Chapter Text
It was supposed to be snuggles.
That was what it was about ORIGINALLY. Just warmth. Comfort, from one person to another. About feeling at ease in someone’s arms. About snuggling, and nothing more.
Yeah, this wasn’t supposed to be anything else.
In fact, she hadn’t even meant for any of this to involve Bakugou. Not at all.
Not at all.
It was a whim. A suggestion she brought up to her friends, half-jokingly, but also halfway serious.
“I wish I had a friend with benefits, but, like, the benefit is snuggling.”
Of course, they all started laughing.
Even Ochako herself. Roaring, doubling over. Some of them laughed so hard they cried—Ochako also included.
But they also heard that serious note. That sort of wistful sound tacked on at the beginning of the statement. The one she seemed to recognize, and tried to hide as the statement progressed. Even though it was too late. They heard it. They knew.
Ochako really did want someone to cuddle with.
And, since most of her friends were in relationships (or, otherwise, completely un-interested in relationships) they also extended to her some compassion.
They understood.
After the laughter died down, Ochako was surprised to find:
Her friends were taking her comment seriously.
“I doubt you could find that kind of a guy online. Y’know, like, one who’s looking to cuddle,” Mina speculated.
“Oh, you’d find a guy like that, but he’d also be looking to do MORE than cuddle,” Jirou assured.
“Or, he’d be a psychopath,” Tsu chimed in, surprising Ochako with the use of such a harsh word.
“Yeah, if you wanted something like that, you’d have to ask someone you know. Someone you trust,” Mina said, somehow managing to agree with the other girls’ statements without proclaiming she did.
The room became quiet. Eerily so.
Ochako chimed in. “It was a joke guys. I don’t actually expect that to happen.”
Slamming her fist on the couch, Mina sat up suddenly. So suddenly, it was startling.
“But you SHOULD have it Ochako! You’re amazing! And wonderful! And kick ass! And a good friend! And you shouldn’t have to be lonely!” she insisted, pounding the couch with every sentence to punctuate her point.
Honestly, it was sweet of her friend. So sweet, in fact, that Ochako was slightly embarrassed.
“Jeez Mina, I’m not THAT great. Besides, I don’t think those are the types of things guys are looking for,” she said.
“Because they’re MORONS,” Jirou interjected, right before Mina spoke up again.
“Hey! You know what? I bet Kirishima would be down to be your friend-with-snuggle-benefits.”
It got dead-quiet again, though this time, it wasn’t because they were all thinking.
They were all floored.
“What?” all the girls chorused together, sounding deep in varying degrees of confusion.
But Mina didn’t let up. In fact, she looked more excited. More determined. As if this was, in fact, a wonderful idea.
“Yeah, yeah! I bet he would! He’s a sensitive guy, and he’s super good with people. He gets stuff, y’know? I bet he wouldn’t mind being your snuggle-buddy if you explained to him why you wanted one. I think he’d be willing to help you out.”
It took Ochako a moment more to realize just how serious the suggestion was.
(Very serious.)
“Yeah, but, not even I know why I want a snuggle-buddy,” Ochako argued.
“Yes you do. It’s because you’re lonely,” Jirou cut in, digging right to the root.
“There’s no need to be ashamed,” Momo chimed in, right as Ochako began to turn red. “Wanting to be held is part of life. Everyone needs it sometimes. I suppose some people don’t want it, but a lot do. It’s instinctive. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I like it,” Jirou asserted.
“Me too!” Mina added, throwing her hand into the air briefly. “It’s nice. Especially being held by a man.”
A small round of thoughtful, agreeable “hmm”s went around. As if the thought were very yummy, for some reason. Though the sound was too loud for Ochako to discern which of them agreed and which of them stayed silent.
Uraraka only knew:
It wasn’t a good sign.
And she wasn’t wrong.
Before she knew it, she was kicked out of their group session. Urged—dared maybe? Or threatened? Instructed? Everything was a blur, so she couldn’t be sure—to go and talk to Kirishima about it.
And, for whatever reason, she was there.
In front of Kirishima’s room.
Knocking on his door.
About to have the weirdest conversation ever with him that she could possibly imagine having (short of having a conversation about actually-inappropriate/intimate things, of course).
She stood there waiting for a moment. Two. Three.
Right before the relief of him not answering hit, the door opened, shattering her mindset completely. Shutting the relief down before it could fully start-up.
But it wasn’t even Kirishima at the door.
It was Bakugou.
