Work Text:
It started with a sneeze.
The class was very quiet for once, Aizawa taking study hall very seriously. The sound of pencils scribbling and pages being turned was all that was heard.
Kirishima raised his head and turned to the left when he heard a very violent sneeze come from Bakugou.
Kaminari began snickering to himself before Aizawa sent a hard glare in his direction. The blonde immediately sat up straight and shut up, leaning back over his desk to continue his ‘work’.
Kirishima lightly kicked the chair in front of him before moving his gaze back to Bakugou. He watched as the pale blonde rubbed his eyes and sniffled quietly to himself before going back to the book he was reading.
Kirishima squinted in Bakugou’s direction, sensing that Bakugou felt a bit... off. The redhead shrugged it off for now and went back to the math he was working on.
He should’ve said something after class, because he woke up in the middle of the night to hear his loud, explosive next-door neighbor sprint out of bed towards most likely the bathroom.
Kirishima whined as he threw his warm blankets off of him. He shook his now flat hair and stepped onto the cold floor. He slowly tiptoed to his door and opened it steadily, not wanting to wake up Shouji with his incredible hearing.
Kirishima sighed as he reached towards the doorknob, unsurprised when it was unlocked. They normally go to each other after nightmares, after all.
When he pushed the door open, the noise from the bathroom became still.
Kirishima shut the door behind him and quickly walked over to the bathroom’s open door. He peered in to see Bakugou leaned over what was before an empty toilet. He was clutching his stomach with one hand and his face with the other.
“Bakugou!”
Kirishima rushed over and got down on the floor next to him. Bakugou weakly pushed the hand that went for his forehead away. He groaned and coughed into his hand.
Kirishima finally felt his forehead which was fuming hot. Kirishima hummed, removing his hand to turn on the cold water and let it run for a second. “Come on dude, let’s get you up.”
Kirishima was surprised at how easily Bakugou complied. The pale blonde threw his arm around Kirishima’s neck as he carefully picked him up and moved him towards his bed. Bakugou fell with a huff, curling up into a ball. Kirishima threw his covers back on him before going back to the bathroom. He grabbed a cloth and damped it wet and filled up a glass with the water. Turning off the lights, he brought both back to Bakugou.
“Alright dude, I’m gonna need you to sit up for me,” Kirishima whispered. He reached for one of Bakugou’s biceps to help him sit up.
“I fucking got it,” Bakugou muttered, voice tough but faint from hurling into his toilet minutes ago. He took the water from Kirishima and slowly chugged it all.
After helping Bakugou lay back down, Kirishima was about to put the cloth on his forehead before Bakugou muttered a small, “Sorry.”
Kirishima’s movements stilled before resuming. He gently, with uttermost care, laid the cold wet cloth on Bakugou’s forehead. He let a sigh out in relief from the coldness. Kirishima cracked a small smile that couldn’t be seen.
“What do you mean?”
“We were supposed to go hiking. You were fucking excited.”
Bakugou turned his head to see Kirishima let out a small, cheerful laugh. He flashed a bright smile in Bakugou’s direction. “Dude, it’s totally fine. You’re sick. We can do it another time! Right now, you really need to rest up. Man, I don’t even want to look at the time right now...” Kirishima whined as he started walking back to the door. He waved his hand as he opened the door and began walking out. “Goodnight! Knock if you need me.” Kirishima smiled one more time before closing the door and headed back to his own dorm.
“G’night...” Bakugou sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to catch some sleep.
What Kirishima didn’t know, is that Bakugou planned on confessing during their hiking trip.
//
When Kirishima woke up the next morning and walked into Bakugou’s room, a pillow was thrown directly at his face.
“Get out!” Bakugou screamed, unafraid of using his full voice now at the beginning of a new day. The pillow flopped to the ground before Kirishima sighed and began walking in again.
Another pillow was thrown, and then another. The assault kept coming.
“Get out! You can’t fucking be in here without a mask!” Another pillow smacked him right in the dead center of his face. Kirishima frustratedly threw a pillow back, hitting Bakugou in the chest. He flopped over on his back on the bed.
“Bakugou!” Kirishima whined before seeing how serious Bakugou looked. He had a mouth mask on with his arms crossed, a hard glare being thrown in the redhead's direction. Kirishima sighed and slowly began walking backwards out the door.
“Fine, text me if you need me.” Kirishima raised an eyebrow as if it were a challenge. Bakugou’s eyes soften before the door was shut.
Once outside, Kirishima hummed in thought before the realization hit that Bakugou’s too stubborn to ask for food. He slumped over before slowly walking towards the elevator and into the common rooms kitchen.
