Work Text:
If there was one thing to know about Bakugou Katsuki, is that he only loves two things in this world: hiking in the countryside and a cute little redhead by the name of Kirishima Eijirou. Combine them both and he'd be smiling ‘til kingdom come. Since their first holiday trip when they were first-years, they made it tradition to visit the countryside together at least once a year. That remained true even when their broship blossomed into a full-blown relationship. It was bound to happen after their first holiday together--the holidays typically were for couples, after all.
So here they were, early December on an empty road and the burn of an orange glow to their left; music a quiet, whispering ambiance compared to the passing of the earth beneath them. The car bobbed slightly when the front tire dipped into a minor pothole, and Bakugou steadied his hand on Eijirou’s knee, tightening the grip of his other hand on the steering wheel. He sighed, rolled his shoulder and peered at the redhead out of the corner of his eye. The redhead had his back to the door, head pressed into the seat headrest, one leg curled into him whilst the other balanced him from the floor. He was looking over the map, a sharpie pressed to his lips, cat-like eyes flittering about; his lips parted to cast out a tooth that tugged at the inner corner of his bottom lip, and he inhaled sharply, nose wrinkling cutely when he wiggled it. A dusting of freckles adorned his cheeks and fanned from the small of his neck out to his shoulders, remnants of his waning summer tan. He wore his hair down--unintentional since he had showered last-minute before they were set to leave. It was still noticeably damp, weighted with moisture and slightly wavy, a side section tucked behind the ear he favored. Katsuki felt the corner of his mouth quirk upward.
He was perfect. This--all this was-- would have been perfect if there weren't increasingly irritating sounds of lip-smacking and airy grunts coming from the backseat. The blond’s eyes cut to his rearview mirror where a ginger head of hair obstructed his view of the stretch of road behind them. Kendo giggled as she pulled forward Tetsu’s shirt, sealing their lips together for the second--third… fourth… fifth…
“Kiss her one more time asshole and ‘m turning the fuck around.” Bakugou removed his hand from Ei’s knee and settled his wrist on the gear shift. Kirishima removed the sharpie from his lips. “Suki--”
“Fuck you,” Tetsu grumbled, eyes narrow slits. Bakugou matched his glare with his own trademark teeth-baring sneer. “Fuck you, Carbon Copy!”
“Okay!” Kendo threw up her hands and leaned away from her boyfriend. “No more kissing! Got it.” Bakugou huffed. He would've been satisfied with just that if he didn't catch Tetsu’s hand tracing the inner side of her thigh. He clicked his tongue.
“No touching either.”
“Are you kidding--”
“I wanna see your hands.”
Kendo moved from Tetsu’s lap to awkwardly sit in the center of the backseat row, knees pressed together and hands clasped in her lap. Tetsu, on the other hand, kissed his teeth and wedged himself against the door. “Kiri, can you tell your roach to take a chill pill?"
Kirishima opened his mouth, but Bakugou was the one to respond. “Can you shut the fuck up?”
“Wasn't talking to you.”
“Don't have to when you're talking about me, asshole.”
“Childish.”
“Two words: Carbon. Copy.”
“That's the best you can do?”
“Oh, I got more.”
Kiri’s eyes darted from those of his boyfriend’s to a glimpse of what he could see of Tetsu. “Um, if I could interrupt, there's a--”
“‘Carbon Copy’ is the only good insult you have, gremlin.”
“If you want me to spice things up, I can ," the blond hissed. His gaze graced upon Ei’s face and he quirked his head at him. “Go, Ei.”
“I--”
“I’d like to see you try,” Tetsu muttered behind a closed fist. Bakugou snapped his head at him. “What was that?”
“Both of you knock it off,” Kendo griped. Kirishima paired a sigh with a roll of his eyes. Brandishing the brochure, he said, "Can I speak now?” Bakugou nodded. Kiri glanced at Tetsu, who shrugged.
“The onsen is open this season!”
“Fuck yeah.” Bakugou replaced his hand on Kirishima’s knee. Discourse dropped, Kirishima went on about the newest amenities being offered at their lodge as well as the new paths that opened up. It was another twenty minutes before they arrived at their lodge located at the base of the mountain. The group made haste and checked into their room, which was designed in a typical tatami fashion. So, they set down their things, dressed comfortably for the cooler weather, and filled their bottles for the hike. Katsuki led them partway into the first quarter mile of the main trail before they stopped in a small clearing.
