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It wasn’t the first time that they ate dinner together, and it wasn’t the first time that Bakugou cooked for him either. They had done that frequently for years. Though, it was the first time that Bakugou invited Kirishima over for dinner since they had left UA and gotten their own apartments.
At one point there had been a conversation about moving in together, but it had made sense at the time to live apart when their agencies were situated at opposite ends of town.
They had visited each other in the months since they graduated too, both helping each other during the move, but they hadn’t really had the time to spend a whole evening together just the two of them. They still saw each other at least twice a week, but between being newly recruited pro heroes at different agencies and dealing with everything that comes with living alone for the first time, there usually wasn't any time to see each other for more than a few hours at a time.
They had made it a habit to meet up for lunch in between their shifts during the days their schedules left time for that, and they met during their bi-weekly get together with the self-proclaimed baku-squad as well, but that wasn’t the same as the two of them having a quiet evening together.
Kirishima felt as if he had finally started to settle down into this new chapter of his life, and there was now a structure to his days that hadn’t been present since UA. He liked having his own place and the power to do what he wanted with his days, but he missed the everyday aspects of living next door to Bakugou.
He missed having him wait outside his bedroom door every morning so that they could eat breakfast together before school. He missed their late-night talks on their balconies. He missed Bakugou.
Usually, he was the one to text Bakugou first, but that morning he had woken up to a text from him for once. It had been straight to the point and nothing more than a text telling him to be to come over to his apartment at seven that evening and that he would be cooking. It wasn’t a question, but they had spoken a few days before about doing something together that evening since they were both free for once.
Kirishima didn’t know what to expect as he raised a hand and knocked on the door, but by some reason he felt more nervous than he should have. They were best friends, and they were going to have dinner together, nothing new, but it felt big. He felt as if he was going on a date, which was ridiculous.
He had even spent time picking out his outfit before leaving his house, something that rarely happened. His hair wasn’t up in its usual spikes, and instead hung loose grazing his shoulders. In the end he had left his house in a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a flannel tied around his waist. It was far from fancy, but it was an upgrade from his usual shorts and tank tops that Bakugou liked to complain about.
All afternoon he had contemplated bringing a gift, because that’s what you did when someone invited you over for dinner, right? But they had never done anything like that before, and he didn’t know if this was just a quick meal together or if it was a dinner dinner. Still, Bakugou was doing the cooking no matter what kind of dinner it was, and he wanted to at least contribute with something, so there he stood, waiting for Bakugou to open the door with a bottle of red wine in his hand. He was overthinking this.
The sound of the door being unlocked startled Kirishima out of his thought.
“Hi”, that was all he got out. He felt his eyes widen at the sight of his best friend. Bakugou stood there wearing a black apron over his clothes, but what had caught his gaze was the way the rolled-up shirt sleeves of his white button up clung to his forearms.
Bakugou cleared his throat and Kirishima directed his eyes away from the arms, realizing that he had been staring. Their eyes met for a second before Bakugou turned around and disappeared into the apartment. Kirishima could feel a blush creeping up his neck and he made no move to leave his place.
“Don’t just stand there, come on in,” he looked over his shoulder, “and lock the door.”
Kirishima quickly did as he was told and got rid of his jacket and shoes, following the aroma of spices coming from the kitchen. He found Bakugou standing there in front of the stove stirring a pot of what looked like soup.
“This is for you”, he said as he put down the bottle of wine on the countertop right next to Bakugou.
“You brought wine” it wasn’t a question. He glanced between the bottle and Kirishima.
“Yes?” he added hesitantly. He was starting to doubt if it really had been a good idea to bring the bottle, but right as he started to come up with an explanation as to why he had brought it, Bakugou spoke again.
“Thanks.” It was a wonder that Kirishima had heard him at the volume he spoke, but he felt himself relax at the word. The bottle of wine was no big deal, it was fine.
“So, what are you making?” He moved closer to the man by the stove and leaned over to get a look over his shoulder. “It smells incredible!”
