With heavy bags under lids that feel like they weight fifty pounds each, Kirishima opens his eyes to a brightly lit hallway that blinds him. Squinting his eyes closed against the light, Kirishima fends off the headache from the sudden brightness before blinking quickly in an attempt to open his eyes again despite their weight and how badly he wants to keep them closed.

Finally making out a fuzzy shape in front of him, Kirishima blearily looks up into Shoji's friendly face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up, Kirishima. I was just going downstairs, but I saw you sitting here and wanted to make sure you were okay," the guy explains quietly so as not to be any more startling to a groggy mind.

Blinking the sleep away slowly, Kirishima nods, agreeing dazedly, "No, no worries at all. Go ahead; I'm all good over here." Offering a large smile, Kirishima sends Shoji off.

With a groan, Kirishima plops his head back onto his knees once he is sure Shoji has exited the hallway. His joints feel creaky and angry at him for his position. His muscles scream over having too little rest. Why is he sitting here anyway? In front of.... Kirishima looks up, leaning his blob of bed-head hair against the door he sits in front of. Bakugou's room? Kirishima's eyebrows crease in confusion. Why is he...?

Oh.

Oh!

Oh, God.

Kirishima leaps to his feet with his hands up and hardened in a defensive stance, eyes suddenly wide and alert and adrenaline flowing through his protesting muscles. Looking down the hallways, in the other direction from where Shoji had gone, Kirishima spots Midnight standing guard. If she is here monitoring, then nothing could have happened, right? Kirishima feels his body sag in relief at the thought, arms going lax at his sides.

He simply breathes for a few minutes, looking between the door and Midnight before hesitantly walking over to the teacher. "Uh.... Ms. Midnight?" he asks.

The hero turns and smiles dimly at her student, clearly unhappy about yesterday's news despite how she tries to hide her gloomy thoughts from her student. "Good morning, Kirishima. What do you need?"

"I was just wondering what time it is."

Midnight blinks a few time at being asked such a simple question. "Oh! Well, it happens to beeeeee..." she draws out the word, whipping out her phone, "aaaand it's almost seven!" She smiles again at Kirishima as she slips away her phone. "That all you need?"

Kirishima's expression screams confusion, but he nods anyway, thanking Midnight and walking back toward Bakugou's door. He looks down at his feet while he walks. There is definitely not going to be school today. He knows that. But, either way, Bakugou always wakes up early to go work out. He could not have gone out without waking Kirishima up since he was sitting in front of the door all night and definitely only fell asleep around four-thirty. Even if Kirishima had not been awoken by the door opening, Bakugou would have surely made a fuss over him sitting in front of his door.

Nothing could have...gone wrong...right? The heroes have been here this whole time, and so has he. Nobody could have gotten in ever since Aizawa and Nezu got the news about the escape. Right?

Blood now racing through his racing heart, Kirishima stares at Bakugou's doorknob, hair slightly obscuring the view of his wide and terrified eyes. Please let me be wrong. Please let me be wrong. Please let me be wrong.

"Please let me be wrong," he murmurs.

Opening the door slowly, Kirishima creeps inside. Tiptoeing, hesitant to wake Bakugou up and incur his wrath if he is really sleeping in for once—Lord knows he needs it—Kirishima makes his way into the room. He eventually makes it over to the bed, arms raised out and shoulders up by his ears as he grimaces and prepares for the accidental clamor that he is probably going to start eventually.

Kirishima's eyes inch upward, and he dreads that he will find an empty bed when his eyes finally arrive at their destination. Almost sighing his relief aloud, Kirishima claps his hands over his mouth when his gaze lands on Bakugou's curled-up form lying in bed, the light sound of breathing steadily flowing from under the sheets.

Thank goodness.... He's safe. Kirishima was worried for nothing. Now, he just needs to get out of here without actually waking up his easily infuriated friend. Lifting up a foot slowly, Kirishima pushes it back to backpedal lightly out of the room.

