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Bakugou's back again.
Eijirou passes a cup of coffee over the counter and sees the blonde out of the corner of his eye - he's in his usual seat, settled in with his laptop and a couple textbooks. Mina must have taken his order, this time. Not that it ever changes.
If Eijirou has learned anything about Bakugou in the past weeks, it's that he likes his routine; at least three nights a week, he'll show up at 2AM to do homework, or study, or whatever it is he does, in the 24 hour coffee shop where Eijirou works.
He mostly keeps to himself, but when lured into banter, he's proven to be equal parts grumpy and loud. And super fucking pretty.
It's dumb, Eijirou knows. It's so fucking dumb. He barely knows anything about this boy, but watching him monopolise a couch, kicking off his shoes and resting his socked feet on the low coffee table as he sinks into the cushions…. it makes him feel downright fond. And that's what dating's for, right? To learn more about the cute boy you like. So Eijirou… should… ask him on a date.
Man, he's gonna die for sure, isn't he?
He's heaving out a sigh when Mina slides a coffee over to him. "You wanna make a delivery, loverboy?"
He inhales through his teeth. "I don't have a choice, do i?"
She grins cheekily. "You really don't. Actually talk to him this time, yeah?"
He snorts as he grabs the mug, letting himself out the side door to the bar. "Sure, if I don't choke on my own goddamn tongue."
"You want me to put on some mood music?" Mina gestures over to the record player that blasts smooth jazz 24/7 - her own vinyl collection sits next to it, but almost never gets played. In this instance, however, Eijirou knows she's talking about Arctic Monkeys specifically. He can't help but groan.
"I don't think Arctic Monkeys is gonna help me get a date, Mina," he says. He doesn't think anything could help him get a date with Bakugou, who's as ornery as he is pretty. It will either happen, or it won't. "Don't bother," he adds, defeated, and turns away before he can look too long at her crestfallen face.
Eijirou consciously straightens his back and lengthens his stride as he sidles over to Bakugou's table - he wants to at least appear confident, after all. He plasters a grin on his face as he sets the mug down, forcing his hands to stop shaking; god, this is so lame. "Back again, huh, Bakugou?" he asks cheerfully.
Bakugou looks up at him, pulling out an earbud as a scowl falls over his face - Eijirou is pretty sure that that's just his face, at this point. He doesn't actually seem annoyed. Yet.
"I could've grabbed it myself," he says, eyes flicking down his coffee and back up to Eijirou, as if something isn't quite adding up.
Eijirou laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know! But you're always so busy, I didn't wanna force you to get up for no reason. Besides," he adds conspiratorially, "its 2am. There's not a lot else for me to do." He feels like an idiot for attempting to even simulate friendliness with someone who consistently seems so… unavailable. But he can't let that stop him from trying, if he wants to get closer to Bakugou. Something tells him that earning the guy's trust is more a test of persistence than anything else.
Bakugou's eyes are still on Eijirou, searching - like he's trying to solve a problem. He doesn't say anything.
Eijirou swallows. "So, uh. You're in here a lot lately, and, I guess I was wondering…"
Bakugou cocks an eyebrow, looking expectant. He can't do it.
"…What you're always up to! You're always so focused." He laughs nervously and wipes his sweaty hands on his apron. Fucking embarrassing.
Bakugou's jaw clenches. Was he hoping for something else? Maybe Ei should've tried harder to break the ice before jumping into such a personal question. He's never gonna ask the guy out at this rate. Why is this so stressful? Eijirou is supposed to be good at his job! Good at people! But as time goes on, he's starting to worry that maybe he's not so good at Bakugou.
"Homework and general study. For college. I'm majoring in chem." It's like pulling teeth, but he gives up the info willingly. Ei can't help but be greedy, though: he wants to know more. This happens every time Bakugou gives him the slightest peek behind the curtain into the rest of his life; he has to resist the urge to rip the damn thing off its tracks, exposing everything there is to know about Bakugou. But he knows that would deal a devastating blow to their relationship; more than anything, he wants Bakugou to part that curtain willingly, to invite Eijirou into all other aspects of his life. But that’s never going to happen, and Eijirou is only ever going to know this Bakugou, here, in this shitty hipster coffee shop at 2am. Forget knowing if he hangs out with friends on weekends, if he smiles for them, if his sweet tooth extends to other foods, whether he likes boys- Eijirou is lucky just to know that he majors in chemistry.
