is, he didn't know why, either.

Slowly, he sat up, keeping the blanket that he'd been wrapped in around his shoulders. I wonder why. It's not like I've made his life easy, far from it. I--I killed his friends, I killed... a lot. And I don't even really know why. To ease tension, maybe? But killing shouldn't do that to a person. It shouldn't--

He felt... something trickle down his face, and he realized he was crying. Why was he crying, crying over nothing? He didn't deserve to cry, just as the lion didn't deserve to feel betrayed.

Bakugou's mind was completely silent in that moment. It was as if the thing had obeyed him and left.

He hoped it had.

He heard something move in the other room; a light flickered to life and the lion trudged out from behind the door. The beast didn't seem to notice that Bakugou was awake. He simply stood in front of the curtained window, then pushed the cloth aside, allowing moonlight to spill onto the floor.

Bakugou watched the beast stand like that for a good ten minutes, his red mane turned silver by the moon. Silently, the lion let the curtain fall closed again and turned.

"Oh. Hey, Bakugou. Couldn't sleep either?"

Bakugou nodded, curling his legs toward his chest. The lion sat down on the other end of the couch, and glanced over. "Wanna talk?"

Bakugou didn't, really. He didn't even know there was anything to talk about. Voicing this just made the lion laugh sadly, then sigh.

"Alright. I'll... leave you to whatever you were doing then, I guess?" The lion rose, disappearing back behind the door, leaving Bakugou alone with his thoughts again.

The villain almost called him back, but closed his mouth. It's not like he'd come, anyway. Rolling over onto his side, he stared into the darkness until sleep claimed his mind yet again.