“I don't know about you two, but we're goin’ climbing today,” Katsuki says to Tetsu and his girlfriend. Tetsu nodded, then motioned for Kiri to hand him the map. The redhead obliged, head innocently lolled to the side as the other pulled out his phone to snap a quick pic before stowing it back into his pocket and returning the map to Kiri. Turning on his heels, Tetsu gave a lazy peace sign as he tersely said, “Peace.”
“Wait, you can’t just--”
“Catch you later, Ei.” Kendo watched his retreating back before giving the other two an apologetic look. Kirishima sighed as she headed on after him, head falling back on his shoulders and a hand shielding his eyes from the late noon sun filtering between the trees.
“So much for hiking together…” he mutters, glancing over at the ashen blond. “Now what?”
Katsuki motioned for the map, humming to himself as he looked over the topography and familiar landmarks he recognized from their last trip here. His finger traced a trail in particular that scooped by a river before leading up the side of the mountain, stopping at a certain point in on the mountainside before he leaned towards Eijirou. “We can try climbin’ up to here.”
Eijirou squinted at where his finger grazed against a spot on the map. Nodding, he smiled. “Okay!”
So, they hiked the trail that led towards the mountainside. Their pace was slow and steady, bordering leisurely, the couple occasionally stopping to appreciate the flora and fauna nature offered up in a nicely wrapped basket. Small talk was all but nonexistent, the two able to communicate efficiently with subtle glances and miniscule quirks of their heads. They reached the river around twenty minutes later and paused at the riverbank for a quick drink from there bottles, to which the redhead commented, “It’s a bit ironic drinking bottled water beside a river, don’t you think?” Third-eye opening conversation aside, they reached the spot on the map where the hiking ends and the mountaineering begins in ample time. Gear out and ready, they set for scaling the craggy mountainside before the sun disappeared in the distant horizon, which proved to be a walk in the park for the duo as they reached a plateau in the mountain broad enough for them to walk around. The sky burned a brilliant orange in the distance while the part above them had since displaced them in purple-ish night. From where they stood, they could see their lodge just beyond the pointed treetops.
“We’re not gonna make it back before dark.” Bakugou turned to glance back at the redhead idly kicking at the dirt behind him. “We should probably set up camp up here. You did pack our tent, did you?”
Kirishima paused, eyes widening as a static grin etched across his face--a telltale sign that he hadn’t, in fact, packed their tent. The ashen blond’s shoulders sunk as he sighed. With a roll of his eyes, he grumbled, “Guess we’re sleeping under the stars tonight…”
Thankfully, their lack of a tent was the only thing they didn’t have with them; everything else was fine, and by the time the sun had since disappeared and night fully engulfed them, they had a fire burning and sleeping bags rolled out, though the redhead was spent on squeezing into one with the blond. Katsuki shuffled uncomfortably in the confines of the bag, but Eijirou seemed content snuggled up beside him, limbs tangling with his, head resting against his shoulder. The campfire kept his right side toasty while the body heat radiating from Ei warmed his left. It could be worse, he thought, hastily pushing said thought to the back of his mind before he jinxed them and it started spontaneously raining throughout their slumber or something. Still, he huffed as he shifted against his boyfriend again. “Out of all things you could forget…”
“It’s not like anyone is gonna bother us up here,” Kiri emphasized his point by locking his ankles together around the blond’s calf. “Plus, we could totally take a swim in that river in the morning, and besides--” The redhead propped his chin on the blond’s shoulder, the shin of the moon waxing his cat-like eyes in an ethereal gloss. “It’s free real estate.”
Bakugou blinked, brows twitching together for a fraction of a second before he shook his head. “Go to sleep, Eijirou.”
“Only if you go to sleep first so I can watch you.”
The ashen blond turned his head to squint at him. “Creep.”
The fire crackled at his right, a shift in the wood causing the flame to glow brighter as it ate away at the bark. The colors waltzed softly across Eijirou’s face and panted him subdued hues of fiery orange, the sharp reflection of the flame itself a languid, uncalculated dance in the large pools of his eyes. A smile graced his features as he uttered, “A creep that you love,” to which Katuski scoffed at and turned his head towards the cloudless sky. Maybe that smile made his heart staccato, and maybe he was smiling too as he closed his eyes and succumbed to cordial darkness.
“True.”