His heart aches.
"Wow, chemistry! You’ve gotta be super smart, huh? I've got a biology course because I'm doing phys-ed, but I'm useless at science! My time just seems better spent at the gym, y'know?" And then he flexes with one arm for good measure, and gets to watch Bakugou's eyes flick over to it. He's mortified, why does he keep doing this to himself.
"You're not gonna get any better at bio if you don’t put the time in, idiot," Bakugou says, eyes locked on Eijirou's bicep.
He laughs, abashed, and puts his arm down. He really needs to get his shit together. "It's tricky, you know? I'm in here 6 nights a week. The fact that you're here for 3 of 'em kind of makes me wonder if you ever sleep." He can't tell if that was a smooth segue or not, too struck staring at Bakugou's (for once) unwrinkled brow and wondering what it would be like to rub the skin there. That's weird, right? He's kind of struggling to care.
"My classes are in the afternoon, so I sleep late. And nap in the evenings. I only need to clear out at night because my roommate brings her shitty boyfriend over and they get fucking loud." Bakugou's always so… dispassionate when talking about his personal life. Eijirou wonders what it must be like to see him get really excited about something.
He wrinkles his nose "Oh, dude, being sexiled fucking sucks-"
"What- no gross- they just- wrestle a lot, it's not-" Bakugou sputters, apparently floored by the implication.
Ei raises a dubious eyebrow. "It's not!"
"Sure," says Ei agreeably. "In the interest of changing topics, what are you working on there?" He might as well end this conversation now, because that's the smoothest he's gonna get. Surely it's all downhill from here.
Bakugou scoffs. "If you're so fucking interested in these graphs, you might as well pull up a goddamn chair."
"Oh, no I- I'm supposed to be working, so I really cant." Also, he feels like his heart is about to beat out of his chest, and this would be a very bad time to suffer acute heart failure by cause of being too gay. This is getting dangerous, and Ei doesn’t know how to handle it. Better ollie outie.
"You just said you have nothing else to do," Bakugou points out, but Eijirou doesn't want to seem wishy-washy, so he stubbornly disagrees. Idiot.
"Sorry man, but I can't be seen slacking off. My manager would be pissed."
"Isn't she your manager?" Bakugou waves towards the counter, and Ei turns to see Mina tapping away on her phone.
"Yeah," he sighs. "Anyway, I'll catch up with you some other time, alright? Maybe if you're still here when my shift is over?"
Bakugou's critical eye hovers over his face for a moment, before the guy lets out a sigh of his own. "Sure," he grunts.
The first thing Mina does when he steps back behind the counter is flick him in the forehead. The second thing is stepping right into his space and hissing "what the fuck are you doing?! He totally wanted you to stay!"
He's on the verge of apologising when her words catch up to him. He chews on his lip. "…You think so?"
"Yes!"
At the end of his shift, Eijirou peels off his apron and looks around the shop - it's 3.30 AM and the few customers they've had in the past hour and a half have already left. Apart from Bakugou, who makes his heart leap into his throat when his eyes fall upon him.
"You know what, I'm just gonna make myself a coffee real quick," he says to Mina, who is fully aware that he doesn't drink coffee because caffeine gives him the jitters. She slaps his hands away before he can even reach for a mug.
"Stop procrastinating! I really don't get you, Eijirou! If you like him, then talk to him!"
He whines. "But I'm nervous…"
She raises an eyebrow. "So? He's always made you nervous. I'm starting to think you just have a thing for guys that are kind of intimidating."
He leans in and whisper-shouts "yeah, but that was before I decided to ask him out!"
She softens at that, at least, seemingly taken aback. "Finally! Here, I'll make you a hot chocolate. Take a second to pull it together, all right?"
