By the time the next class is set to begin, the news had spread around the entire school and garnered mixed reactions. Students are shocked, saddened, disgusted at the realization that someone had done such a thing to a student their age, filled with pity, and many are still disbelieving. Their minds do not want to acknowledge that it is true, especially considering who it happened to.

Class 1-A is by far in the worst situation of the classes. As soon as the news reached each of its students, they went into their own states of panic about the leak of information. Nobody knows what to do or if there is anything they can do.

And of course, within class 1-A there are two students taking the day's events the worst, the first feeling terrible because it is his fault "the news" became news in the first place. Kirishima Eijiro slinks across the halls of UA with sagging shoulders, a downturned head, and the expression and puffy red eyes of someone who has been crying and is barely stopping himself from starting again as he heads to class after the recent end-of-lunch bell.

Then there is the latter student, Bakugou Katsuki, whom the rumors are about. Well, they are not really rumors anymore. News really is the better term for the terribly real facts that spread around campus.

Bakugou had gone to his classroom immediately after he left the cafeteria, the rumbling hunger in his unfed stomach going unnoticed as his insides twist uncomfortably and painfully as if by a hand reaching through his gut. He folds in on himself, eyes closed tightly, his head laying atop his folded arms on his desk as he uncharacteristically sits in his chair with his feet planted on the floor.

The uncomfortable churning feeling isn't from anger. No, anger would be so much better than this. What Bakugou feels is the most acute feeling of disappointment that someone could possibly feel. It is not the "awww, I scored poorly on my test even though I tried so hard" disappointment. It is the piercing, heart-wrenching disappointment of losing faith in the person you allowed closest to you. The feeling just preceding the realization that you've been abandoned whether the person who did so realizes it or not, and dear God, it hurts.

His stomach clenches again from the pain, and Bakugou's back scrunches, his shoulders curling inward as his face digs further into his arms, nose pressing onto the hard wood of his desk, and his hands curl into tight fists.

The other students in the half-filled room look over worriedly at their classmate, but nobody speaks, knowing they should give him some time to himself even if he still is in the room with them.

Bakugou's jaw clenches as he hears the door open with painfully slow speed, but can only guess at who came in. "Bakugou..." the voice whispers, and Bakugou's heart feels like it is being ripped out of his chest as his eyes shoot open beneath the shadow of his arms, beginning to fill with tears as his nails draw blood from his palms and his jaw clenches to hold in the pitiful sounds his traitorous heart wants to send through his mouth.

The person to whom the voice belongs does not speak any more, though, luckily for Bakugou. He is afraid if he hears Kirishima speak again, he will need to run out of the room in tears and make another weak fucking spectacle of himself.

Bakugou takes a shuddering breath as he tries to calm himself, and moments later he hears footsteps going from the door to a seat in the class.

Then the room is silent once more.

The classes that day are excruciatingly painful to sit through for everybody in the room, including the teachers who, by each of their classes, had apparently heard that Bakugou's secret had come out.

Throughout the lessons, it is utterly quiet aside from the shiver-inducing scratches of chalk on the chalkboard and the occasional sentence from an awkward teacher who doesn't want to say anything but forces themself to do so anyway. After all, they each feel that they should not be speaking at all after the scene they each walked in to at the beginnings of each of their own lessons: Bakugou's curled, defensive posture at his desk.

When class ends, Bakugou makes the signature quick escape he has become known for when he wants to avoid everyone, his head downturned and his hair blocking his face from view as he stalks out of the room silently. The classes and exit had been too quiet for such a loud boy to have been present.

Kirishima watches with puffy eyes as Bakugou leaves, not even getting up to run after his friend. He messed up at lunch. Really badly. Kirishima bites the inside of his cheek as he finally gets up after a few minutes and leaves the classroom to head to his dorm where he will likely hide away so that Bakugou doesn't have to see him. Bakugou probably never wants to see him again, really. Who would? He outed his biggest secret to the whole school. Even after Kirishima finally got him to agree to meet and talk with him! Maybe he should ask Aizawa for a room change so that Bakugou won't be forced to have him next door.

"Kiri," a voice calls from behind, and Kirishima's thoughts come to a screeching halt, his jaw clenching. He slowly turns and meets the eyes of the pink girl who had called his name. Her golden eyes ringed with black gaze at him worriedly and hesitantly. After a moment her lips part and she whispers questioningly, "Are you okay?"

It takes the boy a moment to process the question. "Am I—" Kirishima's voice hitches and he gulps. "Am I okay?" His expression twists into a pained grimace. "Do you realize what I fucking did, Mina?" Tears trail down Kirishima's face as his shoulders tremble without his knowledge.

The people in the hall stop walking past to try to listen in on the conversation, their gazes intrusive, and Ashido's eyes trail down to the floor. She walks over and grabs Kirishima's wrist firmly. "Come here," she says quietly as she tugs him toward an empty room, Kirishima loosely allowing himself to be drug along behind her with his eyes sadly tracking the floor.

