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The old chipped wood of the diner’s table seemed to find a comfortable home underneath the beds of Kirishima’s nails as he continued to nervously pick at the surface, his mind running at what felt like hundreds of miles per hour in an attempt to cram all of the knowledge inside his brain.
He stared down at the pages of the textbook below him, watching as the kanji began to swim around on the page, forming into words he wasn’t even sure existed. Sighing, he flicked his eyes away from the surface, and brought his gaze up to his study partner, who was staring at him with a loathsome glower.
“How are we ever supposed to get things done if you keep looking away like that?” Bakugou scowled.
“I’m trying, the words just don’t make sense anymore.” Kirishima whined, collapsing his head into the open spine of the book for dramatic affect.
“Start reading slower, then. How are we supposed to have the best project in the class if we don’t even start?” Bakugou said irritatedly, as he tore his gaze from the red boy across the table from him.
Kirishima just grumbled under his breath as he pulled his line of sight down from Bakugou’s observant red eyes, forcing his attention span back to his textbook.
Minutes later, he could feel the familiar boredom seeping into the extremities of his brain, yet he fought it back with the knowledge that if he complained again, Bakugou might do more than just forcibly reprimand him.
Yet another sigh almost escaped his lips, but Kirishima contained himself once more. He picked up his condensating glass of water and took a swig, a shiver running down his spine at the cold water coming in contact with his teeth.
He felt Bakugou shuffle across from him, and immediately pointed his gaze down to his textbook once more, squirming in his seat with boredom.
A loud sigh, this time from across the table. Bakugou was making it known. Kirishima tensed, and then suddenly Bakugou’s shuffles came to a stop. The red haired boy immediately relaxed in his seat, his fingers returning to their familiar motion of picking at the table.
Then suddenly, Kirishima felt a nudge against his feet. He raised his eyebrows and looked up at Bakugou, but found that his attention was solely focused on the material in front of him.
Another nudge. A knowing look of adoration fell upon Kirishima’s face as he realized. It was Bakugou’s foot.
Swallowing his nerves, Kirishima gently nudged his right foot back. He spared a momentous glance across the table, yet found that Bakugou was not phased as he sent another nudge back- but, deep in his heart Kirishima was certain that a wry smile had begun to crawl up Bakugou’s lips.
The younger boy scuffed his heel against the toe of Bakugou’s shoe, and bit his lip to contain an awestruck giggle as Bakugou did the same back. An unspoken agreement seemed to have settled in the air that neither of them would acknowledge this moment, they would simply just let it happen.
Kirishima could live with that. And so he did, shoving his feet back and forth underneath the table with Bakugou. He glanced up at the blond across from him and felt his gaze soften at the sight of the faintest blush crawling across his cheeks.
Kirishima’s heart skipped a beat. He looked back down at his textbook.
The kanji seemed to have jumped off the page and straight into his brain, yet that still couldn’t have been right, for no matter how many words were swimming through his brain, Kirishima would never be able to string them together and explain just what he was feeling for Bakugou.
“That was when you fell in love with me?” Katsuki cackled, throwing his head back onto his pillow. “When I played fucking footsie with you underneath the table in freshman year?”
Eijirou felt his cheeks heat up as he buried his face into Katsuki’s neck, writhing around in his gentle grasp. “Yes, now shut up about it.” he whined. “You wanted to know, so I told you.”
Katsuki was still cackling. “Only you, Eijirou.” he smiled wistfully, as he began to calm down from his laughter.
The younger man felt his face warm again at the comment, and nestled his head further underneath Katsuki’s chin.
“Mmh- stop that, your hair’s all wet.” Katsuki frowned, pulling away from Eijirou’s hold.
He was met with a very tight-lipped, damp, and red Eijirou. Another round of Katsuki’s laughter chorused off of the walls of their bedroom, and Eijirou frowned before lunging forward and pecking his boyfriend’s lips.
The deep scarlet of Katsuki’s face now matched the hue of Eijirou’s just moments before, and the latter’s lips contorted into a smug smile as he settled for laying the side of his face on his boyfriend’s face, staring up at him.
“You’re up, Katsuki.” he grinned.
The blond grumbled. “Do I really-” he was met with a pointed glare from his boyfriend. “Fine.” he mumbled.
A pleasant smile filled out Eijirou’s cheeks as he nuzzled his cheek into the dip of Katsuki’s chest, adoringly observing the wistful expression crossing over his boyfriend’s face.
A comfortingly familiar din of chaos settled over Class 1-A’s dorm- the distant shouts of Iida most likely reprimanding Mineta, the nightly news being shown on the shared TV, as well as high pitched squeals from Mina and Hagakure unceremoniously meshed together.
Kirishima curled his knees further into his chest as he tucked an earbud into his ear, staring down at his phone he cradled in his hands, attempting to tune out the chaos of living with so many other people.
He felt a sudden dip next to him on the couch and he turned his head slightly, his eyes being met with Bakugou, who had slumped down on the cushion over.
The younger boy was surprised Bakugou wasn’t already sleeping by now, and he was even more surprised that the blond was choosing to spend the remaining moments of his evening in the company of another person. The red haired boy felt his heart swell in his chest, as it often did in the presence of Bakugou.
He brushed the question away as he turned back to the screen of his phone, texting back and forth with his mother as she checked in on him, just as she did every evening.
Finally when she had verified that her son was in good health, she left him alone for the night. Kirishima looked over his shoulder as he felt Bakugou move around in the seat next to him, but found that the blond’s eyes were fixated on the news of the evening.
