The 9 Millimeter Kiss - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

"Welcome back everyone! Today is the beginning of a new school year!"
Yuki was seated almost directly in the middle of the class.
"Today, I'll be going over... Um...." she went to look down onto her roster. "Satori-kun was it?"
Yuki nodded. He'd raised his hand, and was still holding his hand up.
"May I go to the nurse's office?" he softly asked.
The teacher smiled in confusion, "Is something the matter?"
"Sensei! His shirt is red!" a classmate shouted.
"Blood!"
"He's Bleeding!"
"What--" spotting the growing red stain on his white uniform shirt she let out a distressed cry.
"Satori-- Oh my-- Hospital! You need to go--"
"Sensei! I'll be okay." Yuki calmly told her, slowly putting his hand down.
"I just need to go to the nurses office."
He was pacing. He'd been told to wait in the dorms as they went to look for him.
But he just couldn't shake the feeling he had, something was wrong.
It was by pure chance he'd woken up. Maybe it was even because of the cold. But he was glad he did. Otherwise it would have been until morning he'd discover Yuki was missing.
"You should go back to sleep." His homeroom teacher suggested.
"I can't." Bakugo almost snapped.
Aizawa sighed. Rubbing the back of his neck.
It was late at night and he'd finally been able to get ready for bed when Bakugo called.
Yuki had reportedly jumped from his balcony and ran. Bakugo's first instinct was to run after him but against his 'better' judgement, he called Aizawa. The police had been notified to be on the lookout and Hound Dog was currently trying to trace the boy down.
Aizawa was glad someone had been keeping an eye on the boy. This boy, Satori Yuki, had been a complete mystery regarding background checks. Now that they were able to have access, he understood why.
It wasn't until early morning, when the sun hadn't risen yet, did they come back with the boy.
He was wrapped in a blanket and sleeping peacefully. Contrast the panic the authorities and school teachers had just gone through. Once all was settled and everyone had been informed they'd found the boy, everyone went back to get whatever sleep was left before the day began.
Bakugo didn't. Aizawa had tried to reassure the boy that he wasn't likely he would wake up again, having exhausted himself. But Bakugo didn't believe it.
So now as the night sky was slowly being painted blue, he sat at Yuki's bedside. Holding onto one of his fingers as a reassurance he was there. And also to occasionally check if the boy still had a pulse
As he continued to fiddle with Yuki's hand, he found it strange they would be soft. He compared them to his, which was more calloused and rough with the amount of training he would do and the explosions he emitted. Then he thought it wasn't so strange for someone with a healing quirk who used their hands to be this smooth.
"They're cold." he whispered mostly to himself.
"They've always been cold."
Bakugo automatically dropped his hand and slid away. The tips of his ears began to burn.
"How long have you been awake?"
Yuki still hadn't opened his eyes.
"...just now." barely above a whisper.
For some reason Bakugo waited for the boy to laugh at him. He waited, but it never came.
"Your hands are warm." Yuki told him.
Bakugo didn't say anything.
Yuki whispered, "Are you alright?"
Bakugo scoffed, "Am I alright? Shouldn't I be asking you?"
Yuki turned to face him, his grey eyes looking exhausted.
"You don't like it when others touch you." he whispered.
"Because it's annoying." Bakugo quickly commented.
Yuki was tired. He didn't feel like making Bakugo lash out at him. So instead he simply held out his hand.
"Hold my hand."
"No."
Yuki slightly smiled.
Now only holding out his pinkie.
Bakugo only glared at Yuki and at his gesture.
"Scared of my pinkie?" Yuki teased.
"What's there to be scared of." Bakugo shot back.
Yuki only wiggled his pinkie, enticing Bakugo to interlock his own.
Bakugo looked like he was thinking about it.
Yuki's eyes slowly began to close. His exhaustion catching up, but ultimately felt their pinkie lock together.
They held them there for a moment before Yuki took Bakugo's hand into his. The healer's thumb brushing against his knuckles.