It really did, and it looked amazing as well. He didn’t move from his position right away, and Bakugou made no move to push him away either. There was warmth radiating from the back in front of him, and it would only take a small shift of his body weight to close that last distance between them. Kirishima wanted to rest his head against the shoulder in front of him, but he didn’t.
“Of course it does, I’ve made it.” He straightened up to reach for a spoon that he then dipped in the soup and held up in front of Kirishima’s face. “Here, taste it and tell me what you think.”
He opened his mouth and let himself be fed. The moment his lips closed around the spoonful of soup there was an explosion of taste in his mouth. He let out a sound far too close to a moan, and felt Bakugou tense at the sound, though it was over before the spoon had left his mouth.
“That’s amazing!”
Kirishima could see Bakugou’s satisfied smirk out of the corner of his eye.
Finally taking a step away as Bakugou was moving on to the next step in his cooking, he looked around in the kitchen. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No.”
“Nothing?”
He didn’t answer right away, instead walking over to the sink to wash his hands. “You could open the bottle of wine.”
“Great!” Happy to have something to do he got to work. Leaving the kitchen and taking two glasses from the dinner table in the other room that had been made before he got there.
There was music playing softly from the speakers and the evening sun was covering everything in a warm golden light. It wasn’t a big apartment, but it was more than enough for a first home to make your own. Kirishima liked spending time there, and not only because of who lived there.
It wasn’t long before Bakugou joined him at the table, carrying the pot of soup. There was conversation about how their day had been up to that point and work, but they didn’t talk a lot after that, both far too distracted with the soup.
~
“This is really nice," he said, as he put down his spoon sometime later, "I think we should do this more often."
Bakugou raised an eyebrow. "Me cooking for you?"
"I do have a soft spot in my heart for the food you make, but no not that necessarily. You know, I could cook for you as well sometime, or we could cook together. You could teach me some things." He took a sip of wine and paused with the glass resting against his lips. "But just having dinner together, I mean. It's nice."
Bakugou looked thoughtful. His cheeks a shade of pink, but that could've been the lighting.
"I made dessert."
It was an obvious change of subject, but Kirishima wasn't going to say anything about it, especially when he was far too interested in this new information.
"Really?"
"I just said so, didn't I?", he looked away, "You want it now or later?"
“Later, I don’t think I could manage eating anything more for a while now. I’m beyond full.” As if to prove his point he pushed his chair away from the table to rest a hand on his stomach.
“Right.” Bakugou stood up from his place at the table and started to gather the dishes.
“No, you cooked. I’ll do the dishes.” Kirishima stood up as well.
“It’s my house”
“Yeah, but I’m the guest.” He knew his arguments were beyond silly at this point, but he didn’t like not helping and just sitting around doing nothing while other people did the work.
“Suit yourself. But I’m helping.”
“Works for me.”
~
After everything was put away and the dishes were clean, they ended up on the couch talking. The music was still playing in the background, and a second bottle of wine was opened on the table in front of them.
Kirishima moved a bit closer to Bakugou on the couch, but if Bakugou noticed it he didn’t mention it. Their knees were almost touching.
There was an urge to move even closer. He wanted to blame his feelings on the wine, but he knew that that wasn’t it. He had caught feelings for the man within a year of meeting him, and those feelings didn’t seem to be going anywhere soon if the years since then were any indicator. He was in love with his best friend, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
He had never made a move or said anything about it to Bakugou. He highly doubted that it was in any way mutual, but he knew for a fact that Bakugou was gay at least, and he was starting to feel as if he had nothing to lose.
Surely Bakugou wouldn’t leave him if he knew how he felt. Or that was what he repeated to himself as he stood up from his position at the couch.
“Wait here.”
“What are you doing?” Bakugou sounded perplexed as he followed Kirishima with his eyes.
Kirishima walked over to the speakers and turned the volume up before walking back over to Bakugou, holding out a hand.
“Dance with me.”
“Fuck no.”
“Yes!”
“Why?”
“Please,” he made a pouty face and wiggled the fingers of the hand he still held out towards Bakugou. “it’ll be fun. I promise.”