Heaving both a sigh of relief and disappointment, Kirishima looked back down at his phone, whose screen had dimmed from his brief period of inactivity. The boy reentered his passcode and scrolled over to his Spotify upon unlocking his phone.
Being in this close of proximity- no, peaceful proximity with Bakugou surely deserved something special, didn’t it? Kirishima certainly thought so.
Scrolling down past his workout playlist, past his recent favorites playlist, Kirishima finally found what he was looking for. A smile twitched at his lips as he read over the familiar playlist name a few times, truly letting the word reiterate in his brain.
‘katsuki <3’ was exactly the word he stared down at, and Kirishima let half a smile curve onto his lips- the side that wasn’t facing Bakugou, as he pressed shuffle.
The first familiar notes of the song washed over his frayed nerves, and he found himself relaxing into the cushion of the couch as he let his phone rest in his lap, his eyes fluttering shut.
If Kirishima had only chosen that moment to look over at Bakugou, he would have found the older boy sporting an incredulous look of awe, complete with cheeks painted pink. But Bakugou was focused on the news, wasn’t he? Or so he thought.
Bakugou felt his throat close as his gaze flickered over the peacefully resting red haired boy, using unimaginable strength to suppress the urge to pluck out an earbud out of his ear and put it into his own. Then he would scoot inches closer to Kirishima, and maybe lay his head atop his, and maybe even stoop to press a gentle kiss into his hair.
With an especially loud commercial blaring on the TV, Bakugou found his attention momentarily taken from the subject of Kirishima to whatever was playing at an ungodly volume. With a giddy feeling festering in his chest, Bakugou pushed himself up from the couch and wandered back to his bedroom, fully aware that although it was past his bedtime, he would never be able to fall asleep.
Eijirou buried his face into Katsuki’s bare chest as he groaned into oblivion. “You decide to tell me now that you saw my playlist entitled ‘katsuki’ with a little heart in freshman year?”
Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “It was fuckin’ adorable, what are you talking about?” he chuckled under his breath.
“That’s not 'adorable,' Katsuki, that’s embarrassing!” Eijirou exclaimed, his words muffled by Katsuki’s chest.
“You forgot to add the little heart after my name, just now.” Katsuki snickered.
“Shut up.” Kirishima ground out, pushing his face so hard into Katsuki’s chest that he felt as if he was seconds away from turning into a pancake.
“Whatever.” Katsuki grumbled lovingly, leaning forward to ruffle his nose into Eijirou’s damp hair.
“How the fuck did we even fall in love with each other?” Eijirou giggled, finally picking his face back up to make eye contact with Katsuki.
An amused grin spread across Katsuki’s lips. “From footsie and a playlist, to a shared apartment.” he chided.
A chuckle escaped Eijirou’s lips at the comment. “However we got here, I love you, Katsuki.” he whispered, pursing his lips as he stared up into the deep ruby of his boyfriend’s eyes.
“I actually prefer ‘Katsuki with a little heart’.” Katsuki chuckled, his chest heaving once more with the snide comment.
“Oh my God, I never should’ve told you that.” Eijirou groaned.
“I bet you thought you were gonna get back at me when I told my side of the story, huh?” Katsuki said gleefully. “You just ended up red as a tomato both times.”
Eijirou narrowed his eyes up at the blond. “I don’t love you anymore.”
Katsuki raised an eyebrow as he pulled his arms out from underneath the comforter, just about to push himself up from his laying position. “Why am I here, then?” he teased. “I think I should g-”
Eijirou immediately realized his mistake as his source of warmth threatened to remove itself from the bed. “Nonono, I’m sorry Katsuki.” he smiled, his words half masked by amused giggles.
A grin spread across Katsuki’s face once again at the sound. “Hm, so now this is funny to you?”
Eijirou zipped his lips, yet found that he could not contain his laughter. A burst of giggles spewed from his lips as he wound his arms even tighter around his Katsuki, wordlessly begging him to stay.
“‘M kidding, Eijirou.” the blond mumbled softly, crawling back down under the covers with his boyfriend. A genuine smile of adoration adorned his features as he stared down at his Eijirou, who was busy avidly intertwining his limbs with Katsuki’s. “I love you, so much.” he whispered, bowing his head to press a kiss to his hair, just as he had wished to do all those years ago in high school.
“I love you too, Katsuki.” Eijirou mumbled, his words jumbled from his cheek being mushed once again into Katsuki’s chest.
Eijirou felt himself nodding off to sleep, until a prod of Katsuki’s foot against his own jostled him back to reality. “Stop.” he groaned playfully. “Footsie won’t make me fall in love with you all over again, contrary to your newfound belief.”
Katsuki just snickered above him once again, slipping his hands underneath Eijirou’s t-shirt as he felt his fingertips glide to the familiar places on Eijirou’s back where he knew the younger man was adorned with birthmarks.
“Goodnight, Eijirou with a little heart.” he whispered.
His boyfriend sighed deeply. “Goodnight, Katsuki with a little heart.” he giggled, closing his eyes once more.
Katsuki felt the familiar lull of sleep beginning to tug at the warmth in his chest, and a nostalgic smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he felt himself fade into slumber, remembering just how he had felt all those years ago when he imagined he would never be able to fall asleep.
He was in Eijirou’s arms now, though, so Katsuki figured that if the world had managed to grant him that miracle, absolutely anything was possible.