Bakugou makes a deal for Kirishima's life at the cost of Kiri’s memories of him.

Well, so much for making Kirishima forget about him—because six months after moving 550 miles away from Tokyo, Kirishima comes crashing back into his life and just wouldn’t leave him the fuck alone.

— no quirks au, memory loss au
— hurt/comfort, but this will have a happy ending because i'm a sucker for it
— will be a little longer than my usual threads so pls hold on
— enjoy!

Waking up in the morning is not really something that Bakugou has been looking forward to ever since he started to occupy the bed alone. When you’re used to waking up at the sight of a redhead smiling brightly at you , then all other mornings without that just seem so lackluster.

7:38 am

He heaves a sigh before he gets up and grabs his phone from the side table. Bakugou just rolls his eyes when he sees the barrage of messages from his editor. Izuku is probably just reminding him about his deadline for the rough draft of the next novel that he is writing.

He can easily finish that thing without his editor fussing every hour over it, so he chooses to ignore the messages and proceeds to the bathroom instead so he can get himself ready to visit the daycare center.

It’s not like he /loves/ kids nor does he have the patience enough to tolerate the goddamn demons. It’s not like the kids like him that much, either. If anything, most of the kids are afraid of him because ‘Teacher he looks so scary!!’ or ‘Teacher he is mad again!’

The only thing that pushes him every day to visit the daycare is the sense of familiarity which the place brings. The feeling of comfort it brings him every time Bakugou remembers how back in Tokyo, he used to watch a certain someone teach the kids and play with them for hours.

The feeling of warmth and bliss and all things encompassing a certain redhead with bright smile and dazzling crimson eyes.

After 15 minutes of suffering under the cold shower—fuck he really needs to talk to the landlady to get his heater fixed already—Bakugou steps out and dries himself quickly before he wears his gray sweatpants. He grabs a smaller towel and starts to dry his hair when suddenly—

He hears a barrage of noise outside his apartment. Come to think of it, the landlady did leave a note last night that a newcomer will be occupying the space besides his. Bakugou rolls his eyes at the thought of just another human being trying to befriend him.

He remembers the time when he first got into this apartment complex and he got a daily visit from the residents offering him food and all that nutritional shit. Bakugou tries to do what he does best in dealing with this kind situation—to never deal with them on the first place.

Apparently, not dealing with these people makes them think they have the right to suddenly barge into your apartment using the landlady’s duplicate key in fear of him not eating for one goddamn week already.

Bakugou remembers being hugged by people he’s not even familiar with. People who he tried to ignore for one whole week. People who knew nothing about Bakugou but ended up being concerned about him anyway.

For the first time since /that incident/, Bakugou feels warm and welcomed

And if the pale blonde ended up crying in the middle of his apartment while he’s being crushed by the obaa-sans and ossans, then that’s nobody’s fucking business but his own.

The thing is, he is not getting paid in this whole befriending-your-neighbors-in-the-apartment-complex spectacle so he hopes to all gods out there that his new neighbor doesn’t even so much as make an eye contact with him during his entire stay in the complex.

The pale blonde is starting to rummage through his limited choice of shirts when he hears successive knocks on his door.

Oh, fucking christ just when he was praying!

He tries to ignore the knocks and continues to look for whatever shirt is available before Bakugou rolls his eyes for the second time this morning and closes the goddamn cabinet. He hangs his towel on his shoulder and heads towards his doorway.

The pale blonde swings the door open with as much force as he can, hoping that whoever is in front of his fucking door can get the hint that he is clearly not welcome—

Well, goddamn he’s so /fucked./

As soon as he meets his new neighbor’s eyes, that funny sense of familiarity and comfort which the daycare brings comes crashing into him. The feeling of warmth and bliss and all things encompassing a certain redhead with bright smile and dazzling crimson eyes.

Dazzling crimson eyes which are now staring back at him with his mouth slightly agape. Oh—he’s not actually staring at his eyes, but rather at his body which is most definitely bare because he chose to face his new neighbor without wearing his shirt.

When crimson meets red once again, his new neighbor seems to finally come back to the present and gather his thoughts. The redhead rubs his nape shyly before he tries to introduce himself—as if Bakugou even needs an introduction from someone who he knows from head to toe.

“I-I uh, I’m your new neighbor, Kirishima Eijirou! Looking forward to my stay here!”

Eijir—Kirishima stretches his hand out towards Bakugou and only then did the pale blonde notice that the fucker’s hand is /bleeding./

“What the fuck did you do to your hand?!”

