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"A what?"
"A nap date!" Kirishima said, really punching up the excitement in his voice. But he was still met with Bakugou’s dubious expression.
It wasn't all that strange. Lots of couples took naps together when they were too tired to go on dates. With the endless whirlwind of classes, work studies, and late night studying, this was the perfect date! It was already too late in the day for them to get permission to leave the dorms, and Kirishima was too winded from their sparring session to really whip up something unforgettable.
Yet Bakugou stood there staring in his scuffed up hero costume. He was skeptical to say the least, scrutinizing Kirishima's expression and waiting for him to drop the act.
Kirishima slipped an arm snugly around Bakugou's shoulders and planted a kiss in his fluffy hair. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"
Bakugou grumbled inaudibly, wiggling out of Kirishima's grasp.
They headed to the communal baths to change out of their hero costumes and shower the grime of the day off of their bodies, careful to avoid putting pressure on the mottled purple bruises forming on their arms and legs from training. It felt nice. Kirishima always liked the ambience of a post-workout shower. The feeling of hot water on his skin, sore from overusing his Quirk. Combing all the wax from his hair until it was silky smooth. Being wrapped in his softest towel. All he wanted now was to curl up and fall asleep. A nap date would be the cherry on top, Bakugou didn't know what he was missing.
As Kirishima stepped out of the stall, Bakugou squinted at him from his perch by the line of sinks, toweling his hair dry with uncharacteristic care. He looked so casual. So effortlessly cool standing there, in nothing but a tank top and the fleece-lined sweatpants Kirishima loved. They hugged his hips just right and were always so soft against Kirishima's legs when they sat squished together on the common room couch during movie nights.
"So… you down?" Kirishima asked. Just to make sure. Bakugou would never do anything if he didn't actually want to, but Kirishima liked to make sure.
Bakugou rolled his eyes and headed for the door, the towel draped lazily over his shoulder. Then he stopped and angled his body to look back at Kirishima, eyes half closed and piercing straight through Kirishima's poor, weak heart that was totally and utterly gone for him.
"Well? You comin' or what?"
The smile on Kirishima's mouth spread so wide, it hurt.
Heading back to their rooms didn't stop the excitement for a second. At Bakugou's side, Kirishima walked, heart skipping every time their hands brushed. The elevator to their floor was filled with its usual companionable quiet, but Kirishima was still full of nervous, fluttering, stomach-flipping excitement. All he could hear was his pulse beating in his ears as he tried to play it cool. Keeping a level head was manly. That's what made Bakugou so cool.
"Hey, let's bring all our pillows and blankets to my room!" Kirishima suggested as they stepped onto their floor.
Bakugou raised an eyebrow and dug his hands so deep into his pockets a seam popped. "Thought we were just sleeping?"
"Well yeah, but the beds are small. We can make a big blanket fort! It'll be fun!"
"Are you five?"
Kirishima prodded Bakugou's cheek with a finger for half a second before his hand got slapped away. Bakugou’s skin was so smooth. Unlike a lot of their classmates, he still had a lot of baby fat in his cheeks. Cute. "C'mon, man, have at least a little faith."
"Whatever," Bakugou said, and sped off to his room. It didn't seem very convincing, but after a couple of seconds, Kirishima heard the heavy whump of his pillows getting thrown against the floor.
In his own room, Kirishima sifted through his laptop's "recently watched" list to stream something for them to fall asleep to. It came as no surprise that Bakugou took his time, weighing his options, preparing for the worst, doubting how fun Kirishima's silly dates turned out to be. For someone who acted like he didn't care, he sure took a long time to get ready for a date. Not that it ever bothered Kirishima. Besides, he'd never steered Bakugou wrong before. Even if Bakugou would scoff and mutter about how their dates weren't so bad, he'd still let Kirishima pull him in for a kiss before they went into their separate rooms for the night. Sometimes if Kirishima was really quiet, he could hear Bakugou through the wall talking on the phone with his mom. He'd talk about their dates and use words like "nice" and "cool" and "he wouldn't let me pay."
It was sweet, and even though eavesdropping wasn't very manly, it still made Kirishima feel squishy and warm inside knowing that Bakugou had fun.
He surveyed the room, turning the lights out so the last of the sunset fading behind the curtain gave the room a warm, red glow. Only a thin beam of sun rays streamed between a gap where the curtains met, dust floating in their wake like embers sparking from a campfire.
He got to work, building a foundation out of pillows and covering them with a thin sheet. With his desk chair, punching bag, and a corner of the bed frame, he was able to hang a blanket into a hastily constructed canopy. A poor excuse for a blanket fort, but it didn't have to be pretty, it just had to be comfortable. Knowing Bakugou though, he could probably make even a mismatched blanket fort look beautiful.
"The fuck are you doing?" Bakugou stood in the doorway, pillows and a few neatly folded blankets stacked in his arms.
"Making it comfy for you, man! Help me out!"
"Don't order me around," Bakugou grumbled. Still, he helped secure the blankets down with a few of his own to make a cave big enough for the two of them. Kirishima's laptop was still inside, the screensaver fading in and out. From the outside, it looked like some sort of glowing alien pod, the fading, glowy light almost breathing under all the sheets. Ominous.
Looking back at the blanket fort, Kirishima gave Bakugou the biggest smile. He genuflected and spoke in an accent recognizable to none. "Your chariot awaits."
