Work Text:
Kaminari grunted as he hoisted a large, non-descript box from the jaws of the forklift. Shifting the package further down into his arms to alleviate the pressure building in his chest, he trudged over to the shelving unit, conveniently ignoring the complaining of his back. He’d always thought he was pretty good at lifting stuff. Sometimes, back at school, Mineta would have a tantrum and end up clinging to his arm all day. He’d never had a problem carrying him around. Hell, Tsu had seemed pretty impressed whenever he had managed to lug everyone’s food and drink of choice to whichever dorm they were using for game night in one trip.
So, when he’d heard of a part-time gig down at the docks hiring people to load shipments into their warehouses, he’d found no issue stretching the truth when it came to his previous experience. It was only once he’d begun work that he realised what he’d gotten himself into. He’d had to bluff away his need for an icepack against his back that first night when Jirou had asked about it. Honestly, he’d almost been offended by how easily she’d accepted his excuse that he’d somehow fallen and screwed his back during patrol.
He’d gotten better over time and no longer struggled like he once did, somehow managing not to be fired in the meantime despite his slow, incompetent work. Now, he could justify the job as not only extra income but as a great method of additional training. He’d found it had actually had a genuine impact on his regular hero work, improving his physical strength for whenever he needed to fend for himself in close-quarters combat.
Dusting off his hands impatiently, Kaminari turned around. He tried to ignore the chorus of cracking coming from his spine. This last shipment had taken longer than he’d anticipated, leaving him to ponder what excuse to use when he got back home to Jirou.
Opening the door to his apartment, Kaminari slipped inside with all the grace of an elephant on steroids. He winced as he immediately met the unimpressed stare of his girlfriend upon entering. She had her elbow propped against their quaint dining table, her chin resting upon her clenched fist as she stared him down over two untouched bowls of udon.
Kaminari could feel the guilt pounding in his chest at the sight of the dishes, undoubtedly having lost all warmth due to his delay in returning home. He knew Jirou had been dedicating a lot of time to improving her cooking, with Yaoyorozu’s help. And yet, here he was, letting her efforts waste away while he was sneaking around being secretive.
“Hey, babe.” He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck impulsively as he avoided her eyes.
“Hey, babe.” Kaminari flinched at the bitter drawl. “Where the hell have you been, babe?”
“I, uhh, I was caught up on patrol.” Kaminari slid into the seat across from her, happy to dig into his udon despite its lack of the desired temperature. He could feel her eyes boring into him as he focused on the mischievous noodles as they slithered away from his chopstick’s grasp.
"Oh yeah? What happened?"
"Er, nothing serious, you know. Just an inconvenience."
"That's an awfully time-consuming inconvenience, Kaminari."
Yikes. The last name being dropped was a bad sign.
"Yeah, you know. Just... one of those things." Kaminari floundered with his unconvincing excuses. He'd never been the best liar; he was far too anxious to ever pull anything off bar the most basic of pranks. But the verbal whipping he'd been anticipating in retaliation to his pathetic attempt at a cover-up never came. He looked up. The boiling rage on Jirou's face had been replaced by what was almost a resigned sadness as her gaze travelled to rest on the tabletop.
His heart clenched in his chest. What was with that expression? Kaminari was more than accustomed to the irate expression she'd donned earlier; it was her go-to for whenever he'd done something that she found irritating and not simultaneously hilarious. But this one was new. The soft, downcast eyes and teeth clearly gnawing on the inside of her cheek made his heart skip a beat, but not in a pleasant way.
"Alright."
That was the only response she gave.
Kaminari found himself choking on air, suddenly wishing he'd just gotten the reaming out he'd originally figured he would. What was wrong with her? Was she sick? Maybe she’s just gotten so used to me disappointing her she doesn’t even have it in her to be mad anymore.
He set his chopsticks against the side of the bowl. "I... Sorry."
"Mhmm."
His body sunk in on itself.
"I'll be here on time tomorrow night."
"Right."
He watched helplessly as the girl stood, grabbing her bowl as she did so. "You're not gonna eat?"
"Not hungry."