“Fine.” He reluctantly put his hand in Kirishima’s and let himself be pulled up from the couch.
Making Bakugou do a spin before pulling him close to him, he made them sway back and forth in time with the song playing. It started out a bit forced, but they both got more relaxed as the minutes passed by.
“Why are we doing this?” Though, Bakugou wasn’t doing anything to stop him, and Kirishima took that as a good sign and choose to ignore him, instead pulling him a tiny bit closer.
There was a change of song, then another, and suddenly there was no space left between them. Kirishima’s arms were resting against Bakugou’s back, while Bakugou had his around Kirishima’s neck. They were swaying in an embrace.
Kirishima tightened his grip around his best friend and felt him let out a sigh against the side of his throat. A shiver ran through his body at the feeling.
“I like this shirt on you.” The words were spoken into his shoulder.
That was not what he had been expecting.
“You do?”
Their movement had come to a stop, but they were still standing there, holding each other in the middle of Bakugou’s living room
“Yeah.”
He wondered if Bakugou could feel the beating of his heart through the layers of clothes between them. They hugged quite often, they sometimes even cuddled when watching a film, but never anything like this.
“It’s a black t-shirt.” There was a silent question mark at the end.
“Yeah, but it looks good on you.”
Kirishima was glad that Bakugou couldn’t see his face because he was sure it was the same colour as his hair.
“Well, thank you,” he paused “you don’t look to bad yourself.”
They stayed that way for a while.
~
Bakugou had made cheesecake, and as everything else he made it was delicious.
They were sitting next to each other on the living room floor. There was something about being on the floor that made it a bit more exciting. Why that was, Kirishima couldn’t say, but he knew for sure that sitting next to Bakugou on the floor was better than sitting at opposite sides of a table.
“Do you think we would've been good roommates?"
"Why are you asking?"
"I don't know, just wondering." His eyes drawn to the spoon making its way to Bakugou’s mouth. "I like having my own apartment, but you know, I really did like being your neighbour."
"We were practically roommates for years, that worked out fine, didn't it?"
"True, but that wasn't just the two of us, and we shared kitchen and living space with 18 other people. Living together wouldn't be like that."
"You don't think it would’ve worked out, us living together?" he sounded offended.
"No! that's not what I'm saying!" Putting his plate down on the table, he lowered himself to the floor. Lying on his back while still being able to turn his head towards Bakugou. “I think we would’ve been great at living together!”
“Yeah,” there was a beat of silence, “me too.”
A smile made its way onto Kirishima’s face.
It was darker in the apartment than before, the evening slowly making its way towards its end. The sound of the street outside making its way into the apartment. The rug soft underneath his fingertips as he mindlessly moved them around.
Lying there quiet on the floor, Kirishima felt calmer than he had in a long time. There was a comfortable silence between them, and with the sound of Bakugou breathing mixed with the music still playing throughout the room, he felt at home.
“We’re adults now.” The words broke the silence. They sounded foreign coming from his mouth. “Like real life adults, with our own kitchens and rent to pay.”
Bakugou laughed. It was a wonderful sound, and Kirishima was once again grateful for the relationship they had managed to build over the years. It had taken quite some time for Bakugou to let him in, but he had gotten there. They were comfortable with each other in a way that Kirishima hadn’t ever experienced with anyone else.
“That’s what you’re thinking about?” He turned to look down at Kirishima.
“Yeah, do you not feel weird about that?
“Why should I?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like there’s too much happening at once sometimes, like time is moving at a pace that I can’t keep up with.” It wasn’t the first time he had had this conversation with himself, but it was the first time he said the words out loud. “Being a pro hero at our age, that’s a lot. I mean, I love my job, but it can be a bit much sometimes. Working with people so much more experienced in the field, constantly aware of the work you have to put in to get to their level, and then at the end of the day coming home to an empty apartment, having to figure out what to cook for dinner. I don’t think I realized how hard it would be.”
He could feel Bakugou’s gaze pinning him to the floor.
“I know I should be grateful, and I am! I know that there are people with far bigger problems than me, and I know that it’s going to get easier with time, but it’s really hard to remember that sometimes.”
