Chapter Text
Kirishima stands outside of his neighbor’s door excitedly waiting to introduce himself. He already introduced himself to everyone else in his apartment complex, even the ones other residents warned him about. Those ended with slamming doors and swearing. He hopes the person living next door is all right. He heard from a kind, old man upstairs that his next-door neighbor was not particularly social and very rude but would occasionally come visit with a plate of freshly baked cookies. Kirishima knows in his heart that if someone bakes cookies and shares them, they cannot be all that bad.
He knocks confidently on the door a few times and waits. When no one answers the door, he hums in confusion because the person two doors down said they usually leave for work later in the day so, logically, they should be inside. Kirishima raps on the door again and waits, bouncing on the balls of his feet a bit. His sight drifts around the door for signs of absence until he notices a clearly labeled doorbell.
“Press this, dammit,” the label reads. Kirishima cocks his head and does what the obscene note says. He does not hear anything from the outside and briefly wonders if his neighbor put that there on purpose to trick visitors. His train of thought is derailed when he hears footsteps stomping loudly towards the door. Kirishima has the forethought to step back when the door opens out. He smiles brightly as he quickly lets his gaze take in his neighbor. Short ash-blonde hair that spikes out in all directions, piercing orange-red eyes, thin eyebrows, and-okay wow- really defined arms. He cannot see much else because he is wearing a tanktop and sweatpants but he will admit he ogles his neighbor’s arms as he lifts his coffee mug to take a sip. Kirishima can feel a blush creeping up his neck then reminds himself that introductions are needed.
“Hello! I’m your new neighbor Kirishima Eijirou! I live next door to you! I hope we can be good neighbors!” he introduces, bowing politely. “What’s your name?” His neighbor blinks slowly and stares at Kirishima for a few seconds longer than is polite but only at his face.
“Bakugou. Now fuck off, I’m not awake enough for this shit,” the blond responds gruffly. Kirishima chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his head.
“It is a bit early. When is a better time for me to talk to you?” Kirishima asks. Bakugou contemplates this and sneers.
“Fuck off,” he barks then slams the door. Kirishima blinks in confusion and sighs.
“Man, that was scary. The others weren’t kidding when they said he was rude,” Kirishima says to himself. He sighs again then goes back into his own apartment to finish unpacking a few of his belongings. He quickly realizes how thin the walls are between Bakugou’s apartment and his own when he hears cupboard doors slamming and cookware clatter rather loudly. Kirishima’s face falls when it occurs to him that he may have to deal with that forever so he steels himself and goes back over to Bakugou’s door and presses the silent doorbell. As soon as he pressed it, he hears Bakugou swear and something metal hit the floor followed by rapid stomping. The door flies open revealing a disheveled Bakugou.
“What?” he snaps. Kirishima takes a step back and puts his hands up in a placating gesture.
“I just wanted to ask if you could maybe be more quiet when you’re in the kitchen? It’s pretty loud,” Kirishima asks, his voice cracking a little. Smooth. Bakugou does not appear to have noticed his voice crack though, remarkably, and narrows his eyes at Kirishima.
“Just put on loud music or some shit to drown it out,” Bakugou growls. Kirishima frowns at his suggestion.
“But what about you? Won’t that bother you?” Kirishima presses. Bakugou huffs and shrugs jerkily.
“No, now fuck off,” he finishes then slams the door again. Kirishima is bewildered at this point because he is aware of how thin the walls are so why would Bakugou suggest to do something louder? He bites his lip in thought and goes back to his apartment, amending to listen to his music with headphones on just in case.
Kirishima finishes unpacking around 1:00am. He puts his hands on his hips and grins to himself with how cool his apartment looks. Crimson Riot posters cover his room and his living room has motivational tapestries hanging over the couch and above his television. His kitchen has been stocked with cooking implements and crockery. Kirishima is quite pleased with himself and plucks his headphones off of his head and quickly notices how quiet it is.
“Bakugou won’t mind some American pop at this hour, right?” he asks himself as he plugs his music player to his speakers and hits ‘play’. Ed Sheeran blasts from the speakers and Kirishima scrambles to lower the volume in a panic. He listens carefully for any signs that Bakugou noticed this blunder and sighs with relief when he does not hear any stomping towards his door. He keeps the volume relatively low but loud enough that he can hear it in any room. Bakugou’s door slams and Kirishima flails to turn his music off. The panic wears off when he realizes it was Bakugou coming home, not leaving. He wonders where Bakugou works that he gets home so late. Kirishima is not really the nosy type but Bakugou intrigues him for some reason. The lyric “we push and pull like a magnet do” supplies itself into his brain and he snorts a laugh. Kirishima puts an ear to the wall he shares with Bakugou and vaguely hears him opening and closing doors and flicking light switches but there is a delay before these actions, like he is waiting for something to happen. Okay, weird. Then nothing. Kirishima cannot hear anything else so he gives up and decides he should probably get to bed so he can be rested enough for work in the morning. He does his bedtime routine and settles in for bed, putting his earbuds in and lets Kesha sing him to sleep.