Once they enter the room, Ashido twists and pulls Kirishima all the way inside before shoving the door closed to block the intruding eyes of the hall's spectators.

She takes a deep breath before turning to Kirishima with a decisive expression on her face. "You, Kirishima Eijirou, fucked up," she says blandly, and Kirishima's tears flow more rapidly and drip from his chin as his mouth opens to let out a sound of his agreement, but Ashido continues, "and so did I." Kirishima's leaking eyes snap up in shock, mouth gaping like a fish. Ashido does not slow, however, as she says continuously more forcefully. "I fucked up just like you, and even though the other girls messed up, too, you and I did the worst. But Kiri, you're not alone in this, and it's going to take time, and Bakugou may never forgive us, but we are going to be here if he ever does let us come back to him, okay?" She sends him a small grin.

Kirishima looks down with leaking eyes again. "Mina...I did way worse than you..." he says with a quivering voice. "You listened in on his conversation. Yeah, it was a breach of privacy and a bad thing to do, and you shouldn't have done it, but I—" His wide red eyes go up to meet Ashido's pleading, as if begging her to understand how terrible of a person he is as his voice rasps, "I practically told the entire school that he was raped, Mina. The entire fucking school. I told them all his biggest secret when he trusted me with it." An insane laugh escapes him past his streams of tears as he turns around and shoves his hands into his hair, pulling at his roots. "I had just gotten him to agree to tell me more! To open up! To meet up with me and let me in! He's never done that! But no. What did I do? Expose him to everyone!" He spins around again and points at Ashido accusingly with an angry glare. "He can forgive you. No, don't try to tell me I'm wrong. Knowing him how I know him, he will forgive you, but there is no way in hell I deserve forgiveness, and I won't get it!" His voice tapers off as his arm flops back to his side and he sinks to his knees, looking blankly at nothing, inches from Ashido's side, after his emotional rollercoaster.

"Did you know that once someone's trust is broken you can never get it completely back? It's scientifically proven." he says almost in a trancelike state as Ashido takes a careful step toward him. He chuckles lightly. "With everything he's gone through, it's probably even more impossible for me to get his trust back. I knew that, and here I am. I knew...I know that Bakugou trusted me the most, and that'll only make it worse for him," he says as he dissolves into heart-wrenching sobs.

Ashido practically leaps the rest of the distance that separates them and hugs Kirishima tightly, pulling his head down onto her shoulder as he cries. She looks up toward the ceiling with tearful eyes. "Kiri," she begins with a trembling voice that somehow manages to still sound strong, "yes, you fucked up. We all know that." Kirishima cries harder and tries to pull away, but Ashido holds him tighter. "But," she says in a hardened tone, and Kirishima's breath hitches as he freezes, "we all know it was an accident. Bakugou probably doesn't know for sure yet, but I'm certain he already knows it. You fucked up, but you, unlike me, did not mean for what you did to happen. You stayed good on your word after you promised a punishment to whoever badmouthed our friend, and you weren't even the one who said the words in the end."

"But I—" the broken and muffled voice tries to cut in.

"No. Sure, you could have lied. You could have tried to make yourself out to be a fucking show pony making a joke in the cafeteria, but we all know you're a terrible liar. This would have happened anyway, and even though you think Bakugou won't forgive you because you were the closest person to him, I think you just need to give him time." Ashido leans back and away from Kirishima, who reluctantly leans back and looks at her with his wet and puffy red face and runny nose displayed in all their glory. Ashido smiles slightly as she says softly, "Like you said, our Blasty is forgiving, and if he knows you really regret what happened, I promise he will let you back in and close to his big and explody heart. That last bit especially counts for you, lover-boy." She pokes Kirishima's nose teasingly, the boy's tearful face scrunching up a bit in reaction, and Ashido smiles. "So you should believe in yourself a little bit, and definitely don't give up on him. I'm waiting to see if he accepts me again, and you should too. We've just gotta do our best to make it up to him."

Kirishima watches Ashido for a moment before looking down again. Something seems to click in his mind and he pulls up his arms to rub at his face harshly. Ashido chuckles when he looks back up at her seriously and lets a large and toothy grin take over his reddened face despite the remaining sadness and tears still in his eyes. "Yeah, I'll wait as long as it takes," he says decisively.

Ashido grins wider. "Good!" she says and ruffles Kirishima's hair as the boy splutters and tries to salvage his spikes. "Now stop brooding and keep living your life."

The pink girl leaves as Kirishima stares after her. A moment later, he plops down, stretched out like a starfish on his back. Time, huh? Kirishima thinks as some more tears slip out of his eyes and down the sides of his face. An image of one of Bakugou's little smiles he allows on his face when he thinks nobody is looking pops into his mind. Kirishima grins a little wider. Yeah. Even if that time never comes, I can wait anyway. I'll make it up to him.

——————————————————————

Was Ashido redeemed? A little bit? Maybe? I don't know how this is gonna be taken honestly lol.

Also, here's me, who had thought this story would end up about 15 chapters: 👁👄👁

-Angry
Word Count: 2131