“Oi, what’re you doing here Roundface?” he demanded, looking her up and down.
Crap.
This was not good.
With her nerves in a bunch and his intense glare directly hitting her, she wasn’t really sure how to respond.
So she did her best.
She tried.
“Oh, uh, nothing really. Is Kirishima around?”
Somehow, his glare deepened. As if he’d just set those laser-eyes from “stun” to “kill”.
“The fuck do you need Shit-hair for, huh?”
Oh man.
She felt it:
She was in deep trouble now.
“Well, I was hoping to talk to him about something…”
“About what?” Bakugou demanded, crossing his arms and leering down further, directly into her face.
Consequently, she couldn’t think well. Or at all, really. He was too close. Way, way too close. She could see the color of his eyes, her reflection in his pupils. The small stubbles he was starting to gut underneath his chin, that lined his harsh jaw.
Man, was it hard to think.
And, holy crap.
When did Bakugou get so nosey?
Hey, yeah.
That was a good point.
So she used it.
“Since when does it matter to you?” she asked meekly.
Crap.
She’d meant to sound stern. Abrasive. Something other than “slightly scared and extremely confused”.
But even if she had managed to sound tough, it probably wouldn’t have done anything effective to the boy in front of her.
He gave the sturdiest, heartiest “tch” sound she’d ever heard in her life, and then, she suddenly wasn’t standing outside anymore.
She was inside Kirishima’s room.
With Bakugou.
And only Bakugou.
Looking around, she noticed that Kirishima had changed his room slightly since she’d last been there. There was still a punching bag, still flames on certain portions of the wall. But the room seemed… softer somehow. More relaxed. Everything looked less harsh—whether that was because of the actual decorations (or lack thereof), or if it was because the lighting was dimmer, or if it was just because of those curtains over his window, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was:
The room seemed… warmer. More welcoming than before.
It seemed strange to think about, but, she couldn’t help it:
It was cozy in Kirishima’s room.
Maybe this was what Mina had meant. Maybe she’d been right. Maybe Kirishima was more sense than brawn.
But, she also noted the extreme lack of the physical Kirishima. How the space seemed to bleed his presence.
Without actually having his presence.
“You can talk now, right? We’re alone after all,” Bakugou huffed. “No one can overhear you in here. Now: talk. Tell me why you’re looking for Kirishima.”
“Uh…” she started rather eloquently.
Somehow, she got the feeling that this was unavoidable. Now that she’d taken a step into this minefield, something had to go off. There was no way she’d make it out without a scratch.
So she did her best to summarize.
To plow forward.
Explain herself.
“Well, I was looking for a friend-with-snuggling-benefits.”
That was the gist of it. That would do.
Right?
Doing his best to cover over it, Bakugou stopped.
He blanched.
“You’re lookin’ for a fucking what-now?”
Uraraka sighed.
Of course he wouldn’t understand. It was, after all, a crazy request. A pretty unreasonable mission.
So she tried again, unable to meet his eyes as she rushed through the words.
“Well, I was just wanting a friend-with-snuggling-benefits. Y’know, just for like cuddling and stuff, because sometimes I just want someone to curl up with, and I have no one, but I figured Kirishima might help me out. Just for, like, snuggling, y’know?” she shrugged at the end, as if this was no bid deal. As if this wasn’t a really strange, out-of-left-field type of request.
When he raised his eyebrow, she flushed.
What was he thinking?
Probably that she was a weirdo.
Again, she felt the urge to explain. To defend herself.
“It wasn’t my idea though! Mina suggested it. She said that he would probably get it and stuff and probably agree to it or whatever. And they all urged me to give it a go—”
“You don’t need Kirishima, you need a snuggle-buddy.”
His words were unexpected. Cutting her off abruptly, with a firmness she didn’t expect. Summarizing her desire easily.
Yet the summary felt…
Like a correction?
Like he was informing her?
Something like that.
It confused Ochako further.
“Um, I guess?”
“What I meant was: it doesn’t HAVE to be Kirishima, right?”
There was something in the way he said it, and the way he was tilting toward her, and the way his gaze wasn’t quite meeting hers.
She just…
Didn’t understand it. Didn’t understand what he was getting at. Why he wanted to know. What he was thinking at all, really.
So she answered him, hoping to gain some understanding.
“Um, right.”
In a flash, he snapped to. His dark gaze meeting hers, an almost determined look in his eyes.
“Good, now that that’s settled—”
Rushing forward, he completely floored her.
By picking her up.
“Woah! Bakugou, what are you—oof!”