He nods and steps back. He knows he's being irrational about this - if Bakugou is interested he'll say yes, and if he's not then it never would have happened anyway. More than that, he thinks he's worried about what will happen if Bakugou rejects him; would he stop coming to the shop, avoiding Eijirou? They don't have anything else connecting them. He doesn't even know Bakugou's given name. And as pathetic as it is, Eijirou wants to know. He wants to spend more time with Bakugou, even if just as friends. Even at the expense of his own feelings.
But he'll never get a boyfriend thinking like that, and Mina's spent so much time trying to beat self-worth into his skull- he has to try. Even if it sucks.
When he looks up, Mina's standing in front of him with a mug, which she pushes into his hands. She squeezes a hand on his shoulder and smiles comfortingly. "Go get 'im, tiger," she tells him, and he can't help but smile.
"Wish me luck," he says, and steps out from behind the bar.
He's halfway to Bakugou's corner when the music suddenly cuts out, quickly replaced by the opening bars of 'Do I Wanna Know' by Arctic Monkeys. Eijirou immediately turns the fuck around, puts down his drink, and leans as far over the counter as he can, slicing his hand across his neck emphatically.
"No!" He hisses, when Mina only flashes him a thumbs up from where she's just finished fussing with the record player. "He's gonna think I asked you to do it! It'll be weird!"
Her only response is to hold up her hands in a "what do you want me to do" kind of way, which he kind of gets - it will only be more suspicious if she changes the music again. He sighs and leans back, preparing himself emotionally to face Bakugou again.
"What the fuck's your problem?"
He was not prepared. He twists around only to find Bakugou is right behind him, bag slung over his shoulder. Ei is pressing himself back against the counter to try to give the guy some space when it occurs to him to reply.
"Nothing much." He rubs his neck and then gestures down at Bakugou's bag. "What about you? You heading out? I guess it is pretty late…"
"No," snaps Bakugou, shoulders up around his ears before he self-consciously lowers them. "Maybe."
Eijirou cocks his head. Bakugou grits his teeth. "Sorry, I don't-"
"Look, are you gonna ask me out or what?"
Fire consumes Eijirou's face - it's gotta be matching his hair in colour. He hears a soft gasp from Mina across the store, but chooses to ignore it. Of all the ways he imagined this going… this was never among them. But of course. It's just so… Bakugou. Blunt, impulsive and completely unpredictable. He would laugh if he wasn't already supremely embarrassed.
"I… uh-" is all he's able to spit out before Bakugou interrupts him again. Rude. (Bold.)
"Because you've been flirting with me for weeks and it seemed like you were finally gonna do it, but I'm sick of waiting so I'll just fucking martyr myself I guess." And then he folds his arms over his chest and stares up into Eijirou's eyes defensively because - and Ei never realised this before - he's about two inches taller than Bakugou. (Cute.)
He's openly gaping, he knows, his mouth wide open. He's speechless. Gobsmacked. That totally implies that Bakugou likes him back, right? Right?
Bakugou frowns. "If you're not interested then just say-"
"He's interested!"
"I'm interested!" Eijirou cries, a second after Mina. He turns to her, scandalised and still blushing. "Mina!"
"What?" She protests. "You were taking too long!" He keeps his gaze on her, though, and she deflates. "Yeah okay, I'll hide in the back… just knock if any customers show up…" And then she has the gall to flip him off as she slowly closes the door behind her, face jammed in the gap so as not to miss anything.
He raises both fingers right back at her, and she laughs until the door clicks shut.
Eijirou finally feels like he can breathe again, so he turns back to Bakugou, who snickers with the back of his hand pressed to his mouth, a light flush dusting his cheeks. Nevermind, all the air in his chest has once again been punched out. "That's some wingman you've got," Bakugou comments.
"Oh, she's a riot," Ei quips, rolling his eyes. "So, my roommate's girlfriend is having a party this Saturday…"
Bakugou sucks a breath in through his teeth. "My roommate's hosting a party of her own and I'm kind of expected to be in attendance-"
The two stare at each other. Ei squints.
"Bakugou… Katsuki?"
"Kirishima fucking Eijirou?!"
The sounds of Mina laughing raucously float out from the back room.