Kirishima wakes up and is bombarded with cupboard doors banging and various things hitting each other. He rolls over and groans into his pillow. Throwing the covers off of himself, Kirishima strides over to the door and puts on some sandals before pressing the doorbell in rapid succession. Kirishima hears Bakugou sprint to the door and he swears the blond almost rips the door off its hinges. Kirishima flinches and raises his arms defensively.
“I fucking told you to blast your music to drown it out!” Bakugou shouts. Kirishima drops his posture to cover his ears with how loud Bakugou is yelling. Bakugou notices this and instantly lowers his voice a few decibels. “I told you, play your goddamn music or something.” Kirishima lowers his hands and crosses his arms.
“Yeah, but I don’t appreciate being woken up by you scrambling around your kitchen. Why are you so loud anyway? Do you like disturbing your neighbors?” Kirishima huffs. Bakugou surprisingly withdraws himself into his apartment and shoves his free hand into his pants pocket. All of the anger from a few moments ago has disappeared.
“I don’t, now fuck off,” Bakugou growls without much bite, then closes the door softly. Kirishima blinks with bewilderment and stands outside processing what just happened. He drops his arms to his sides, giving Bakugou’s door a puzzled look before returning to his own apartment.
“What was that all about?” Kirishima mutters to himself as he shuts his door. He yelps when he realizes that he probably should get ready for work and dashes through his house dressing himself, styling his hair, and eating breakfast. Kirishima shovels cereal into his mouth as he reads the oven clock and sees he is not, in fact, going to be late for work. He still has a couple hours. Sighing all of the crazed panic of tardiness out of his body, Kirishima slumps into a chair and relaxes. He finishes his breakfast in a slower manner before setting it in the sink to wash. As he washes his dishes, he faintly hears Bakugou shuffling around in his kitchen. Setting his clean dishes into his drying rack, Kirishima goes to brush his teeth thoroughly before going to work early. Better early than late. He grabs his phone, keys, and wallet before leaving, shutting and locking the door and heading down the stairs to catch the train.
Kirishima returns home in the late afternoon with a spring in his step. His manager was kind and appreciated him being early to work. The day went relatively smoothly without any hiccups so he has high hopes for what the following months will be. Kirishima bounds up the stairs and stops at the top when he sees a tin container in front of his door. He jogs over to it and picks it up, shaking it to guess what is inside. Whatever it is, it rattles around without too much noise. Then he smells the sweet scent of baked sugar and cinnamon. He hastily opens the lid and finds it filled with snickerdoodle cookies with a note on top that simply says, ‘sorry’. Kirishima glances at Bakugou’s door and hesitantly rings the doorbell. He waits for a few minutes then gives up and unlocks his own door.
“I’m home,” he shouts into his empty apartment. He takes off his shoes and pads into his kitchen to put the cookies down until after he eats a proper dinner. Kirishima then goes over to his speakers and plugs his music in so he can sing while he cooks. He puts rice into a bowl and washes it before pouring it into his rice cooker. While the rice is cooking, he gets out a saucepan and cutting board so he can make himself curry.
The curry comes out a little odd with way more meat than vegetables and the rice a bit burnt but Kirishima eats it happily as he watches nightly cartoons. He finishes his meal, gives thanks, then washes his dishes. The cookie tin tempts him from the corner of his eye so he gives in and takes a snickerdoodle from the container and sinks his teeth in. The edges are crunchy while the middle is soft and chewy. He moans embarrassingly and claps his hand over his mouth and runs over to pause his music. Kirishima listens carefully for any signs of movement or disturbance next door and hears nothing. He exhales the breath he was holding and continues eating the cookies with much less moaning. Kirishima is rather ashamed of himself for eating all of the cookies in one sitting but he convinces himself that it was okay because he has to return the tin. He writes a note that says ‘thank you’ and places it on the lid of the tin and goes to put it in front of Bakugou’s door. He then settles in for the night, going through his nightly routine of showering and brushing his teeth so he can wake up before Bakugou starts slamming doors and pans. Kirishima steps out of the shower and changes into his pajamas when he hears Bakugou slam his door. He anticipates the blond stomping over to his door but it never comes so he goes back to the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he slips under his covers, he hears Bakugou puttering around in his kitchen. Grumbling, Kirishima shoves in his earbuds and buries his head in his pillows.
Kirishima wakes up to silence. His music ended while he slept and he checks the oven clock and sees that it is fairly early. No signs that Bakugou is awake. He creeps to his door and opens it. A scraping sound indicates that something is in front of the door so he peers around and sees the same tin that was in front of his door last night. Curious, Kirishima opens it and finds a single oatmeal cookie. He gives Bakugou’s door a withering stare before retreating into his apartment to nibble on it. Kirishima is surprised that he actually likes how it tastes but it does not compare to the snickerdoodles. He opens his door and places the tin next to Bakugou’s door. Kirishima is mostly confused by the cookie this morning but he shrugs it off as Bakugou being as cryptic as he has been. He will ask the old man upstairs about it later.