And Bakugou… snorted. Kirishima could die happy. Making Bakugou laugh certainly wasn't easy, and their friends always poked fun at his expense, describing his laugh as grating, or even worse, ugly, but Kirishima cherished that sound with everything he had; it was special to him. Hearing Bakugou laugh always made him so happy.
A blotchy pink stain colored Bakugou's cheeks and ears. Seeing it always made his stomach do somersaults, always filled his head with these all-caps thoughts like, I DID THAT!! As Bakugou turned away, Kirishima could see pink coating the back of his neck.
His heart rate doubled. He liked him so much.
Bakugou inspected the fort for a bit until he finally settled onto the hardwood floor. The narrow opening was big enough for him to crawl through on hands and knees. Cautiously, he watched his palms sink into the plush pillows beneath him, like a cat testing its surroundings. Kirishima followed close behind.
"So nap dates are pretty much what they sound like," Kirishima explained as he grazed the touchpad to wake up his computer. "I figured it'd be kinda awkward for us to just lay down and try sleeping right away."
Bakugou stared at him with this focused, calculated expression on his face. It made Kirishima stumble.
"It, um…" He swallows. "There's this. Docu-series we can watch. It's interesting enough to pay attention to, but the guy narrating it has this voice that kinda makes you sleepy."
Bakugou nodded. Kirishima hit the play button and settled into the pillows. Hesitantly, he lifted his duvet for Bakugou to crawl under, and gave him this unsure look. But wordlessly, Bakugou crawled over and Kirishima swore his whole body flared up when Bakugou actually got under the covers with him. As the opening credits played on the screen, they got themselves situated and laid on their sides to watch the screen. Kirishima draped an arm over Bakugou's waist and froze for just a second.
"Is this okay?"
"Mnn." Bakugou adjusted a little more comfortably, so they were loosely spooning.
"Okay." Kirishima swallowed. A wobbly smile formed on his face and he felt his cheeks heating up. If that was even possible. Bakugou was the little spoon, how cute. "Cool."
Perhaps it was a little soon to schedule something as intimate as a nap date. They'd definitely snuggled sitting up on the couches before, and sometimes one of them would doze off for a few minutes, but they'd never intentionally fallen asleep together. Kirishima only asked Bakugou out a little under a month ago, so they hadn't done much more than kiss or hold hands. It was kind of exciting. Kirishima couldn't stop the roller coaster swooping feeling in his stomach. Hopefully he wasn't too excited to sleep.
"What's the series about?" Bakugou asked.
"Oh! It's a bunch of specialized hero interviews. Y’know, guys on the sidelines. They start with these dudes with radio Quirks from the forties, which is pretty cool."
Bakugou hummed. He scooted back a little until he was flush with Kirishima, back to chest, so they were properly spooning. To Kirishima's surprise, Bakugou grabbed his arm and curled it more tightly around his body. Now it really felt like they were cuddling. Like a real couple. Just to test his luck, Kirishima shifted his hand to weave their fingers together and fought the urge to squeal and kick his legs when Bakugou squeezed back.
They watched the series for a little bit, delving into the historical background with war and tech and the rapidly changing nature of Quirks. Kirishima always liked the old-timey B-roll footage. There was something so candid and organic about it. He relished in simpler things that reminded him of looking through his family's old photo albums and seeing pictures of them talking and laughing, paying no mind to the cameras around them. As much as he liked scrolling through his friends' social media posts, it felt a little out of place to see them posing together in all of these obviously staged photos despite the horrors they'd faced at UA. Still, maybe there was something to be said about putting on a brave face in spite of it all.
Kirishima wiggled his hand in Bakugou's loose grip to catch his attention. "Look, look, this guy's Quirk is cool as hell! You can see he's teamed up with—" He glanced down. "Bakugou?"
Kirishima peered over Bakugou a little more to see his face and sure enough, his eyes were closed, eyebrows smoothed, and he was already fast asleep with half his face smushed against the pillow. Maybe it wasn't a word that fit Bakugou, but he looked so sweet laying there, relaxed and breathing deep. Kirishima couldn't help but lean in to press a tiny kiss to Bakugou's cheek before he moved to settle back against the pillows.
It made him feel so privileged to know that Bakugou felt safe enough to let down his defenses and leave himself open and vulnerable in front of Kirishima. He'd been through so much. Sleeping couldn't have been easy for him, yet here he was, knocked out before they even said the first interviewee's name. Plus he looked so cute with the blanket draped over him. Like a little sushi.
"My little sushi boy~" Kirishima sang behind him, but truthfully, he was never very good at being quiet and snapped his jaw shut when he saw Bakugou stir.
Luckily Bakugou was sound asleep. He buried himself further into his pillow like he was trying to scratch his ear with it. Sleepy Bakugou was way too cute, Kirishima couldn't believe it. He pressed another kiss to Bakugou's cheek and giggled when he heard him groaning.
"Okay, okay," Kirishima said. He held him just a little closer and shut his eyes, listening to Bakugou's soft breathing while the series droned in the background. Bakugou's hair was tickling his nose a little, but he smelled so good and felt so warm from the shower, Kirishima wouldn't dare move from this spot.
He hoped this meant they could upgrade to spending the night together, too. The dorm beds weren't big by any means, but Kirishima wouldn't care. As long as he could be close to Bakugou, that's all that mattered. And if that was the case, the less space, the better. More excuses to spoon up together like this in their own blanket haven.
Kirishima nosed at Bakugou's scalp, still grinning, still flushed and nervous and unable to calm his racing heart; he was definitely going to jot this one down as a successful date. As soon as he managed to fall asleep.