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“What the fuck?” Katsuki thinks. Who in fuck’s fiery pits in trying to wake him up at in the middle of the god fucking night?
“Bakugou.” Of course he recognizes the voice whispering through the door. He hears it everyday, so much so, he can hear it echoing in his head even when he’s not been around him for a few days. Why is he here so late? What could have gone so wrong in the last few hours that it’s so important to wake him up right now?
Katsuki lays in bed for a few moments hoping the other boy goes away after being ignored. He sighs as he hears another, “Bakugou."
Fuck. Katsuki quickly throws on some clothes, and trudges tiredly over to the door. He opens it to see an anxious looking Kirishima with dark circles laying flat across his under eyes, wearing Crimson Riot pyjama bottoms, and a plain black t-shirt that he was definitely wearing the day before.
“Do you know how late it is? If you don’t have a good reason for this, I’m going to kick your butt,” Bakugou says shortly.
Kirishima just stands there for a moment expectantly with his eyes fixed on Bakugou.
“I’m not letting you in unless you give me a good reason,” says Bakugou, crossing his arms.
“It’s just,” Kirishima pauses to fidget with his shirt. “It's important. I don’t wants to talk about it in the hall”
“Fine.”
Bakugou opens the door all the way with a sarcastic sort of ‘ta-dah’ look on his face, making Eijirou more nervous. He really should have waited ‘til the morning but he just couldn’t. Eijirou had waited months for the courage to say this, and now -all of a sudden- he felt ready.
Eijirou steps in through the door, and closes it behind him. He takes a seat on the floor, and he flinches as Bakugou turns the small lamp on his bedside table on.
The idea of telling him right now is getting harder to keep a handle on, so Eijiro just starts. “Look, Bakugou, I know we’ve been friends for a while now, and I wouldn’t want to mess that up, but…
There is no way this is what he woke Bakugou up for. Of fucking course, that impatient bastard.
“Shitty hair, this is not the right time, I’m tired, you’re tired.” Eijirou hopes Bakugou adds something, but he doesn’t.
“But it has to be now, or else I don’t think I can do it.”
Of course he can't. Katsuki sighs. “Come with me.”
With that Bakugou not so silently gets up, and thumps out of the room expecting Eijirou to follow, which -while feeling a little defeated- he does. He reminds himself that Bakugou’s not known but being good with words, or feelings, but he is smart, so there has to be something good Bakugou’s bringing him to.
Bakugou’s wearing Cargo pants and his signature black t-shirt with a skull on it. He isn’t wearing socks. He leads Eijirou into the elevator, then to the kitchen. There’s no lights in the kitchen except the stove light.
Eijirou watches Bakugou as he finds the kettle under the stove, fills it up, and puts it on to boil. He’s so calm when he does menial tasks like these, it’s always a privilege to see him like this. Anyone who doesn’t know him as well as Eijirou does, might think Bakugou is most in his element when he’s on the battlefield, but in another life Bakugou is a chef. He’s so intuitive in the kitchen. Even with something as simple as putting the kettle on, you can tell this is what makes him happiest.
Kirishima’s sitting on the island with his legs swinging slightly, which Katsuki would normally shout at him for, but it’s not worth it today; they’re both too tired to bother. Katsuki knows Kirishima is watching him intensely, and he likes the feeling. The kettle’s boiled, so Katsuki grabs some chamomile tea from the communal cupboard and throws it in the mugs, then tops them up with water.
Bakugou hands Eijirou a mug, and walks him over to the table. Bakugou’s the first to break the silence. “Tell me what you want.”
“What?” asks Kirishima.
“What exactly do you want?”
Kirishima knows Bakugou wants no bullshit, so he takes a deep breath to prepare, and just starts talking.
“I want to spend all my time with you, I want to tell you when things go horribly wrong, and for you to just listen and tell me it’ll be ok, I want to hold your hand when I’m scared, I want to go to sleep with you being the last thing I see, and I want for you to be,” Eijirou takes a deep and shaky breath. “I want to be your boyfriend.” Eijirou looks down at his tea.
It hurts to just sit and wait like this. He can feel his cheeks turning red.
“Drink some tea,” says Bakugou. Eijirou does as he’s told, it’s good tea, but he wishes it was sweetened.
They sit like that for a while, in silence, and Katsuki can tell Kirishima doesn’t want to wait like this for much longer, but he just keeps drinking his tea in silence. Katsuki is just thinking, he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and mess up what they have either, but he doesn’t want exactly what Kirishima wants.
“We can just do those things now,” says Bakugou before downing the rest of his tea.
“But what’ll we tell other people about us?”
“We don’t have to tell other people, it’s nobody’s business what we are and aren’t doing.”
“But I want to at least tell our friends.”
Bakugou raises his voice “Kirishima, I don’t think you understand that I don’t want to be your boyfriend.”
Fuck! Kirishima’s upset, Katsuki expected it.
“Oh, okay… I’m just gonna go back to bed then.”
“Let me explain!”
“Explain why you don’t want to be my boyfriend?” Kirishima’s voice shakes.
“Exactly, please just listen to me. I heard you out right? Now it’s your turn to listen to me.”
Eijirou let’s Bakugou sit with what he said before replying. “Fine.”
“I don’t like the rules and obligations that come with the title of ‘boyfriend.’ There’s so many things that are just a given when someone’s your boyfriend. You go on dates, you meet their parents, you kiss, you move in together, you get married eventually, then all you do is spend time with them. I can’t do that. I can’t promise all of that, I can’t do the obligation that title comes with.”
Katsuki pauses to make sure Kirishima knows he’s trying to say this carefully. “My priority is always going to be becoming the best Pro Hero there ever was. You need to remember your own priorities for the future and put them first.”
Katsuki looks up at Kirishima and can see some wheels turning, but he can also see Kirishima’s eyes start to shimmer in the dark.
“I do want to be closer with you,” Eijirou can feel Bakugou’s being serious when he says, “... and I can do some of the stuff, but there are some things I might not ever want to do.”
That part was hard to hear. Eijiro knows Bakugou didn’t just reject him, and he knows Bakugou isn’t trying to hurt him. Even though he knows Bakugou does care for him, he can still feel his throat dropping a few inches, and his eyes start to sting.
“I’m gonna go to bed now,” Eijirou says as he stands. “Can we talk more in the morning?”
“Sure.”
Eijirou goes to pick up the mug before Bakugou stops him, “I’ll clean that up for you.” Bakugou says.
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It’s a lonely walk back to Eijiro’s room, but at least he might get some sleep now.