Kaminari could empathise. All the hunger he'd built up while doing manual labour had abruptly left him. He watched her retreating form with the disconcerting feeling of something eating away at the pit of his gut. He hated her being upset, but the surprise would end up making everything worth it. And hopefully, she wouldn't be so upset with him she ended up saying no.
That would seriously be a worst-case scenario.
***
Kaminari stared into the case until his vision began to blur. Gah, he should know her taste by now, surely. Something understated but cool. Not too gaudy but still unique. His eyes scanned the contents of the display impatiently.
The dozens of rings may as well have been identical to him. They were all sparkly and pretty (and they all looked like they’d do a substantial amount of damage to his poor wallet), which made it difficult to choose between them – particularly with a brain as flighty as his own.
Finally, a dark gleam caught his eye. It doesn't look like a diamond. Would she be mad if I didn't get her a diamond? "Uhh, excuse me?"
The employee behind the counter shot him a patient smile. He had been standing there deliberating for quite a while at this point, and he wouldn't blame her if she was starting to get frustrated with his indecision.
"Yes? Is there a particular piece you're looking at?"
Kaminari hummed in confirmation, before attempting to point the ring out to her without accidentally smearing his fingerprints across the unbearably clean glass that covered the jewellery. Despite what he perceived to be a complete failure at doing this, the employee seemed to understand his gesturing.
"Ah. That is a beautiful piece and quite individual, at that. That is a galaxy diamond with an amethyst halo on a white gold band. I dare say you would struggle to find another quite like it."
"A diamond?" Kaminari squinted at the dark, speckled stone. "Like a diamond diamond?"
"Indeed." The employee bit back a smile as she responded.
After a moment of deliberation, he straightened up. “Okay, I trust you.”
“…I appreciate that, sir.”
“So.” Completely oblivious to the employee’s raised eyebrow, Kaminari shoved a hand into his back pocket. “How much is this gonna set me back, exactly?”
***
“Uh, so…uhh, it’s been…”
“For fuck’s sake, Sparkface, just fucking say it.” Bakugou was scowling from his position sprawled on a couch that was clearly far too small for him, his legs dangling over the edge and his body cramped uncomfortably onto the cushions. Kaminari narrowed his eyes at the boy in response.
“I’m trying, okay?!” Kaminari ruffled his hair restlessly. “It just won’t come out right!”
“If that’s you trying, you should just give up now,” Bakugou snorted, his eyes fixated on the television. “You’d be saving us all some grief.”
“Bakugou!” Kirishima rushed out from the narrow kitchen adjoined to the dining room, scandalised by his roommate’s words. “Don’t say that! I think it’s super manly that Denki’s doing this. There’s nothing cooler than being open with your emotions.”
Bakugou blinked up at him, as if in some sort of odd daze. There was an uncomfortable silence as the two stared at each other, Bakugou having twisted his neck around into a painful-looking position. The television blared away in the background – playing something with plentiful explosions – as Kaminari flicked his gaze back and forth between them, pressing his lips together awkwardly. He cleared his throat.
Kirishima jumped a mile into the air at the soft noise. Spinning around as if preparing to be attacked, he faced Kaminari with a grin. “You can do it, dude! You’re gonna give Jirou the best, most romantic speech possible. It’ll be so good she’ll literally have no way of turning you down, man!”
Kaminari grinned. Kirishima’s enthusiasm, as always, spread to him like wildfire, and soon enough he was back on his A-game. After all, since Jirou was upset with him, he’d have to make this speech the best, most enticing thing she’d ever heard. That way she could forget all about being mad in the first place.
That sort of distraction technique had never worked out before, but he was pretty sure he could pull it off this time.
***
It had been several days of practising his speech with the guys, but Kaminari was proud to say that he was definitively making progress. This evening, he’d managed to get through two sentences without fumbling over them. He was confident he’d ace it in no time; he was already almost a tenth of the way there.
Not to mention he was purposefully messing it up half the time, just to watch as that one vein on Bakugou’s forehead get increasingly noticeable as the night progresses. It was hilarious because this was the one thing Kirishima had decided Bakugou was under no circumstances to get aggressive about. Which made the situation ideal for messing with the bad-tempered hero.
