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Bakugo prided himself on his agility. His ability to avoid harm and consequences by being just too fast and flexible.
Kaminari.. wasn’t the same. Not in the ability way, at least. He was smart — anyone could give him that. He had a very good, strong amount of control over his electricity.
His control over his zaps nearly matched Bakugo’s meticulous explosions.
But no one expected the two of them to get mixed up in an accident together.
The story went as such:
Kaminari was hungry. A classic, very well known feeling that many tried to avoid by eating. The golden eyed boy was especially fond of eating food — even more so if it came from Bakugo himself. Anyone could say with full certainty that he was the best cook in their class.
Unfortunately for Kaminari, Bakugo didn’t want to cook for him. And, originally, Bakugo refused to go to a corner store with him.
So he bargained.
If Bakugo went, he’d buy him a snack. Or maybe he wouldn’t bother him for tutoring for a week (he could find someone else to help him, he was sure). Kaminari even dared to offer that he just wouldn’t speak to Bakugo for a month.
Anything to get this guy to go with him.
And it worked.
So with the permission of Aizawa, they left campus to go to a corner store together. Kaminari was ecstatic — he convinced Bakugo to go out for snacks with him! How lucky was he?
Even if Bakugo complained the whole time about how unhealthy Kaminari was being with his snack choices, he still picked his own. The bag of chips were irritating to just look at — the spice level on those things were probably enough to end Kaminari’s bloodline just by smelling them once he opened the bag later.
The story takes a turn when they go to leave.
A young girl bumped into Kaminari — and hey, he wasn’t the most balanced guy yet! — which caused him to bump into Bakugo.
Bakugo still prided himself on his agility, but he wasn’t going to let the idiot hit the concrete! The one time he tried to be nice, this happens. Of all things, too!
The girl’s mom gasped, grabbing the little girl and instantly started apologizing.
“Oh dear! I’m so sorry boys!” She practically cried. “I’m trying to teach her not to run up to strangers. She just got her quirk.”
Bakugo immediately groaned angrily, shaking out his hands. Kaminari’s body temperature rose.
Was he sick? What did this girl do?
The explanation they got made dread pool in Kaminari’s stomach.
“If she touches someone, whoever they touch after is who they swap quirks with. I’m so sorry boys.”
Then the mom was gone. With no explanation on how long it would last at all.
The walk back to U.A was horrible — Bakugo couldn’t stop shaking. The jitters running through his body were pissing him off. It was too much.
Kaminari could feel rage. He was hot and his fingertips were dripping sweat in a dotted line on the concrete beneath them. It was so much heat and sweat and his shirt was sticking to him.
Back at the dorms, they were lucky in a way where the common room was empty and they could easily go to Recovery Girl without doting friends (even if they meant well, Bakugo was overstimulated and Kaminari was angry, so it really wasn’t needed right now).
Recovery Girl checked them over, sighing as she rolled over and typed down their symptoms and probably explained everything to Aizawa. Their homeroom teacher does have to know after all.
Both of them end up passing out — which did everything but make Recovery Girl feel better about this all.
While Bakugo told her it was a little girl who bumped Kaminari into him and a frantic mom who told them enough but not what was important, she was still worried about how the two would deal with having each other’s quirk.
She knew the boys well. She knew most of Bakugo’s anger was him being able to project the uncomfortability of being hot and sweating a lot. Being cold was better than hot, at least to her.
And Kaminari was not much different. Having so much electricity buzzing in his veins all the time caused him to not be able to sit still. They thought he had ADHD for a while, but he didn’t — the constant buzzing under his skin made it appear so.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
——
The class was quick to pick up on the lack of their two loudest classmates. While certain jokes were easy to make, there was an underlying sense of uneasiness.
Bakugo and Kaminari were friends, but going missing together was different territory.
Calling in Aizawa was obviously the first step in discovering the mystery of The BakuKami Disappearance™ (Mina came up with it after too many seven minutes in heaven jokes started happening. They all hoped bakugo wouldn’t find out about the title).
Their homeroom teacher went on to explain.
“The two went out for food,” He said blandly. “A young girl whose quirk recently manifested hit them. They’re currently asleep, but her quirk caused them to swap quirks.”
Gasps and whispers rang out in the room.
“Wait, so Bakugo has Kaminari’s quirk and Kaminari has his?” Kirishima said, the first to speak up.
Aizawa nodded. “Yes. It’s going to be interesting. They won’t be in class tomorrow, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“How long does it last?” Midoriya spoke next, his pencil already scribbling notes.
“We don’t know.” Aizawa broke the news. “The mom only said the quirk, not the duration.”
The chatter got louder at that, and Aizawa noted that most of it was the class being mad that such an important piece of information was left out. He hid his smirk beneath his capture weapon — this class was closer than they thought they were.
——
Aizawa was right — both boys weren’t at school the following day. It was mandatory that you don’t go to classes when you’re hit by a quirk.
That didn’t mean Bakugo didn’t hate it.
Missing class was the worst thing to him simply because it meant he was missing work. Sue him, he’s a little nerdy and likes to study and write notes, but that’s the only way to be the best. He can’t be the best and learn if he doesn’t show up.
He doesn’t even think he’d really be able to focus anyways.
The amount of electricity under his skin left him squirming and unable to sit still in the hospital bed. He felt like his heart was going to fall out.
“How the fuck do you do this, Dunce Face?” He huffed out after he shifted for the millionth time — and he wasn’t sure he was exaggerating.