Looking around the kitchen, Kirishima realized he had no idea how to cook, and what to even make for Bakugou.
Kirishima groaned out in frustration. He knew he had to do this or else Bakugou wouldn't eat something. I could always ask Satou? Maybe Midoriya knows how to cook? Maybe one of the girls?
Kirishima thought his savior was just about to walk in through the door, but his eyebrows furrowed once he realized it was only Kaminari and Sero. Kaminari’s smile lit up when he noticed Kirishima’s presence.
“Oh, dude! Good morning! Are you about to cook something? Wait, whoa you can cook?” One by one, questions spurted out of Kaminari. He only became quiet once Sero put a hand on his mouth.
“Dude, please shut up. It’s too early.” Sero mumbled, removing his hand from Kaminari’s mouth to catch a yawn. He scratched his belly while moving to go grab a bag of cereal. Kaminari gasped before following his footsteps to get his own small bag.
“Too early? It’s only ten in the morning, I’m full of energy!” Kaminari smiled as Sero brought them both bowls and some milk to pour. They both sat on the stools at the counter while Kirishima sighed, most likely knowing the answer to the question he was about to ask.
“Quick question, do any of you know how to cook, like, eggs or bacon?” Kirishima crossed his fingers, but ultimately he knew the outcome.
“If you want the bacon very crunchy and almost burnt, sure.” Sero quipped, grinning around his bite of cereal. Kaminari gurgled as he tried to laugh with his mouth full.
“I can either completely burn the egg or somehow undercook it to the point it’s inedible.” Kaminari shrugged as Kirishima deflated. The redhead sighed loudly as he realized this was a risk he was going to take.
“Can you guys help me make breakfast for Bakugou? He feels sick, so-“ Kirishima was abruptly cut off as Sero choked on a piece of cereal. He cleared his throat before putting a hand on the counter, leaning forward.
“You sure you’re asking the right people for this?” Sero raised his eyebrows as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Kaminari, on the other hand, immediately stood up and put his hands on his hips. He grinned widely.
“If it’s for Kacchan, of course! Nothing could ever possibly go wrong!”
It indeed went very wrong.
In all truth, the trio tried as hard as they could. It seemed to be going well at first. Kaminari cracked the egg into the pan and watched it sizzle before getting distracted by Shinsou walking into the kitchen to grab a quick snack.
When Kaminari returned his gaze back to the pan, he saw that the egg... wasn’t even an egg anymore.
Sero and Kirishima both tried to cook bacon by either frying it on the stove or shoving it into the oven. Both proved ineffective for them. They either completely burnt the bacon to black or it was way too crunchy and bland.
Kirishima was surprised when he looked over to Kaminari and realized he switched it up and did a scrambled egg. The egg looked good and nice before Kaminari took it out of the pan and somehow completely missed the plate and watched it splatter onto the floor.
Kirishima’s eyes widened slowly. “You cannot be serious.”
Kaminari quickly bent down to the floor and grabbed all of the scrambled egg with his bare hands and slammed it on the plate. He rose back up to his face and scratched his neck with his unoccupied hand.
“Ah... five-second rule?”
Sero face palmed before small footsteps were heard walking into the kitchen. The trio all raised their heads towards the door to see Ashido ruffling her hair and rubbing her eyes. Kirishima ran over to her and stopped her in her tracks.
“Please tell me you know how to cook.” Kirishima pleaded, slamming his hands together and bowing slightly. Ashido snorted before walking around him.
“Who do you think I am? Of course not.” She moved to sit at one of the stools at the counter. She reached to try a piece of bacon before spitting it out. “What the hell are you guys doing in here?” She spat, whining about the taste in her mouth. Kirishima raised his head and sighed.
“Bakugou is sick and I wanted to make him something-“ Kirishima was cut off before Ashido started squealing.
“Oh! You know! Just want to make my boyfriend some breakfast!” The girl teased, grinning when Kirishima’s face became light pink. He walked over to lightly hit her on the shoulder to stop her laughter.
“Shut up! Can you help or not?” Kirishima whined, putting his head into the counter. He crossed his arms and encased himself.
“Sure, let’s try making pancakes!”
Ashido ended up pulling up a pancake recipe on her phone, and everyone got to work. Kirishima was hoping with four people, they could at least get something done.
He was very, very wrong.
Kaminari ended up mixing up baking powder and baking soda, while Ashido didn’t know there was a difference between white sugar and brown sugar.
Needless to say, when all the ingredients were finally mixed together, it didn’t even look like pancake mix.
