Chapter Text
Bakugo hadn’t felt this calm in a long time. He was stretched out across the common room couch, his eyes closed, breathing even as he listened to his friends’ laughter around him. It was a good distraction from the constant onslaught of thoughts of being stuck in remedial classes with half-and-half while fucking Deku of all people was off fighting crime lords. Getting better. Surpassing him. The frustration was present in his everyday thoughts, but right now, laying with the evening sun flooding the room and the few people he chose to tolerate surrounding him, it was almost easy to forget for a while.
Especially with Kiri there.
His laughter registered in Bakugo’s head louder than the others, like his brain was fine tuned to every action Kirishima made. It was hard not to peek at him; the others were only leaving him alone because they thought he was asleep.
Someone suggested watching a movie and ordering food, and as the conversation drifted towards talk of what to watch, the room steadily quieted to only the occasional comment that indicated they were all silently looking up movies on their phones. Bakugo took the chance to crack his eyes open and look at the chair across from him where he knew Kirishima was sitting.
The evening sun had gotten more intense since he’d shut his eyes almost half an hour ago, and the bright light saturated Kirishima’s already intense hair in a way that was difficult to look at. He was casually slumped into the side of the chair, his arm slung over the back, his legs slung out haphazardly. His jacket was lazily slipping off his shoulder, exposing some of his collarbone underneath. He looked sleepy, his eyes half-lidded and-
Staring right back at Bakugo.
They maintained eye contact for a moment, neither of their expressions changing, before Kirishima broke his gaze and moved over slightly to look at Mina’s phone in the seat next to his. Just like most times he saw him recently, Bakugo couldn’t help but think back to the conversation they’d had a week ago.
“Are you sure?” Kiri asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Bakugo muttered, staring down at Kirishima’s legs folded across the bed from him, their knees touching. He still didn’t let go of Kiri’s hand, despite his mind being made. He continued to bend and roll Kiri’s fingers between his own, using it as an excuse to avoid his gaze. Kiri watched him silently, his gaze burning holes into the top of Bakugo’s head. He slowly pulled his hand out of Bakugo’s grasp, using the knuckle of his index finger to force Bakugo’s chin up before returning his hand to his.
Something twisted in his heart when he saw Kirishima’s face. He looked sadder than he’d ever seen him.
“Okay,” he said, but it sounded forced. “I understand. But I need to make sure you meant it. If you don’t want to be with me because you don’t feel that way about me, I’d rather know so I can move on. Because if you’re serious about it just being you wanting to focus on being a hero without distractions, I’m gonna wait until you’re ready.”
Bakugo quietly searched Kiri’s face, feeling his own expression mirroring Kirishima’s.
“Eijiro,” he said firmly. Kirishima smiled sadly.
“Okay,” he repeated. “Just… don’t take too long?”
Bakugo squeezed his eyes shut, his heart pounding.
“Hey, Baku, are you watching with us or not?”
Bakugo opened his eyes again, this time to glare at Kaminari.
“Depends on what you’re watching I guess.”
Kaminari gave him a weird look, perhaps expecting a more loaded response.
“We’re thinking Knives Out. It’s a murder mystery,” Jiro cut in before her boyfriend could reply.
“What was I thinking? If it’s got murder, of course he’s gonna wanna watch it!” Kaminari teased, casting his arm over Jiro’s shoulders.
Bakugo turned away pointedly, staring at his feet for a moment before sitting up slowly. The others continued talking about the movie and what food to get as he stretched, turning to lean against the back of the couch, his eyes closing yet again in an attempt to get some semblance of the peace he’d found minutes before. He felt the couch dip next to him, and he frowned, his eyes still closed.
“What’re you thinking you wanna eat?” Kirishima asked, his voice coming from Bakugo’s left.
“Don’t care,” he muttered, still not opening his eyes. He didn’t want to look at him so soon after that embarrassing slip up. Kirishima sighed, throwing his arm across the back of the couch to mirror the way he was sitting before. Bakugo could feel the heat of his arm across the back of his neck, and he finally reopened his eyes to glance beside him.
Kirishima stared straight ahead, avoiding Bakugo’s gaze. He glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention before moving the hand that was resting on the back of the couch to brush the side of Bakugo’s face with his index finger, reminiscent of the way he’d tipped his head up in his room earlier in the week. Bakugo inhaled sharply. His head still facing forward, he shyly brushed the back of his own hand against Kirishima’s jeans with enough pressure that Kiri would know he’d done it. Kiri glanced at him, searching his face. They stayed that way for barely a second before Kirishima pulled away, putting a few inches between them and leaning his arms forward on his legs.
“If we’re getting chicken tempura can we get some shrimp too?” He asked easily, as though the past few moments hadn’t happened.
“Make sure to get hot sauce,” Bakugo added, hoping he sounded normal.
Thirty minutes later and all the furniture in the room had been moved except the couch Bakugo had been sleeping on earlier. On the floor in front of the couch, Mina, Jiro and Kaminari were figuring out food orders as Sero set up the movie. The two boys hadn’t moved since before, and while their interactions were back to normal, Bakugo couldn’t forget the burn on his skin from where Kirishima had brushed his face. It was the kind of thing they’d agreed not to do anymore, those flirty touches, but that by all means didn’t mean Bakugo WANTED them to stop.
Which made it even more difficult when Kirishima broke their rules.