Bakugou quickly grabs the redhead’s wrist and pulls him inside his apartment. He pushes him to sit on the couch before he heads to his bathroom in haste to grab his first aid kit. He rushes back to the couch and starts to disinfect the wound first and stop the bleeding.

“You didn’t fucking answer the goddamn question.”

Bakugou is seething as he cleanses the wound on the redhead’s hand and covers it with gauge as soon as he is done treating it.

“Uhh, the knife dropped on the box that I was carrying and I kinda…just grabbed the knife so I got cut. It kinda…hurt you know so I might have dropped the whole box and uhh, that’s the mess in front of your door. Sorry, man.”

He takes a look at the man whose face looks a little flushed as he watches him treat his wound. He takes a look at the man and sees the same crimson eyes which he was so used to seeing first thing in the morning when he wakes up.

He sees the same red hair which Bakugou used to dye monthly because Kirishima always bugs him to dye it for him. He sees the same plump lips which never fails to calm him down whenever he is having another nightmare.

He takes a look at the man and wishes that he can just hug him tight, so tight until the warmth is engraved into his body. He wishes he can hug him and tell him about anything and everything like how he used to do back in their shared apartment in Tokyo.

He wishes he can tell him how much he missed him and how much he wants to spend the rest of his days with him.

He takes a look at the man and wishes Kirishima can remember him and all the 11 years’ worth of memories he shared with him.

“H-Hey, man. You alright?”

Bakugou gulps a lump on his throat and immediately tears his gaze away from the redhead. He pushes the wounded hand forcefully and stands up to grab and wear a shirt.

The redhead follows suit which Bakugou doesn’t really appreciate because any more contact might suddenly break down the walls Bakugou thought he already built to be so sturdy.

Any more contact might make Bakugou spill everything and just tell him how much he loves him and how much he wants Kirishima to remember him. Any more contact and Bakugou might just lose him, /again./

So, the pale blonde just faces him with hands on his hips and his brows raised.

“You got your goddamn wound treated already, shitty hair. That’s why you fucking knocked, right?”

The redhead just nods at him with his mouth slightly agape. Kirishima chuckles lightly before rubbing his nape once again, a habit he hasn’t really gotten rid of.

“Yeah, man. I actually forgot to bring my first aid kit.”

/You always forget your first aid kit, idiot./

“What, need someone else to bring those goddamn boxes inside your apartment? As if I will.” Bakugou rolls his eyes at him, but Kirishima only shrugs and chuckles at him.

“A man can always hope.”

When Bakugou didn’t answer, the redhead takes it as a cue to finally leaves his apartment. Finally.

“So uhm, it might be a mess of a first interaction, but I’m really glad you’re my new neighbor!! Nice to meet you…”

Kirishima looks at him expectantly, with those curious eyes and that slightly pouty lips, to which Bakugou just rolls his eyes for the fourth time this morning.

“Bakugou Katsuki.”

The redhead smiles once again and nods at him.

“Nice to meet you, Bakugou!”

Bakugou just nods and pushes the redhead out of his apartment, earning him soft laughter from his new neighbor.

As soon as he closes the door, Bakugou slides down against it until his ass hits the floor.

He takes a deep breath and tries to process everything that happened within the span of fifteen goddamn minutes. He pulls his legs against his chest and props his arms against his knees as he leans his forehead against his arms—only then did Bakugou realizes that he is trembling.

/It’s fine. This is fine. Eijirou doesn’t remember me. He won’t remember me. It’s fine./

And if Bakugou ends up crying inside his apartment for god knows how many hours, then that’s nobody’s fucking business but his own.

7:38am

Bakugou gets up and grabs his phone from the side table, only this time he actually sends a reply to Izuku that he will be sending the first part of the novel on weekend.

It’s only Tuesday anyway, he figures he has enough time to finish the first part and at least calm the nerves of his editor. He throws the phone on his bed before he grabs his towel to take a shower.

Oh god, he wasn’t able to tell the landlady about his broken heater once again.

Bakugou heaves a sigh before he steps into the shower. This is all that shithead’s fault for being his goddamn neighbor and causing him to just stay cooped up inside his apartment yesterday. The cold water causes the pale blonde to shiver more than necessary.

He feels like his insides are about to get frozen and he’s once again reminded of that one cold night.

That one cold night.

[tw: mention of a car incident]

It’s not like his life hadn’t been in tatters before that night anyway. If anything, it in comparison other nights when he would walk out of the hospital praying that tomorrow when he goes back, then Kirishima would finally be awake while showing him that bright smile of his.

