You’re Safe Here.
#kacchako tw: anxiety/existential dread

So Bakugou has been suffering from anxiety attacks for weeks by the time that class 1A starts movie nights. He can’t stay in his room alone anymore due to existential dread and threatened Kirishima’s life if news

of their sleepovers got out. So Bakugou goes to the stupid movie night.

He sits down on an empty sofa while everyone else is laying in sleeping bags, planning to spend all of Saturday night in the common room.

He’s far enough away for no one to really bother him, but close enough to hear them chattering away.

It’s safe. It’s warm.

It was quiet before Uraraka came down in a panic that she’d missed the opening. Of course she sat down next to him. There’s nowhere else to go.

The floor was littered in blankets and pillows. The lights were off...the question wasn’t “who will she step on” but rather “who WON’T she step on.”

So she sat down next to Bakugou.

At first, she was silent.

Studying the movie and hoping that she could just figure it out from there...but it wasn’t that easy. “Pst, Bakugou?”

He humored her only in that he shifted his red irises to the corners of his eyes.

“What’s going on in the movie?”

The answer was just a deep, annoyed sigh. To be honest, Bakugou wasn’t watching the movie. He was watching his classmates’ small interactions. He wanted to feel as if he was part of their reality without needing to converse. What was the movie?

He didn’t know, but Deku was babbling away softly to Aoyama about something and gaining nods.

She pressed. “Bakugou?”

He counted to ten, trying his best to slow his heart rate. Not focusing on the light chatter of his classmates or the small things they did stirred his anxiety.

At the end of ten, Bakugou turned to look at her.

Uraraka’s arms were stretched out, fist nearly missing his nose.

“Watch it!” he hissed to be met with a sheepish grin and a faint apology.

“I’m so exhausted. Will you wake me if I snore?”

He nodded his head once with another sigh. She didn’t need to ask, he would have done it regardless of her permission.

An hour into the movie and Uraraka was dozed off, head tilted against the back of the sofa. She wasn’t snoring, but her soft breath tickled his neck.

Just as Bakugou was turning to wake her up, her head fell onto his shoulder and rested there peacefully. Uraraka nuzzled up to him, groaning softly while she made herself comfortable.

Now Bakugou didn’t want her there at all. He was red with anger and frustration.

How was he going to stay calm and catch some sleep without worrying about life itself?

Somehow, Bakugou did just that and in record time.

The touch of someone else became calming.

Feeling their heartbeat as an indication of life was a soothing enough rhythm to ease him into a deep sleep. So deep in fact that he didn’t wake up when the movie was over, nor when Uraraka lifted her head and decided that his lap looked like a better pillow.

No, napping with someone else–cuddling with another person allowed him to still his racing thoughts and fall into a tranquil state.

Sleeping in the same room as Kirishima was no longer as effective.

He tossed and turned on the floor, dizzying thoughts clouding his mind to the point that he still wasn’t sleeping. But cuddling with Kirishima? He’d rather die.

By the next movie night he wore bruise like ornaments around his eyes.

He bounced his leg, counting the students in the common room who giggled and talked loudly before the movie stared. She wasn’t there.

“Hey, ‘sup Kaccha–”

Bakugou shot a piercing glare at Kaminari who turned on his heel and sat down next to Mina.

No one knew about Bakugou snoozing away with Uraraka the week before. He was the first awake and she was knocked out to the point that he could lift her head gently to escape.

At least, that’s what he thought.

“Hey! You saved a seat for me~” she mused, cozying up to him.

“Shut it.” His mumbling wasn’t nearly as threatening as he’d hoped.

Uraraka assumed that he was embarrassed by the whole thing but was pleasantly surprised to see that he was waiting in the same spot, looking for her.

She kept her distance at first, not knowing how they ended up tangled the time before.

It bothered him. Bakugou was beyond tired and to say that he was exhausted didn’t take into account his restless nights.

He was losing his mind waiting for her to touch him...so he leaned back and grabbed her hand.

Darkness cloaked them. There was no way that he could see just how flushed her face was nor her embarrassed expression, but he sensed her heart beating wildly.

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” he muttered, fingers tightening around hers. “You just calm me is all.”

Somehow that didn’t help her understand his situation. Instead her mind jumped from one conclusion to the next, not noticing the way he dozed off.

Bakugou was fast asleep as his thumb trailed over her knuckles. She couldn’t sleep a wink nor could she focus on the movie.

Instead, Uraraka listened to his breath. The way he inhaled and exhaled evenly. He didn't seem like the harsh Bakugou she was used to. It was almost…soft.

When the movie finished, Uraraka flipped his hand over out of fear that everyone was watching.

Drowsy and red eyes heavy with sleep, Bakugou reached out to her, pulling her into an embrace as he continued sleeping upright.

It was a lot to take in. Uraraka's heart began to jump in pace but a gentle hand in her hair calmed her. She eyed him. There was no way that sleeping upright could be comfortable so she shook him lightly.

An absentminded Bakugou laid down into the position she guided him to, but his hand remained firm as it found her wrist. He wanted her to flow. To lie down next to him. So she did. Uraraka allowed his arm to wrap around her, allowed snores to whisper into her hair.

Uraraka felt just how at ease he was with her and allowed herself to find the same peace with him.

Bakugou woke, chin tucked against her forehead, arms locking her against him. He should have freaked out at the lack of distance between them but he remained just as calm.

It was the perfect time to leave before being noticed...unfortunately, a new problem arose. Uraraka was sleeping chest to chest with him. He would have to wake her up.

"Hey, Cheeks?"

She groaned softly.

"Hey," fingers combed through her hair in an attempt to wake her up gently. "I'll make you pancakes if you can wake up."

Eyelashes fluttered open, level with his lips. "Ngh...Bakugou?"

He hushed her, heart jumping into his throat while his name was uttered from her lips. "I need to get up, but…"

She rolled closer to him. "Five more minutes."

A loud snore echoed in the common room. He didn't have five minutes to spare. "Let me carry you to your room."

Uraraka unlatched herself from him but outstretched her arms once he was up. He chuckled at her and scooped the sleeping girl into his chest.

Sneaking past their classmates wasn't difficult. Getting onto the elevator wasn't difficult.

It was swallowing the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him uneasy. Maybe it was because he knew that after he left her, he would be alone.

"Level four," she cooed into him as he carried her up to her room.

The door was unlocked, waiting for her to come back. Uraraka greeted her bed and rolled to the side. Just as Bakugou was leaving, she called out to him. "Are you, okay?"

He peered over his shoulder from the doorway.

"Is it nightmares?" Her eyes remained closed. "You've been through so much."

Bakugou's back was flat against the doorframe. "Just anxious."

Her arms lifted into the air. "Shut the door and come here."

He didn't argue.

Hands brought his face close to hers. "You've been through a lot. Please, stay here if you need it."

Wordlessly, Bakugou allowed himself to cry. Tears silently fell down his cheeks.

"Please rest here." Her words were warm and he continued to do as he was told.

A hand rubbed circles into his back. "Stay as long as you like, Bakugou. You're safe here."

At first it was every other day that they napped together as a way to ease his anxiety. Soon, just being near each other sent the pair into a dream like state.

It was often that the other students found them nestled against each other in the common room. No one dared wake them or breathe a word about what they saw.

As much as Bakugou had tried to keep his anxiety and sleepless nights a secret, the whole dorm knew.

At first, they only suspected that he was having trouble sleeping after yet another near death experience...only to have Kirishima begrudgingly confirm.

It was this information that prompted Deku to start movie nights. Maybe it would remind Bakugou that he wasn't alone. That the whole class was there for him. That he was safe with them.

-End-