“Kirishima, I am going to stop you there, okay? Now listen to me.” Bakugou didn't look away from him. “First of all, you definitely don’t have to invalidate your own experience and your own feelings just because others have it worse. Other’s struggles being more difficult than yours, doesn’t mean that the shit that you are dealing with is easy. It’s not a competition. And second of all, you are far more capable than you think you are, do you hear me? You are a fucking amazing hero, and you should be proud of yourself. You shouldn’t compare yourself to people twice your age, you have time to get there too. And besides, I bet they had a hard time when they started out as well.”
“You really think so?” He wanted to take Bakugou’s words to heart, but it wasn’t that easy.
“Yes.” He left no room for argument. “Even if that wasn’t the case, I know for a fact that you are strong enough to figure this shit out and get to where you want to be. And I’m never wrong.”
~
As the sun went down, so did the pressure to pretend that this was nothing more than two friends having had dinner together.
At some point Bakugou had ventured down to the floor as well, mirroring Kirishima’s position. The song changed into something calmer, and there was a shift in the atmosphere. Kirishima glanced over to were Bakugou was lying next to him. Letting himself look for once, following the outline of his face with his eyes. His hair, his forehead, his nose, lingering on his lips.
Bakugou must have felt his wandering gaze, because he turned his head to the side and their eyes met. They stayed like that for a minute, just looking at each other. Not feeling any need to break the silence.
As he realized that Bakugou wasn’t going to turn away first, Kirishima felt his face getting warm and turned his face towards the ceiling once again. Bakugou turning away as well.
He was overwhelmed by his own feelings. He felt hopeful, but there was a sense of nervousness too. Bakugou looking at him like that, that had to mean something. Thoughts were running through his head in circles. Closing his eyes he let himself breath.
There was movement next to him, a hand touching his. His eyes shot open. Slowly, afraid to break the moment, he turned the palm of his hand towards the ceiling to allow Bakugou to lace their fingers together.
They were holding hands.
Holy shit.
He glanced towards Bakugou again, and though he was looking at the ceiling there was a small smile grazing his face, a blush covering his cheeks and ears. Kirishima felt the corners of his mouth turn up, as he once again turned away.
~
A giggle made its way out of Kirishima’s throat before he had any chance to stop it.
“What’s so funny?”
The confused look on his face and his raised eyebrows made Kirishima giggle harder.
“We’re so stupid.” He got out in between his fits of laughter.
“Huh?”
“I like you.” Maybe the wine had some part to play in this after all, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care enough to regret his words.
Bakugou opened his mouth to say something, closing it again before any words got out.
“Bakugou, what are we doing?” He wasn’t giggling anymore, but Kirishima couldn’t get rid of the smile on his face, the nervousness miraculously gone. “This,” he raised their intertwined hands between them, “friends don’t do this.”
“They could.” Though, Bakugou didn’t seem to believe in what he said either.
“You know what I’m trying to say.”
“I do.”
Letting their hands fall back to the floor, Kirishima turned to the side. “Do you want to go out on a date with me?”
They were both blushing by now. Bakugou bit his cheeks trying to hide his smile, but he was failing spectacularly. Nudging him with his shoulder, Kirishima finally got to see that smile at its full potential.
“Yes.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.”
“Shut up.” The words too soft for their meaning.
“Can I kiss you?” glancing down at his lips, waiting for a response, he felt his heartbeat speed up.
He didn’t have to wait for long. There was a small nod, and that’s all he needed. Letting go of the hand in his, he got up on his elbows and closed the space between them.
This was a moment Kirishima had fantasized about since he was sixteen, but that had made nothing to prepare him for the reality of it.
Holding himself up above Bakugou, hands cold on the living room floor. Bakugou staring up at him through half-lidded eyes, noses almost touching. There was no rush. A hand made its way up to Kirishima’s cheek, stroking its thumb along his bottom lip. His eyes closed fully, and then there were lips covering his.
In the end, Kirishima was glad that he had brought the bottle of wine after all.