Bakugou was about to head home with his hands pocketed deeply inside his trench coat to fight off the cold of the night. The small box caught his attention and Bakugou’s tears start to well up once again. The small box which he had been holding onto for six months already—

six months since Kirishima had been in coma after a car incident on his way home from the daycare center. Kirishima was just walking down his usual path when a drunk driver hit the side lane and crashed into Kirishima.

The once healthy and full of vigor man could no longer be seen on the set of skin, bones, and flesh laying down in the hospital bed. Bakugou couldn’t even imagine the number of doctors who received his series of profanities due to his frustration.

That one cold night was when Bakugou bumped into an old man—he’s probably on his 60s, wearing a black suit and a round black hat, holding his cane in front of him. He muttered a quick apology before he continued walking, but the man’s voice ceased him from his tracks.

“Will you let him live even if it costs all his memories of you?”

Bakugou turned around slowly and he was met with piercing crimson eyes staring at him. His fatigue must be starting to get into him. His mind was a mess and he’s too desperate to even distinguish what’s possible or impossible, what’s real or unreal, what’s rational or absurd.

He didn’t want to hold on to any false hope, but Bakugou wanted nothing else on this earth but to save his partner. If holding into any false hope would give him that, then he’d hold on so tight and never ever let go.

Anything. Anything. He didn’t care what kind of demon or angel was he talking to. He didn’t care about the consequences. He didn’t even know if what this man was saying made any sense. All he knew was that he’d give up everything just to save Kirishima.

With a weary smile and tears falling from his eyes, all Bakugou could ever manage to say was

“Yes.”

The next morning after that cold night was when Bakugou was met with the warmth he so missed. He was notified by the hospital that his partner already woke up and Bakugou had never been so quick into getting up ever in his life.

He sent a message to all of Kirishima’s idiotic trio of friends before he went to the hospital. As soon as he got there, all he could focus on was Kirishima smiling shyly at his friends and laughing a little at all the idiotic remarks that Kaminari kept on saying.

When crimson finally meets red, that’s when realization of last night’s events hit him.

“Uhm, yes? Who are you looking for Mister?”

Kirishima uttered so respectfully. Mina was looking back and forth at the both of them, clearly confused at whatever spectacle was happening. Bakugou looked at them and signaled them to go outside so he could finally talk to them about this.

Bakugou could not believe it at first, but it didn’t take his mind more than a minute to process it. That goddamn old man must be the reason of all of this. That old man and the deal Bakugou made with him.

/It’s fine. This is fine. He is awake and it’s all that matters to me./

That was the last Bakugou had seen of Kirishima after he woke up. He went out of his way to ask Mina, Kaminari, and Sero not to tell Kirishima about him /ever./ They wanted him to tell them about his reason and why did he seem unfazed that Kirishima didn’t remember him—

like it is something that he had already expected, but all it took for them to shut up was a simple “Please.” from the pale blonde which Bakugou greatly appreciate.

That one cold night was also the last time when he saw the mysterious old man.

That’s when he moved out of their shared apartment and erased every single trace of him on Kirishima’s life. He told his editor he’d be finishing the next novel he planned to write, but he would have to move to Kumamoto to regain his vigor.

He didn’t want to stay near Tokyo and risk accidentally meeting Kirishima. Besides, he figured moving away and trying to start a new life would help him clear his mind and actually finish the novel he’d began to write.

Well, so much for trying not to accidentally bump into Kirishima. He did not just meet Kirishima in Kumamoto of all places, but he is his fucking new neighbor! Bakugou groans in frustration—or maybe because of the cold—before he taps off the shower and steps out to get dressed.

He wears red shirt and black sweatpants before grabbing his laptop bag and his trench coat. He opens his door and slowly takes a peek to ensure that Kirishima is not out in the hallway. The last thing he needs this morning is interacting with the goddamn ray of sunshine.

“Today is the day I beat you in basketball, Bakugou!”

The pale blonde smirks at the statement before messing with Haruka’s hair.

“That’s Bakugou-sama for you, brat.”

Haruki rolls his eyes at him before hugging his legs like a damn Koala as Bakugou steps inside the daycare. Well—

So much for planning not to interact with Kirishima, because there stands in the middle of the room is that redhead with that bright smile and dazzling crimson eyes.

“Oh, Bakugou, you’re here! I want you to meet our new teacher, Kirishima-san.” Uraraka supplies him with an unneeded information.

Of fucking course, he will be here! He’s a goddamn teacher back in Tokyo, of course he would be a teacher here, too!

What do they call that thing again? Fate? Is this fucking fate seriously trying to play games with him?

Because if there's one thing he isn't sure he can win against—then that's Kirishima.