Work Text:
Bakugou looks up when he hears the sound of keys jingling. The front door opens as he clicks his laptop shut and pushes himself up from his blanket nest on the couch. There’s some mild shuffling, but the silence by the door is unusual.
“Eijirou?” he calls.
“Hm?” Kirishima hums back. It’s distant. He sounds tired. Must have been a rough day.
Bakugou tucks the laptop underneath his arm, glad he got most of his recent report out of the way, but it was about time to take a break anyway. He makes his way toward the sounds of Kirishima stumbling over himself as he tries to shuck off his shoes, still clumsy as ever despite years of training.
Bakugou reaches a hand out, softly grasping Kirishima’s elbow. His fingers catch the thick, durable fabric of his sleeve.
“Hey,” he says, catching his attention.
When their eyes meet, Kirishima mumbles out a “hey, baby.” There’s less affection behind his tone, but Bakugou lets it slide, only narrowing his eyes a little.
“Day that bad?” he prods.
Kirishima gives a half shrug and kicks at his shoes until they’re tucked neatly against the wall. His shoulders are high and there’s some tension in his face that Bakugou wants to smooth beneath his palms.
“Just wanna shower," Kirishima mutters, gently pulling his arm from Bakugou's grasp. "Be back in a minute.”
He doesn’t hug Bakugou as he normally would when he stalks off to the bathroom, which is fine, if a little strange. Bakugou watches him go with a slightly irritated sigh.
It wasn’t unlike Kirishima to get in his head when he had a hard day at work or his brain wanted to remind him of all the insecurities he thought he’d overcome. Sometimes he could go several days as a hollowed out version of his normal optimistic self, trying to stay upbeat and positive, but struggling to keep up the facade. Rarely did anyone suspect a thing, but Bakugou would have to be a terrible best friend and partner not to notice the nuances of Kirishima’s moods. He always wanted Kirishima to feel like his best self, but relationships were hard and sometimes it was difficult when Bakugou wanted to help and even Kirishima didn’t know what he needed to make himself feel better.
Bakugou scrubs at his head, mussing up his hair, and drags his hand down his face with mild frustration. Hopefully the shower would ease some of Kirishima’s tension and they could talk more when he got out. In the meantime, Bakugou sets his laptop on the kitchen counter and busies himself by folding up the blankets on the couch and washing a few stray dishes until the water squeaks off.
Making his way down the hall, Bakugou swipes up a clean, fluffy towel—a personal favorite of Kirishima’s—and knocks softly on the bathroom door.
“Ei?” he calls, turning the doorknob and sticking his head through, just enough to see Kirishima staring into space through the steam hanging in the air. Bakugou holds the towel out toward his boyfriend, who takes it with a tiny laugh.
“I was just about to ask if you could bring me one,” he grins, eyes crinkling at the corners as he wraps himself in the towel. He pulls his long hair over his shoulder, freshly washed and curling gently at the ends.
“Scatterbrain,” Bakugou smirks, but there’s no bite behind it. They share a small moment just before Bakugou steps out, leaving Kirishima to dry off.
He considers going back to the report while it’s still fresh in his mind, and suddenly remembers the low battery warning his laptop flashed some time ago with a grimace. Heading off to the bedroom, he snags the charger from the outlet nearest the bed and turns to see Kirishima stepping quietly into the room, looking a little better, but still distant. He’s dressed in an old ratty t-shirt and some sweatpants that have seen better days. He looks drained.
Bakugou tosses the laptop charger into the bed, giving his full attention. If Kirishima wanted to say something, he just needed a moment to piece his thoughts together. They were similar in that regard.
“I’m sorry,” Kirishima sighs, stepping closer and pulling Bakugou into his arms. His grip tightens as he pushes his face into the crook of Bakugou’s neck, a long, heavy sigh escaping his lips. Bakugou feels the rush of affection throughout his body and holds him tight, inhaling the scent of his freshly shampooed hair.
It’s always so warm in his arms.
“Nothin’ to be sorry for,” Bakugou replies, angling his head to press a light kiss against Kirishima’s jaw just before pulling away, hands idling near Kirishima’s waist.
“It’s just dumb work stuff,” Kirishima says, “Some of the other sidekicks make me so mad, man! And I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I kept making lame mistakes on paperwork. Like, I know it’s easy baseline stuff, but people kept making fun of me and it made me feel pretty stupid.”
“Need me to kick anyone’s ass?” Bakugou asks with an arched eyebrow. He doesn't mention the lack of sleep despite the fact that Kirishima's tossing and turning woke him a few times. Mentioning it would only make him feel guilty.
Kirishima snorts. “Nah, I think I just need to take a nap. Come back to it later.”
“Alright,” Bakugou replies. “But the offer still stands.”
“Thanks, babe.” A small silence passes between them as Kirishima smiles, slight as it is, and quickly surges forward to kiss Bakugou's lips. With a sharp-toothed grin, he skips over toward the bed and launches himself up onto it. “I’m gonna sleep so hard, dude, you have no idea.”
Bakugou laughs softly, watching Kirishima fluff up the pillows and slide underneath the covers. He makes his way toward his boyfriend and perches on the edge of the bed, pulling the covers up and tucking Kirishima in for good measure. “Comfy?”