"What are you doing?" Bakugo asked, wanting to pull his hand away.
Yuki however didn't reply.
Seconds felt like minutes as Bakugo watched Yuki slowly drift off to sleep.
"Is this him?"
"Yes, he's been getting into fights and..."
Yuki tuned out of the conversation. He was sitting on a bench outside the Teachers Office, just because he broke someone's nose.
"Remember Yuki, always go for the nose." Mai grinned as she punched the air.
"I'll leave him in your care, Matsuda-san."
"Yes, I'll see what I can do."
It hadn't been a month and he was already getting into trouble.
What would Papa say...?
"Satori-kun," this Matsuda kneeled in front of him. Bringing his eye level down to Yuki's.
"It's nice to meet you, my name is--"
"Matsuda, I know." Yuki looked away from him.
"Right, well, would you like to come in. I'm sure a couch would be better to sit on than a wooden bench."
Yuki shrugged, sliding off the bench and following him inside.
Matsuda watched as Yuki looked around the room. There was a bookshelf, a coffee table, a couch, his desk and chair, and the window was open.
"Why don't you take a seat." Matsuda gestured for Yuki to do so.
Yuki wordlessly did as he was told.
"Now then," Matsuda smiled, sitting across from Yuki.
"I'm told you got into a fight? Again? Or so your math teacher says."
"Matsuda-sensei."
"Yes?"
Yuki looked down at the back of his hands, clearly injured from his fight.
"I didn't start the fight." he whispered.
"You didn't hit him first?" Matsuda asked.
"No."
"Who did?"
"I don't know his name."
To this Matsuda chuckled. "You don't know your classmates name?"
"No."
"I see..." the man nodded. "Then let's start with something else. How old are you?"
"I turned 6 in January, sir."
"You don't have to call me 'sir,' Satori. Matsuda is just fine."
"Oh," Yuki's should's visibly relaxed.
"Have you gone to the nurse's office?" Matsuda asked, referring to Yuki's knuckles.
"No."
"Then why don't we go right now? Wouldn't want them to get infected now would we?"
Yuki slowly nodded, feeling at ease with Matsuda.
Just around the time Bakugo would usually wake up to go on a run did he decide to get ready for his third day of house arrest.
Gently pulling his hand away from Yuki's and tucking it under the covers.
By the time he made it to the lounge, Aizawa was conversing with the lawyer, informing him of last night's incident.
"You must be Bakugo!" the lawyer warmly greeted him.
"What do you want."
"Bakugo," Aizawa warned.
"I heard you were the one to call in last night. Thank you, Dr. Young and I appreci--"
"He almost drowned yesterday."
"Yes, I heard--"
"He's not eating nearly enough."
"I underst--"
"Really cause it seems to me all you care about is making him go through whatever stupid important paperwork--"
"Bakugo!"
"He woke up a while ago Aizawa-sensei."
"Did he! That's great!" Mr. Watanabe sighed in relief.
"It's not. The first thing he asked was if I was alright."
"Yes, Yuki tends to do tha--"
"Well he shouldn't! He's sick and borderline delusional!"
"Bakugo that's enough."
Mr. Watanabe held up his hand to Aizawa, "It's quite alright,"
It was still too early for anyone else to be down at the lounge. So it wasn't like he was making a scene.
"Bakugo," Mr. Watanabe began, "I understand why you would be worried about Yuki. He's a friend and classmate of yours. However, all of this, Yuki's been through it before."
"He shouldn't have to be going through it again." Bakugo growled.
"I completely agree with you. But the last time he was sick was nearly 5 years ago."
Bakugo frowned. "That's not possib--"
"It is for him. His quirk doesn't allow him to get sick."
"Then why the fuck was he sick before?"
Mr. Watanabe's face turned almost mournful.
"I think it's up to him to tell you."
As the two adults walked to the elevator Bakugo called out to the lawyer again.
"Does it have to do anything with the scars?"
Aizawa's face hardened as he looked over to the lawyer who tried to keep a straight face.