Sero sighed loudly, slouching over as he rubbed his eye. “Alright, maybe it’ll still taste fine after we cook one?”
The first pancake was burnt.
And then the second one.
Third one.
"Okay, you're off pancake duty!" Ashido screamed as she shoved Kaminari away from the stove, yanking the spatula from his hands. Taking a deep breath, she poured some pancake mix into the pan, letting it sizzle for a second.
“I don’t understand how you boys mess up burning a pancake!” She quipped, staring at the pancake as she watched it sizzle. Kirishima rolled his eyes from the side and crossed his arms.
“At least I know the difference between sugars.” He mumbled not-so-quietly. The girl gasped, slamming a hand on the edge of the stovetop and waved the spatula in Kirishima’s face. “Take that back!”
Kaminari watched the pancake, knowing it’s about to be burnt any second now. “Uh, guys-“
“I will never take that back!”
“Okay, mister, ‘I love Bakugou Katsuki’.” Ashido mocked Kirishima’s voice.
The redhead blushed deeply, gasping and was about to argue back before Kaminari and Sero screamed simultaneously. Kaminari began to run out of the kitchen while Sero ran to the sink and filled a cup up with water.
When Ashido and Kirishima turned their gaze back to the stovetop, the pancake was on fire, and the fire below the pan was heavy.
Earlier, when Ashido slammed her hand on the edge of the stovetop, she bumped into the temperature control knob, turning the heat up excessively.
Ashido screeched, immediately turning the heat off while Kirishima grabbed the spatula from her and began hitting the now burnt pancake with it to try and diffuse the fire. He ended up picking it up with the spatula and ran over to the sink where Sero spilled water over it.
Everyone sat in silence for a solid minute before Kaminari ran back in with Uraraka and Tsuyu behind him. Uraraka gasped at the sight in front of her.
“What on earth happened!”
Silence still ran over them before Kirishima awkwardly dropped the spatula in the sink and turned to face the new guests. He cleared his throat and awkwardly laughed.
“You see, I’ve been trying to cook breakfast for Bakugou since he’s sick in bed, and wanted help since I can’t really cook. It looks like I’ve asked the wrong people to help me though...”
Uraraka sighed looking around at the mess in front of her. “We might as well help you clean up since we’re here.”
Tsuyu, however, walked forward and towards the cabinets. Upon looking in, she turned her head towards Kirishima.
“After Ochako and I help clean up, I can help you make some chicken soup, ribbit.”
Kirishima swore he almost started crying right on the spot. He ran over to Tsuyu and collapsed on the floor in front of her, slamming his head down to the floor to bow to her.
“Tsuyu you don’t understand how much you’re saving me right now. Thank you so, so, much.”
Everyone began to clean up. Afterwards, Uraraka pushed Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero out of the kitchen in order for Kirishima to focus on what Tsuyu was doing.
Kirishima will have to admit, he’d prefer cooking with Tsuyu much more than with Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero. Tsuyu was blunt, always straight to the point to correct Kirishima’s mistakes. She helped him through the whole process to bring it to perfection.
A now beautifully laid out bowl of chicken soup was in front of Kirishima.
Tsuyu smiled at the sight of Kirishima’s face getting brighter. “There’s no need to thank me, by the way, ribbit. I’ve always loved cooking. I have younger siblings after all, ribbit.”
Kirishima gave Tsuyu a bone-crushing hug even with the dramatic size difference. The girl gently patted his arms before Kirishima pulled back and beamed at the soup.
“I know you said I don’t need to thank you, but thanks anyway! I appreciate it!”
Tsuyu smiled brightly at the comment. She waved at the redhead before walking out of the kitchen and into the common room.
Immediately, Kirishima put the soup on a tray and bolted back up to Bakugou’s room.
He took a quick stop to his room to grab a mask and put it on before knocking gently on Bakugou’s door.
“Hey man, you in there?” Kirishima questioned. He heard sheets being tossed around and a growl. The redhead grinned brightly once he heard Bakugou’s voice.
“You can’t fucking come in unless you have a mask.” Bakugou’s voice was muffled by the door, and probably the mask. Unbothered, Kirishima grabbed the handle and turned the door anyways.
The sight in front of him showed Bakugou laying upside down on his bed, most likely trying to find a comfortable spot. He still had his bed head as he looked as if he had not left his bed at all. At least he had some water at his bedside.
The blonde's eyes instantly moved to the bowl of soup Kirishima was holding. One of his eyebrows rose curiously as Kirishima closed the door behind him.