Snickering to himself at the image of a silently infuriated Bakugou that popped into his head, he creaked the door to his apartment open, hoping to remain inconspicuous as he entered. But nope, there she was. Suddenly, Kaminari flinched, taken aback by her appearance as she pressed her palms into the table. She looked exhausted. Her hooded eyes were ringed with dark circles and her arms shook as they tried to hold her body up. Had he really been so distracted by all his planning that he hadn't noticed this?
Before he could open his mouth to express his concern, Jirou beat him to the punch. “Where were you?”
Kaminari let out a gentle breath. “Sorry, hun. I was at Eiji’s.”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure,” Jirou scoffed as she spat out the words. Kaminari blinked uselessly at her as he contemplated her words and their possible meaning. Snapping out of his trance, he crossed the room in a few quick strides, coming face-to-face with her defiant anger.
“What’d you mean? I was literally at Eiji’s. Where else would I be?” He murmured, still confused as he lifted his hand to trace her cheek. His thumb brushed lightly underneath her eyes. “You okay, Kyo? You look tired.”
Jirou relaxed for a mere moment under his touch, but it didn’t last long. Before he realised what was happening, she’d practically flung herself away from his grasp and he could swear he saw tears forming in her eyes. Panic flooded his brain to intertwine with the confusion already present, which was a deadly combination. Particularly for him.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Wha-Kyo? Why? What did I-?” Kaminari spluttered desperately as he internally fought between his urge to go and comfort her and her demand for him to stay away.
“I guess you really think I’m some sort of idiot like you, huh?” The words were practically shrieked at him and his panic meter only continued to rise.
“Guh? No!” He flung his hands around in a frantic attempt to convince her of his sincerity. “W-Why would I think that?!”
Jirou was hunched over at this point, almost in a crouch as shuddering sobs wracked her body. In his horrified bewilderment, Kaminari found himself unable to figure out what to do. He desperately wanted to go to her, to wrap her up in his arms the way he did in those exceedingly rare situations in which she cried. But he knew if he did, she’d probably attack him.
Swallowing down his fear, he choked out, “I don’t think y-you’re an idiot. Why do you think I’d think that?”
Jirou slowly removed the hand she’d been using to stifle her sobs but continued to stare holes into the floor rather than look at him. “You weren’t with Kirishima tonight.”
“I…” Kaminari’s sigh was coloured with confusion. “Babe, I really was at Eijirou’s. I can…call him or something if you want? He can confirm it for you?”
“No…”
“You’re worried about where I was right? Well, you don’t think Eijirou would lie about it for me, do you?” Kaminari took a hesitant step forward as he spoke.
“It…it doesn’t matter! Maybe you were there tonight.” Jirou’s voice was breathy and unsteady, as her tears threatened to take control once more. “But don’t you dare think I don’t know.”
“Don’t…know what?!” His frustration at his own confusion manifested in his voice, which raised significantly.
“Don’t know…!” Jirou’s voice raised in retaliation, as she stood up. “Don’t know that you weren’t caught up during patrol! All those times you said that you were…”
Jirou’s voice trailed off to nothing as her shoulders slowly slumped. Kaminari felt like he’d been sucker-punched as he watched her duck her head to conceal her face from him, her bangs falling to obscure her reddened eyes. She knows. His heart was dancing in a painful arrhythmia in his ribcage as the thought hit him like a runaway train.
She shouldn’t be crying.
He analysed her face as best he could through the thick, dark strands that shadowed her face like Venetian blinds. There was no hint of happiness, no sign that her tears were simply due to her being overwhelmed, nothing to indicate that she was feeling anything in this moment aside from devastation. He was absolutely gutted.
Was the thought of marrying him really that horrible for her to consider? Were his efforts to try and make everything perfect for her – make it worth her time – all completely meaningless? It seemed that he’d severely overestimated the stability of their relationship.
Clearly, this was the furthest thing from what she wanted. He’d gone and made a complete fool out of himself, hyping it up to his friends and building it up to perfection when it had all been one-sided. That was pretty pathetic.
“Why are you crying?” Kaminari mumbled, not sure he actually wanted to hear the answer. Jirou’s head whipped up, startling him, and she glared at him as if offended.
“Why the fuck do you think?”