"What about the burn mark?" Bakugo asked.
Mr. Watanabe could only look away from the two. One who clearly knew what Yuki had gone through.
And the other who had seen the result of it.
None, however, got a response.
With the amount of cleaning Bakugo and Midoriya had to do, he was left with plenty of time to think. He was slowly connecting the pieces together. If not he'd already done so but was just looking for another piece of information for it to finally become clear.
"Do you want me to take his lunch?" Midoriya asked as they'd finished up a part of the lounge.
"I'll do it."
"What else can you remember?"
"Everything."
Bakugo halted his knocking.
"Yuki you need to be specific."
"I'm trying... but as I said before... everyday was the same. Every time he came in, he had someone new. And every time he left I never saw them again."
"What about the last girl?"
No reply.
"Yuki we have a chance to take him to trial agai--"
"Why? He's in for life isn't he?"
"He's trying to do an appeal."
"No."
"Yuki--"
"No! You told me he couldn't!"
"A law passed--"
"Fuck the law!"
"I'm doing what I can--"
"Then don't you dare put me anywhere near him!"
Bakugo thought it was a good time to knock.
The room went quiet.
Mr. Watanabe unlocked the door and let Bakugo in with Yuki's lunch.
Something Bakugo immediately noticed was the strong smell of rubbing alcohol. Even if the windows were wide open.
Mr. Watanabe had his belongings ready to go, "I'll be back tomor--"
"Don't." Yuki's voice raspy. His back facing the door.
"I got through all the files."
"Yuki--"
"I'm not going to talk to him." the boy mumbled.
"I'll do what I can." Mr. Watanabe sighed. Nodding, from the looks of things, a final farewell to Bakugo.
Once the door closed Yuki allowed himself to fall back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling.
"Why does it smell like alcohol?" Bakugo asked, setting the tray of food onto the coffee table.
"I might have risked getting an infection on my run last night." Yuki mumbled.
"So you showered with rubbing alcohol?"
"Dr. Young's personal professional opinion." Yuki hummed.
"I need to take your temperature."
"It's gone down."
"Up." Bakugo nudged the healer with his foot.
With a huff, Yuki sat up and scooted over to the coffee table, where Bakugo proceeded to take his temperature.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like shit."
"Any more specific?"
"...no."
Bakugo let out an audible sigh as the thermometer beeped.
"Your fever's still there--"
"Could have told you that."
"--it's gone down a lot more than expected."
"Guess a late night jog helps."
Bakugo didn't reply as he wrote down what he was supposed to on a chart left by Recovery Girl.
Both settled down for lunch, Yuki was quick to note how much more food there was on the tray.
"Does cleaning make you more hungry?" Yuki asked, gesturing to the tray.
"You ate a baby's worth of food yesterday."
"I did no--"
"Just because you nibble on everything and moved the food around on your plate doesn't mean you're eating."
Yuki reached over to his prepared cup of tea. "I know how much I need to eat."
"Well it's not enough."
"What are you my mom?"
Bakugo bit his tongue. He knew Yuki was doing it on purpose to get him to leave. He wanted to be alone. And after a heated argument, over a very sensitive argument with his lawyer, he could see why.
"Just eat already."
Bakugo's determination to watch Yuki eat spoonfuls of food didn't go unnoticed. In fact it was difficult to ignore as he would practically glare at him every time he brought the spoon up to his face.
"It makes me really uncomfortable for someone to watch me eat this intensely, Bakugo." Yuki frowned, speaking with his mouth full of rice.
Bakugo didn't reply, opting to continue eating. At least until Yuki went back in with his spoon for food.
"Tell me." Bakugo suddenly blurted out.
"What?"
"Tell me what happened."
Yuki didn't look at him.
"I think you already have a pretty good idea. Wasn't my back enough evidence?"
"I want to hear it from you."
Yuki slowly placed his spoon down, a hand subconsciously going to his ankle.
"Baku--"
"You don't have to tell me now." He interrupted.
"Maybe later..."
"Yeah... maybe later."