That does not happen. Instead, as soon as Kirishima puts down his foot and goes to lift the other, he manages to trip over nothing, stumbling and falling over with a yelp and a massive bang.

Kirishima keeps his eyes closed as he mumbles a low "ouch," scared to see Bakugou's glowering face, and pulls himself up to a sitting position with his knees propped up unevenly and his hands on the ground slightly behind him to hold him up. Bakugou definitely did not sleep through that, even if he is trying to sleep in and get rid of his exhaustion. Peeking one eye open over his grimace, Kirishima looks up at the bed, but there is no movement. Contrarily, the low and restful breaths from moments ago continue to fill the air, a low murmur of sleep-talk the only deviation.

Confused, Kirishima stands up again, making his way back to Bakugou's bedside. Could he have gotten sick because he had slept so little lately? Worried now, Kirishima's expression pinches in concern.

Better safe than sorry, Kirishima thinks, trying to convince himself to pull down Bakugou's sheets. I would rather him be mad at me while I know he is sick than for him to be sick in solitude.

With this thought in mind, Kirishima carefully pulls down the covers to Bakugou's chest to disturb his sleeping roommate as little as possible: a difficult feat, seeing as the linens had reached all the way over Bakugou's nose, but Kirishima does so nonetheless...and...successfully?

Kirishima feels his worry grow further when he notes the lack of reaction from his friend. "Bakugou?" he tries, whispering quietly. When he gets no response, he nudges the boy. "Hey, Bakugou," he calls a little louder. No response, yet again. "Bakugou, wake up!" Kirishima somewhat shouts, fear now taking him over. No response. What is happening? What's wrong? Kirishima's mind screams at him. "Bakugou!" he shouts in panic as he observes no reaction, shaking Bakugou's shoulders.

Something flies from Bakugou's mouth on a more violent jolt, surprising Kirishima and making him leap away with a yell of surprise. Looking back and forth between Bakugou's still form and the minuscule machine, no larger than the palm of a hand, Kirishima once again becomes confused. He rushes over to where the thing fell to the ground, picking it up and analyzing it with a clenched jaw. The breathing. It is producing sounds of Bakugou's breathing and mumbling. The sounds are...coming from the machine? Not...Bakugou?

Kirishima's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, and his head snaps up. He looks back to where "Bakugou" lies. Then.... Kirishima's mind begins, cutting itself off as he stumbles over to Bakugou, slamming his head onto the blonde's chest hastily. Nothing. There is no sound. No movement. Actually.... Kirishima rests a hand on Bakugou's arm while he searches for a heart beat. This doesn't even feel like skin.

No.

Fuck.

NO!

Kirishima slams his head onto the ground beside Bakugou's bed that is...being taken up by a well-made dummy...and screams painfully. His heart claws at his chest, and his fists hold at his shirt, body curling.

"NOOOOOO!"

Hurried footsteps rush down the hallway and come to a halt in Bakugou's doorway. "What's wrong, Kirishima?" Midnight asks hurriedly, eyes going between Kirishima and "Bakugou."

Kirishima hiccups on a sob and turns his head towards the woman as tears stream down his face. "Bakugou's g-gone!" he sobs, staggering to his feet. "I w-was use-useless! H-he's g-gone! AaaaaaaagggghhhhhhHHHHHHHH!" he cries in despair, body crumbling around him.

Rushing to the dummy, Midnight checks it over to be sure, and she soon runs back out of the room, dialing a number on her phone with a terrifying expression on her face. She holds the phone to her ear as it rings. "This is not your responsibility, Kirishima. This is entirely my and the other heroes' faults, not yours," she says as she leaves, and Kirishima pulls himself shakily along to follow, leaving a trail of tears on the ground behind him.

I need to find him.

—————————————————————

Lol this chapter wasn't gonna exist and I wrote a lot of the next one then went and decided to add this in as well cuz why not :3

Poor Kiri bb I'm rly torturing him heh

-Angry
Word Count: 1462