“Alrightttt, let’s get this started!” Sero announced cheerfully after all the food had been passed out. The idiots had built a giant blanket-and-pillow-whatever on the floor while they were waiting for the food, so Kirishima and Bakugo had the couch to themselves. The others were faced away from them, towards the TV, and after Kaminari turned the lights down and everyone was settled back on the floor, Kirishima let out a sigh and casually leaned his shoulder against Bakugo’s. Bakugo glanced over at him, his stupid heart going haywire again, but Kirishima was focused on the screen. Letting go of the breath he was holding, Bakugo relaxed his body into Kirishima’s, putting all his weight against the boy next to him. Kiri silently shifted his arm to where it was earlier across Bakugo’s shoulders.
They stayed like that for the first part of the film, only moving away from each other briefly when the others got up to get rid of their garbage. When everyone had settled back down again, they returned to how they were sitting before, except this time, Kirishima reached his hand back up to brush against Bakugo’s face again. It was not in a brief, fleeting way like earlier; his finger stroked against his face softly, cold and rough against his cheek. When Bakugo looked at him from the corner of his eye, Kirishima was barely looking at him, his head still slightly turned toward the screen. Bakugo glanced at the others, then opened his mouth to speak.
“Kir-”
Kirishima shook his head, frowning as he gestured towards the others. Bakugo huffed, frustrated, and Kirishima ignored him with a smirk. Bakugo could tell Kiri knew he was annoying him, which made his chances of stopping almost zero. He turned toward the screen, trying to forget how he was still keeping his weight against Bakugo and his hand on his face.
Halfway through the movie, Bakugo felt his exhaustion from earlier start to catch up with him, and he began fighting to keep his eyes open. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but he must’ve dozed off, because he swore he’d only blinked but then the scene in the movie was different, and his head was resting on the back of the couch. Kirishima’s hand was hovering next to his face, but wasn’t moving anymore. When he glanced over at him, he was faced towards the screen, his mouth slightly parted as he watched the movie.
In his drowsiness, Bakugo forgot his senses for a moment and did what he’d really been itching to do earlier: he put his hand gently on Kirishima’s leg, letting it rest there, unlike the brief contact he’d made before. Kirishima startled and turned to him, his face confused, then noticed that Bakugo was clearly still half asleep. He leaned towards Bakugo slightly, a smirk spreading across his face.
“Aww, does someone get touchy when they’re sleepy?” He whispered, teasing.
Bakugo slowly slid his hand to the inside of Kirishima’s thigh, tightening his grip. Kiri sucked in a breath, his smirk disappearing. Bakugo didn’t look away, his eyes searching Kirishima’s flushed face.
“Definitely gonna regret that,” he mumbled, knowing he wouldn’t be able to forget Kiri’s half-lidded expression anytime soon. Kiri let out a shaky breath, then hesitantly reached across his lap to rub Bakugo’s wrist slightly before grabbing it, slowly starting to move his hand up-
“I gotta pee, man, where’s the remote?”
The two boys jumped apart, both turning red as Sero pushed Kaminari’s leg aside, looking for the remote. Mina bounced to her feet to turn the lights on, and Bakugo prayed no one would notice the color of his and Kirishima’s faces.
“Found it!” Jiro exclaimed, pausing the movie as Sero jumped up, rushing out of the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Bakugo saw Kirishima cross his legs next to him, coughing as he leaned his head on his hand. His face was still red, and he was avoiding looking at Bakugo.
“I’m actually gonna turn in early. Got remedial classes with half and half tomorrow,” Bakugo muttered, pushing himself off the couch and past Kirishima. His friends began to complain, but he gave no indication of changing his mind, so they yelled good nights after him as he left.
Kirishima didn’t say anything.
As he stomped frustratedly down the hall to the elevator, he neglected to notice Sero coming around the corner.
“Woah, man, you going to bed?” Sero asked, grinning as he grabbed Bakugo’s shoulders to keep from running into him. Bakugo grumbled something about not feeling well, and tried to get past him, but Sero tightened his grip on his shoulders. Bakugo looked up angrily, expecting an argument, but to his surprise, Sero’s smile had faded, and a serious look had crossed his face.
“Listen… I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Sero mumbled, checking over his and Bakugo’s shoulders to make sure they were alone. “I know you think we’re all, like, dumb or something- well, the others kinda are, I guess, since they haven’t noticed anything is different, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make-”
“Is this gonna take a while? I’m really just trying to go to sleep, Tape Face,” Bakugo huffed. Sero had an incredible inability to focus on one thing at once when he was nervous, and he knew if he let him keep rambling he’d never get to the point.
“Right, sorry. Nobody else has said anything, so maybe I’m just imagining it, but are you and Kirishima good? You’ve both been acting off this week so I didn’t know if you guys got into a fight or something-”
“It’s none of your goddamn business,” Bakugo snarled, ripping himself out of Sero’s grasp. He felt his anger worsen when he realized his face was red again- god, this whole ordeal was embarrassing. And now other people were noticing.
Anyone else would’ve left it alone after that, but of course fucking Soy Sauce had to be the one to confront him.
“Okay, well, clearly I was right or you wouldn’t have reacted that way,” Sero said, frowning and crossing his arms. “Look, I know you barely regard us as your friends, but if something’s wrong you can talk to us about it. That’s all I wanted to say.” With that, he brushed past Bakugo and started to walk back to the lounge, leaving Bakugo in the middle of the hall, frustrated and alone.