“I don’t know!” Kaminari was beyond frustrated and upset by this point, his voice was heightened, and he could feel his body trembling slightly as he stood there. Fear had practically paralysed him. He’d ruined his relationship, and it was dawning on him now that he’d rather be with her even if she wasn’t serious about him or any potential future together than lose her entirely.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jirou’s desperate cry sounded distant and distorted like he was hearing her from underwater.
“I mean exactly what I said.” Kaminari scrubbed a hand down his face, and Jirou huffed.
“It’s your fault.”
“Yeah, I know.” The boy sighed, slumping onto one of their dining chairs. “I just wish you weren’t so upset by it.”
“Excuse me?!” Jirou screeched, her eyes wide and disbelieving. “How can you even say something like that?! Just how unreasonable can you possibly be?!”
Kaminari blanched, feeling his face grow hot, anger bubbling at the base of his throat. “Dude, what’s your problem!? It’s not my fault - I didn’t know you didn’t want it!”
“What…?”
“And look, I get that you’re unhappy, but how about you give a little thought to how I feel right now?”
“No!” Jirou snapped, her eyes wild. “I don’t care how you feel. You don’t deserve my sympathy, not after what you did.”
Kaminari deflated as quickly as he’d become enraged, averting his gaze. “I don’t get why you’re so angry with me. I just wanted to be with you, ya know? If you didn’t want to marry me, you just had to say no. You don’t have to act like it’s some sort of hideous…insult to you or something.”
He sighed once more, leaning against his fist as he idly traced circles on the light wooden surface of the dining table. There was silence within the room, and Kaminari noted that Jirou’s crying had died down somewhat. That, at least, was a relief.
“…Marry?”
“Hm?” Kaminari flicked his gaze back upwards, to see Jirou staring at him, her expression uncertain and hesitant.
“What do you mean by that? Marrying you?”
“Well…that’s what this is about, right?”
“No? I never said anything about marrying…” Jirou frowned softly, and Kaminari resisted to urge to jump up and use his thumb to smooth the angry wrinkles that formed.
“But,” Kaminari started, unknowingly reflecting Jirou’s confusion, “you said you knew I wasn’t late because of patrol, right? So, obviously, someone told you about the job and everything.”
“Job?”
“Yeah, Eijirou told you, didn’t he? Or Bakugou, of course that bastard would. He was probably hoping for a reaction like this.” Kaminari scowled down at the table.
“You have another job?”
“Uhh, had. I don’t need it anymore.” I apparently didn’t even need it in the first place.
“So…” Jirou bit down harshly on her bottom lip as she paused, seemingly deep in thought. “All those nights you were out late, you weren’t with another girl?”
…
“Wait!” Kaminari’s eyes widened in sudden realisation, and he stood from his chair in a panic. “Wait! Fuck!”
Jirou’s body sagged in relief, and she let out a laugh that was verging on hysterical. Kaminari stared at her, uncomprehending, as she continued to wheeze uncontrollably. His mind was in turmoil. Did she…really think I was cheating on her? Why is she laughing? Has she gone insane? Is she going to murder me?!
“I-I wasn’t though!” He tried desperately.
Jirou had somewhat recovered from her laughing fit at this point, panting heavily as she lifted her head, still leaning her hands against her knees. “So, what job was it?”
Kaminari frowned, still confused. Maybe she was asking seemingly irrelevant questions to try and trip him up. But she wouldn’t be able to because he was telling the truth, right?
“Unloading deliveries down at the docks, wh-”
“Why did you need another job?” Jirou interrupted impatiently.
“I was saving up for the ring.”
“…What ring?” Jirou had a complicated look on her face that Kaminari was having difficulty deciphering. It was the look of someone who thought they knew what they were getting for Christmas, since they’d mentioned wanting something specific, but they didn’t know for sure. Someone hopefully optimistic but readying themselves for any potential curveballs thrown their way.
And then his face lit up. The ring. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? Jirou knew that he would never have been able to afford something like that on his meagre introductory sidekick wage alone; the ring was the perfect evidence of his honesty.
Walk-running to the bedroom with purpose, he began to dig through his sock draw. Since Jirou resolutely refused to go anywhere near anything to do with his laundry since the incident, it had been the ideal place to stash the ring with a guarantee that she’d never find it.