Unceremoniously, Bakugou dropped her onto the bed. Which, admittedly, was quite soft. And had an orange blanket, much to her surprise. Everyone knew Kirishima’s favorite color was red. Why the sudden change? She couldn’t help but note it.
But, now wasn’t really the time to ponder the bed’s color scheme.
As she turned her attention back to the moment, she also turned her attention back to the boy she was in the room with.
And found him undressing.
“AH! BAKUGOU! WHAT’RE YOU DOING?” she nearly shrieked, scurrying further up the bed, averting her gaze.
Why on earth was he undressing?!
“Because I don’t believe in getting into bed with your shirt on. It’s stupid,” he said calmly. “’Sides, my body heat is warmer than any shitty piece of cloth,” he said as he began climbing into the bed.
Climbing.
Into the bed.
“WHO SAID I WANTED THAT?!” she countered, scooting further away.
At this point, he seemed to notice what was going on. How she was responding to his nakedness and his presence.
How she was kind of freaking out.
Making another “tch” sound, he grabbed whatever part of her was in reach, and would give him the best grip—which just so happened to be her hips—before he pulled her back toward him. One solid, tight jerk that had him hovering over her. Towering over her with his burgundy eyes and chagrined grimace and wild hair. That had her heart hammering faster in her chest, a pool of lava boiling over inside her stomach and into her veins because—
All she could see was him.
Just him.
How his eyes bled like redwood and how his hair seemed darker in this light. How his shoulder muscles bunched, caged her in underneath him. How well-built he was and how extremely sharp.
Screw body heat.
With just the way he was looking at her—the way his presence was currently being anchored to hers—she was going to melt. No body heat necessary.
And, with that weighted look he was giving her, she couldn’t help but think that maybe—hopefully not, but maybe—
He knew.
“Tch,” he grumped again, eyes roving away from her before flopping over onto his side.
Without releasing her hip, she noticed.
“Thought you wanted a snuggle buddy,” he said, voice low as he spoke to the side of her head.
Oh. Right.
That made sense.
…kind of.
It excused his sudden actions—put some kind of reasoning to them—but she still didn’t understand why Katsuki Bakugou, of all people, was willing to be her friend-with-snuggling-benefits.
When she looked at him though, she didn’t think he was playing around. Generally speaking, that wasn’t Bakugou’s MO anyway.
Looking at him, she knew he was being serious.
He was really offering her this.
Skinship. Comfort.
Closeness.
And, for some reason, she realized:
There was no way she could say no.
Not because he’d be upset—she had no idea if he would be or not—or because he might threaten her—though she seriously doubted he would do that. It wasn’t because she was afraid to refuse, or too shy to, or anything like that.
She couldn’t refuse because… well…
She didn’t want to.
Katsuki Bakugou was offering her this small piece of him. No matter how small it was, it was still a piece of him. A sort of vulnerability that she was sure he cared for. That he guarded. After all, Katsuki was always guarded.
He was offering to let her in, even if it was just this tiny bit.
But it was such a rarity. This moment was such a gem. A hidden treasure that he’d dug up for her.
There was no way she could refuse.
Rolling over, she snuggled into his chest. Curled her hands against herself and laid her head against his bicep. Felt the warmth of his hand as it refused to move, and instead, slid down her waist to her lower back, holding her closer.
It was incredible.
The way he moved only after she did. Arranging them so they were closer. Laid against each other like they were meant to fit together.
It was amazing.
“This good Roundface?”
Nodding meant her face brushed against his bare chest.
It sent warm shivers through her bones.
“Yep,” she said happily.
He snorted, amused. “Glad it’s to your liking,” he commented, his tone sarcastic and smug.
But she didn’t mind.
Because it WAS to her liking. Very much to her liking.
Katsuki was warm, and comforting. A presence to be reckoned with in any setting really, but she felt him even more now. As if gravity were shifting around the two of them. Sticking them together, forcing the rest of the world to comply as well.
Cuddling was…
Amazing.
As she laid there, completely content, she began to get hazy. Sleepy. Her eyes drooped, and her mind began drifting. Wholly absorbed in this snug, cozy place that magically existed in Katsuki Bakugou’s arms.
And as she drifted, almost fully entrenched in the world of sleep, she could’ve sworn she heard him speak.
“Sweet dreams Angelface.”
But it was probably just her dreams seeping into her ears. Clouding her head.
After all, they were just snuggle-buddies. Friends-with-snuggling-benefits now.
Right?