Kirishima blushes lightly, suddenly thankful for the mask. “Ah, I knew you wouldn’t leave your room today so I made you some chicken soup...”
Bakugou slowly sat up. He coughed lightly but kept his gaze straight on the soup. Kirishima now felt as if he was invading, as Bakugou wasn’t quipping back his usual snarky remarks.
“Sorry, I should have probably asked if you wanted something first...”
Silence.
Kirishima suddenly didn’t know what to do. Bakugou’s eyes kept going back and forth between him and the soup, almost as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. Kirishima’s throat was starting to feel dry as he slowly walked over closer to Bakugou’s bedside table. His overwhelming urge to fill in this silence took over his body.
“Dude, you should’ve seen how much trouble I went through to make this. At first, I got Kaminari and Sero to help. We tried to make eggs and bacon but that failed badly. Ashido then tried to help us make pancakes, and that failed again. My savior Tsuyu finally came and showed me how to make this. So, I guess I didn’t really make this on my own? Sorry, that’s unmanly. I just really hate seeing you sick because I can tell you’re beating yourself up about this when it’s entirely not your fault. I just really really like you a lot and I would hate for you to—“
“Wait.”
Bakugou’s eyes widened tremendously. Kirishima quirked his head to the side in confusion, hair getting in his face.
“Fuck— repeat the last thing you just said.”
Kirishima, unaware of what he just said and stunned that Bakugou finally responded, retraced his steps in his brain to repeat what he said.
“Huh? All I said was that I hate seeing you sick and that I just really like you—“
Kirishima slammed a hand on his mask with his unoccupied hand, face becoming as red as his hair.
No, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen this way! C’mon, dude, you totally just screwed this up!
Kirishima frantically put the tray on the bedside table. “That— that wasn’t supposed to— I think I’ll just— yeah! I’ll go!” The redhead began to walk out of Bakugou’s room before his wrist was grabbed. Kirishima felt his face become hotter.
“Dude, seriously, I’m sorry but just let me go—“
“You’re still fucking calling me dude after that? Ain’t being manly right now for not letting me fucking respond.”
Kirishima stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to see Bakugou’s eyes shaking with his ears tinted a shade of red.
The silence took over, Kirishima not wanting to utter a word to see where Bakugou was going with this. He kept his eyes on the blonde, waiting for him to say something, something.
It was very quiet, but it was there.
“...Me too.”
Kirishima felt his soul leave his body as the hand on his wrist tightened reflexively. Bakugou suddenly felt the corner of his room very interesting, as he refused to look back at Kirishima. The redhead could still see his face blooming with the color pink even with the mask covering half of his face.
Kirishima wished those crimson red eyes were back on him. He wants to have all of Bakugou’s divined attention, to feel as if the words he just heard leave Bakugou’s mouth were pure, unfiltered truth.
His eyes suddenly flicked back over to Kirishima’s, and Kirishima’s eyes widened slightly once he realized Bakugou was steadily pulling him down.
Their lips connected, the masks hindering the desired touch.
It was brief, but god Kirishima wished Bakugou wasn’t sick right now to be able to feel the full span of Bakugou’s lips. To experience how it truly felt without the blank, dull fabric separating him from a totally different world.
When they pulled away, Bakugou shoved Kirishima, causing him to fall to the floor while Bakugou leaned back down to his bed.
“Dude, what the hell! You can’t just kiss me and then—“
Kirishima quickly became silent when he heard the beautiful sound of Bakugou’s vibrant laughter.
“Fuck, I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.” Bakugou chuckled, his hands coming to his eyes to shield the bright light from his ceiling. “I don’t fucking think it counts when I’m sick though, Kirishima.”
Kirishima was stunned on the spot but snapped out of it the moment his name rolled off of Bakugou’s tongue perfectly. He quickly scrambled up to his knees and crawled over to the edge of the bed, planting his elbows on top and stared lovingly at Bakugou.
“Hey,” Kirishima whispered. Bakugou removed his hands and his eyes slid over to lock gazes with the man in front of him. He hummed to prompt for him to continue.
“We can still reschedule that hiking trip, which is totally a date now, right?”
Bakugou laughed as he gently pulled a few strands of hair out of Kirishima’s face. “No, I’m just going to fucking leave you to die now.” Bakugou rolled over so his back was facing Kirishima.
The redhead mockingly gasped and climbed on top of the bed to roll Bakugou back over. “You can’t do that to me, man!”
The duo’s laughter was loud, finally feeling at peace after Kirishima’s long adventure to be able to bring Bakugou his food.
After all of this, the chicken soup still laid untouched.