As he hustled back to the dining room, he was hit with a tsunami of relief. Maybe his relationship wasn’t ending right now. It didn’t seem like it was the thought of marrying him that caused her such distress after all, which was good to see since that sort of reaction would probably hold some pretty severe implications about their prospects as a couple. He placed the ring box on the table and slid it towards her with little fanfare, watching her mouth form a soft ‘o’ as she carefully opened the offered box.
And then he realised. He had his employment contract available online. He could’ve just shown it to her. It had the date he started, his minimum hours and everything; it would’ve been way more convincing and factual as evidence. But instead, he’d gone and shown her the ring, effectively ruining all of his proposal plans. Proposal plans that she apparently hadn’t known about until he’d opened his stupid, dumb mouth.
Jirou was right. He was an idiot. Honestly, why did he even bother trying to think at this point? He should just concede all authority over his actions to his Neanderthal impulses and take thinking out of the equation entirely. As a matter of fact, he’d probably make better choices that way, since his brain seemed to have an uncanny knack for removing all rationality from his decisions.
As Kaminari wallowed in the soulless misery of hindsight, he failed to notice his girlfriend’s expectant gaze until a jack came through to mercilessly add injury to insult. He whined pitifully as his hand cradled the tender skin above his ribcage that had been assaulted. Jirou looked entirely unconcerned.
She raised an eyebrow. “Well? Don’t you have something to say to me?”
Kaminari frowned. Nothing really struck out at him as something he should be saying right now, but he supposed maybe… “Sorry.”
That was a pretty safe bet when it came to Jirou expecting him to say something specific. Usually, that would work wonders in easing that expectant expression, but this time it seemed to only irritate her further. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, clearly exasperated. There he goes again with this thinking business, which only ever got him into trouble – he really should swear off it entirely.
“That’s not what I meant,” Jirou muttered, resting her hand against the small, velvet box in front of her and shifting it quietly towards him. Kaminari blinked down at the box in its new position. It was obviously supposed to be a hint towards where she wanted the conversation to head, but he couldn’t quite comprehend the signal. Wait, no. No comprehending anything. No think; just do.
…Hey, if I’m thinking about not thinking, I’m still actually thinking about something. How do I turn this shit off?
Kaminari winced as an aggravated grumble came from the other side of the table, and he tripped over himself to give a response, suddenly aware of his lengthy silence. “Uh, yeah. I needed the job to buy the ring…since I couldn’t afford it…otherwise…”
Just fucking shoot me.
Jirou was apparently agreeing with his internal sentiment, considering the glare he was given. “Did your brain get permanently fried during your last patrol or something?!”
“No…” He defended half-heartedly.
“What the hell is wrong with you? How did you manage to fuck this up so bad?!” Jirou’s frustration was evidently mounting as she buried her hands in her hair.
He was asking himself the same question.
“I’m sorry,” he started. Jirou’s eye twitched in annoyance at his apology, but he steamed ahead, just wanting to get everything off his chest at this point. “I tried really hard to make everything perfect, you know? I had it all planned out: where I was gonna take you, what I was gonna say…I wanted to give you that special moment, you know? The story that you tell the girls and you pretend it’s not a big deal, but secretly it does kinda make your heart race to think about. But I fucked it up. I ruined the surprise, and I made you insecure in our relationship because I was doing everything in secret, and I just…I’m sorry.”
Kaminari looked up to meet her eyes with his final apology and found her wide-eyed and quiet. She hadn’t been expecting that. The moments of silence that followed were only a few, but they struck him as eternal as he sat, awaiting his judgement. Finally, she averted her gaze from him, and Kaminari blinked in bewilderment because he could’ve sworn that he spotted a light blush bloom on her cheeks.
“…Just ask me, you dolt.”
He stared. Blinked again. Jirou rolled her eyes once more, but this time Kaminari could see the slightest fond smile tint her lips.
“Ask me.” He watched her meaningfully lower her gaze to the object sitting in front of him. Oh. Oh shit. The thought of her actually wanting him to propose to her after all this had been so ridiculous, it hadn’t even registered in his mind as a possible scenario. And yet – if his brain was finally cooperating with him and correctly interpreting her for once – it seemed that’s exactly what was happening. And even if it wasn’t, he was going to take the chance at this point.
