The sun was sinking low, painting the sky in streaks of gold and rose as you walked a half-step behind Bakugo and his two friends. The air still smelled faintly of wet asphalt and blossoms, and puddles reflected the slow-creeping clouds. The three boys were bickering about whose math test was worse, but Bakugo’s voice—sharp and brash—carried easily over the street noise.

You smiled faintly at the sound. You’d known him long enough to read the edges of that tone; he wasn’t truly angry, just… alive in the way he got when he was surrounded by people he trusted.

Bakugo glanced back at you now and then, his crimson eyes softening each time they landed on you, though he’d snap his gaze forward before anyone else noticed. He always tried to look untouchable in front of the others, but the subtle shift in his shoulders whenever you were near was unmistakable.

The group turned down a narrower street lined with shuttered shops. The light there was dimmer, cooler. A breeze stirred the petals on the wet ground.

That was when the puddle by the drain rippled.

You felt it first—an almost imperceptible wrongness in the air, a strange, slithering sound beneath the murmur of traffic.

Before you could say a word, something viscous and dark surged out of the storm drain, splashing across the pavement in a grotesque wave.

The boys yelled in shock, stumbling back, but the thing moved fast—too fast.

In seconds, the sludge monster reared up, its mass twisting into a leering, half-formed face. With a wet, gurgling snarl, it lunged for the brightest thing in reach—Bakugo.

His two friends bolted, shrieking.

You didn’t.

“Run!” Bakugo barked at you, the old explosive command in his voice—but his eyes, wide and red and wild, were locked on yours. There was fear there, stark and raw.

The sludge coiled around his legs and yanked him off his feet, dragging him toward its gaping, liquid maw. He kicked, sparks flashing from his palms as he tried to blast it away, but the creature absorbed the explosions like splashing water.

“Damn it—” Bakugo thrashed harder, but for the first time you’d ever seen, he wasn’t in control.

Your heart hammered against your ribs as you rushed forward.

“Stay back!” he shouted again, his voice breaking a little.

“No,” you snapped, fierce in a way you didn’t know you could be. “I’m not leaving you!”

The sludge monster tightened around him, half-engulfing his torso. Its bubbling voice was wet and greedy. “Perfect. You’ve got a strong body, boy. You’ll make a fine meat-suit—”

“Shut up!” you yelled, snatching up a loose length of metal piping from the gutter. You swung it with all your weight, smashing it across the creature’s shifting mass. The strike tore away a slopping chunk, though it immediately tried to reform.

Bakugo’s eyes locked onto you again. There was a wild mix of anger and something softer—fear not for himself, but for you.

“You idiot,” he ground out, coughing as sludge splashed against his face. “Why do you always have to—”

“Because it’s you!” you cut him off, stepping in again to jab the pipe into the creature’s eye-like hollow.

The monster roared and reared back.

In that fleeting gap, you grabbed Bakugo’s arm and heaved. He twisted with you, coughing, half-free from the sludge’s grip.

You felt the tremor of his muscles as he dug his heels in, sparks snapping louder at his palms now that he could move his arms. His explosions flared, hot enough this time to boil the sludge clinging to his legs.

Together you tore him free.

The two of you staggered back, panting, shoulder to shoulder. The creature gathered itself again, but you could feel the way Bakugo’s stance shifted—less reckless now, more aware of you at his side.

He shot you a quick look, the corners of his mouth twitching in something that wasn’t quite a grin.

“You’re insane,” he muttered hoarsely, softer than you’d ever heard him. “But… thanks."