Next to him on the other bed, Kaminari was still — freakishly so. He stared off, blinking. It was weird.
He was so hot. His skin tingled and he could feel the sweat as it beaded out from his pores. It was disgusting but he couldn’t stop it.
“I’m so sweaty,” is what he said instead of answering Bakugo’s question. “How do you do this? I swear I’m going to overheat.”
Bakugo scoffed. “You deal with it. You’re unlucky ‘cause you don’t have sweat resistant clothes.” He pointed out.
A lot of his clothes were made by his mom — the dumb hag at least did something nice for him by doing that — so his sweat didn’t soak into the clothes the way it would if it was normal fabric. He couldn’t explain it.
“But, I do feel like I’m going to vibrate off the bed at this point.” He grunted out, feeling frustrated. “How much damn electricity do you sit with every day?”
His question wasn’t supposed to be answered, but Kaminari did it anyway.
“Two million.” He said.
“What?”
Bakugo was bewildered.
“Two million volts. But if I pass 1.3 then I short-circuit myself.” Kaminari snickered at that. “There’s two million volts in there. It’s just- a constant buzzing all the time. It’s why I can’t sit still.”
Kaminari’s tone took on something softer — something vulnerable. Most of his friends didn’t believe him when he said he didn’t have hyperactive ADHD. He truly didn’t, but his inability to sit still and not be hyper seemed to make him a liar.
Bakugo blinked.
Something about that made him see Kaminari differently. He knew the basic information — Kaminari had an electricity quirk and could zap shit. That’s basically what it was. But to know that he had to sit with the buzz and jitters of two million volts every single day?
Maybe he wasn’t so dunce-y.
“It makes me angry.” Bakugo found himself saying. Kaminari looked at him, confused.
“The electricity? I mean, yeah-“
“N-no. Not the electricity. That’s not what I meant.” Bakugo said, a hint of frustration slipping in at not being understood immediately.
“The sweat. The heat.” He elaborated, finding the will to be a little vulnerable like Kaminari was.
He watched golden eyes soften the slightest bit, and he bit his cheek to hold back something snarky at the pitied look.
“It sort of feels like you can’t win.” His voice was soft, the harsh edges smoothened out for once. “You’re just.. so warm, all the time. and the sweat-“ He shook his head instead of finding the words, but the small nod he could see from his peripheral let him know that Kaminari understood.
“Exploding shit and being loud is a distraction.” Bakugo couldn’t believe he admitted that.
“And it’s worse because if you get cold, you can’t move. You can’t be cold ‘cause your body’s not made for that shit.”
Everyone knew that Bakugo had a hard time during winter. His body was made to withstand heat better than someone else’s body could who didn’t have a heat-based quirk. The cold meant his explosions were smaller and his hands were shakier.
“You can’t win.” Kaminari finished for him quietly, repeating what the other had said at the start. Bakugo nodded.
The next sound was silence. Nothing more needed to be said.
So no one said more.
——
The next day, the quirk was still there. It was better — less loud and annoying and somewhat bearable for them.
But it was still nasty to deal with.
Bakugo broke the mini hand mixer they have for mixing drinks. He forgot Kaminari’s quirk wasn’t just a feeling rattling his bones, but something he had.
The mixer was fried.
Kaminari singed his blazer, and the shoulder had a hole in it. It was small enough to ignore, but enough to be there.
He wore it anyway.
In class, it was worse. Homeroom let them be bombarded by their friends. Bakugo had zapped everyone at least once and Kaminari was sweating on his paper so much so it smudged the words.
It was strange. So, so strange.
They totally switched in a way no one expected.
Kaminari was more snappy, less in the mood to make jokes. He was hot and not happy about this at all.
Bakugo couldn’t sit still. He shifted in his seat. Adjusted his grip on his pencil. Moved his foot. Leaned back in his seat only to lean forward again.
This wasn’t normal. Everyone wished it would be over soon.
They didn’t get to be part of training for obvious reasons. Even if Sero really wanted to see Kaminari explode someone, he got an uncharacteristic response from Kaminari that left more than the black haired boy with a frown.
Everyone thought he’d be more interested in trying Bakugo’s quirk.
As for Bakugo — while he was still snappy as ever — he was too scared to use Kaminari’s quirk.
The blond would never say that out loud, but he knew what Kaminari’s quirk could do to Kaminari himself — the boy who was born with the quirk and wielded it every single day. Bakugo did not want to fry his brain. no way.
The day that followed, though, was a relief. The forty-eight hours of pain were over.
Because in homeroom, Bakugo let out some pops when Kirishima got too close, and Kaminari openly admitted he was glad things were back.
“I never want to sweat ever again, dude.” He said, grinning at Bakugo. “You sweat a disgusting amount.”
“Shut up, Dunce Face.” Bakugo snapped back. “At least I can sit still.”
Kaminari fake gasped, slapping a hand to his chest.
“Rude! I thought you’d get it now. Having two million volts isn’t for the weak. It’s hard work over here, Kacchan!”
The class watched things be normal again, even if their normal was a bit odd.
A quirk swap between Bakugo and Kaminari was the strangest thing they’d ever gone through — watching the two having something that didn’t belong to them and learn how to live a day with it.
For Kaminari and Bakugo, though, it brought a different understanding to why they acted the way they did. It was a closer bond that maybe, in the end, they needed.