Scrambling for the ring box, which chose that moment to evade his hands for several seconds – much to Jirou’s evident amusement – he slid straight from the chair he was in into a kneeling position. Jirou, taking pity, moved to stand in front of him.
“Jirou Kyouka, I…” Kaminari stopped. He hadn’t had enough time, and now even the words he’d known off by heart had fled from his head. Even now, with this second chance, he was still going to disappoint her. That stupid speech that he’d spent hours writing and rewriting till perfection was now all but a foggy memory as he scraped his mind for the ideal things to say to make the moment special. It was gone, stealing their perfect memory away from them.
…But they didn’t need perfection, did they? They weren’t a perfect couple or perfect people. Maybe Jirou wouldn’t mind if he spoke words that hadn’t been rehearsed the numerous hours the others had, whether with the boys or more seriously in private. It was probably a better idea to keep it simple and from the heart than try and scrounge up his previous script and likely make a complete fool of himself again. Just like their relationship, the words didn’t have to be perfect, all they needed to be was genuine.
“…I love you. And I know I always will. I’m so unbelievably lucky that you’ve put up with me for so long and since you never seem to complain that much about it, I was hoping you might be willing to call me out for my stupidity for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”
There was a split second of silence, before Jirou turned away, peals of laughter ringing out from her shaking body. From between guffaws, she managed to speak. “That was terrible. Was that really your idea of a special moment?”
“Hey, you totally put me on the spot!” Kaminari cried out, offended.
“What happened to all that effort you supposedly put in to make everything perfect?” Jirou retorted promptly, in between her snickering.
Kaminari felt his heart sink. While he’d grown to accept a result that was less than perfection, being laughed at for putting himself out there to express his feelings kind of hurt. His shoulders slumped dejectedly as he murmured, “I guess I’m just not very good at it.”
With that, Jirou turned back around to face him, and he stiffened. There were tears welling in her eyes and track marks streaking her cheeks that were too fresh to be from their previous confrontation. It dawned on him that the shaking he had assumed was from laughter may very well have been caused by her crying instead. The girl’s chuckles died down as she sniffed harshly, her hand automatically travelling up to catch new tears as they threatened to fall, but her smile remained vibrant.
“It couldn’t have been worse,” she finally spoke up to agree with his previous comment, but he no longer felt despondent with her critique, distracted by the sparkles that danced in her eyes. She was happy. She was really happy.
“Yes.”
It was so quiet, Kaminari’s brain couldn’t interpret what exactly was said for a few moments. He looked down from her analysing her expression to see her left hand outstretched towards him, floating palm down not far from his face. A glance back at her told him all he needed to know, her face a picture of gentle hope as she bit down roughly on her bottom lip – perhaps in an attempt to stop the flow of her tears.
He flipped open the box immediately and -with surprising dexterity – slid the band around her ring finger. Jirou extracted her hand from his after a moment, holding it up to examine the stone she’d been gifted.
“It’s beautiful.” Her voice was weighted by her emotion. She lowered her hand to rest by her side and crouched to come face-to-face with his still-kneeling form. As she lifted her hand once more to lay her palm affectionately against his cheek, Kaminari felt the cool sliver of metal press into his skin, reminding him that he was engaged now.
Jirou’s smile at that moment was evidence enough to convince him that she must be a mind-reader. Which, if she was, would make her extraordinarily cruel for playing with his emotions like that.
Her tears, which had momentarily abated, made a reappearance as she ran her hand along his jaw, and Kaminari felt his own feelings tug painfully at his chest at the sight. The fact that he could make her feel like that was more of a gift than anything else he could possibly ask for. He couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest man alive to be here with her in their shitty little apartment.
The rare display of blatant affection was enough to prompt him to close the gap between them, pressing their lips together as if reaffirming their promise to each other. He’d probably been too optimistic in hoping for some ideal, romcom proposal that would have the usually nonchalant Jirou gushing to her friends. Life just didn’t work out that way most of the time. And yeah, maybe it wasn’t all life’s fault; he did have a bit of a habit of messing pretty simple stuff up. But Jirou knew that. She likely already expected that any proposal coming from him was destined to be a train wreck. And she wanted to marry him anyway.
Honestly, that was probably just about as good as life could get.