“Mhm,” Kirishima says, his eyes already starting to glaze over. He smells so good and looks so soft and cute. No way in hell Bakugou would ever voice that aloud though.
“I’ll leave you to sleep then,” Bakugou says, leaning into his space and pressing a kiss high on his cheekbone. As he stands and swipes the laptop charger back up, he hears Kirishima mumble softly.
“Baby…?”
“Yeah?”
His eyebrows swoop up and he gives Bakugou the softest look with a pout on his lips. “Can you come nap with me…?”
Bakugou really should go finish working on that report, but Kirishima was usually a bit of a mess for a while after a bad day and craved physical affection to make himself feel better. He probably doesn’t want to be alone, but doesn’t want to say so at the risk of sounding needy. But how could Bakugou say no to that face? Plus he looks so cute swaddled and cuddled up on their bed with his red hair splayed out across the pillow.
Bakugou’s heart swells as he sighs. He could finish the report when they woke up.
“Yeah, lemme just plug this in. I’ll be there in a minute.”
As he exits the room, he hears a sleepy “yaaay!” from Kirishima.
When Bakugou finishes getting the laptop set up to charge, he makes his way back to the bedroom where Kirishima kicks his legs excitedly and lifts the blanket up. Bakugou slips into bed, sinking into the blanket cocoon, already cozy from Kirishima’s body heat.
There’s a contented hum from Kirishima as he ducks down and cuddles up close, hugging Bakugou around his waist and burying his face in the crook of his neck. For someone who works out daily and has a hardening Quirk, Kirishima feels shockingly soft when they’re snuggled up together. His lips press against Bakugou’s neck through a smile, eyelashes tickling Bakugou’s skin as Kirishima blinks sleepily against him.
“G’night,” Kirishima sighs just before drifting off.
He sleeps easily, mind finally calm, and Bakugou is thankful for it. Bakugou's hand finds Kirishima's bicep beneath their covers as he idly rubs patterns into his warm skin. The other hand makes its way into Kirishima's hair, still slightly damp in places. A little black spot sits at the top of his crown where his roots are starting to grow in and Bakugou gently runs his thumb across it. It’s softer than the rest of Kirishima’s hair. He wonders sometimes if Kirishima would ever consider growing it out rather than dealing with the hassle of bleaching and dyeing it. But the red helped him with his confidence and made him feel like his most authentic self, so Bakugou never brought the color up. Red suited him anyway.
As Bakugou lies there, listening to Kirishima's soft breaths, he realizes he really should have gone to the bathroom before he came in here…
He shifts a little and feels arms tighten around his middle. Angling his head, he can see Kirishima's face scrunched up in displeasure, eyebrows meeting in an angry scowl.
"Ei, I gotta get up," Bakugou says. "And don't harden your arms or you're gonna cut me.”
"Come back…" Kirishima groans.
Bakugou rolls his eyes, and feels another rush of affection through his body as Kirishima makes a grabby motion with his fingers like a helpless kitten.
"Here."
He angles his pillow toward Kirishima who takes it happily and snuggles closer, hugging the pillow as if it was Bakugou. It must smell like him if Kirishima could be sated so easily.
He sneaks out quietly, eyeing Kirishima as he slips through the doorway and disappears into the hall. The floor is freezing against his feet when he reaches the bathroom, immediately throwing his mood off when all he wants to do in that moment is make Kirishima feel better.
Bakugou returns a few minutes later and crawls back into bed, gently lifting Kirishima’s arm to tug the pillow from his grip with only a small fight. He shoves his head in the crook of Kirishima’s elbow so he can be held. In an instant, strong arms tighten around him and Kirishima sighs happily, squishing his cheek against Bakugou’s hair.
Bakugou lets his eyes slip shut. Though he’d rather not mess up his strict sleep schedule, he doesn’t have work until tomorrow afternoon and could probably afford to take a nap and just go to bed a little later if it’s what Kirishima wanted. If being in a relationship taught him anything, it was that sometimes he needed to sacrifice his own needs for Kirishima’s. Which he did when the need arose. He’s a good boyfriend after all. Probably not as good as Kirishima, as much as he hated to admit it, but he at least knew he could brag to all their friends that if he himself wasn’t the number one boyfriend, he could be in a relationship with the current number one.
Someday he’d make Kirishima fight him for that title.
As he snakes his arms around Kirishima’s torso, he hears him mumble, a whisper that barely brushes against the ends of his hair.
“I love you…”
Bakugou’s face contorts and his chest feels squishy inside. It’s almost embarrassing how quickly a few silly words could turn him to putty in Kirishima’s hands. He buries his face even closer and can feel the warmth from his cheeks spreading to the tips of his ears and reddening the back of his neck.
He shuts his eyes tight as he responds and though Kirishima is still sleeping, he can’t bear to look at him quite yet. It’s still too new, too vulnerable. Something about being so open and honest with Kirishima is both terrifying and yet shockingly easy.
“Love you, too,” he manages shakily. “More than you know.”
And Kirishima hums back. Whether it’s an acknowledgement or a shift in his sleep, Bakugou can’t tell, but he doesn’t think too hard, just squeezes tighter and lets himself drift off.