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Bakugou was tired. Really, really tired. But he just couldn’t sleep.
He stared at the fan, counting how long it took to spin around entirely. He got to 70 spins before the routine pissed him off and he quit. The fan was starting to sound annoying.
He thought, maybe, he had forgotten something. But that was absurd; he never forgot anything.
Just as Bakugou was going to try simply closing his eyes and sleeping, he heard something.
A small knock on the wall. From Eijrio’s side.
Frantically, Bakugou knocked back, just once.
Three knocks this time. So everything was okay.
They had a system for what Eijiro so kindly called “Night Knocks”. Bakugou didn’t particularly like this name, but he didn’t tell Kirishima that. He seemed proud of it.
Once was to get attention. Two was “I need help”, and three was “I’m okay, just wanna talk.” If nothing else happens it was an accident.
The first few weeks of this were clouded in confusion, but finally, they came up with this system. Two knocks had only been used once, thank god, and it was because Eijiro had got stuck between his wall and bed. Bakugou wasn’t sure how that happened.
Once someone knocked, you came over. It was just the way of things. Kiri wanted to talk, so Bakugou went over. If he had knocked twice, Bakugou would have gone over, but this time ready to fight. He probably would have gone over even if nothing more happened, just to check on Eijiro. Just so he could see him.
He unlocked the door, they gave each other copies of their room keys, it was just easier. The first few nights they had to knock on each other's door, which woke up some other extras and whatnot. It became a ‘thing’, and Bakugou did not care for ‘things’. They went into each other's rooms a lot anyway. Keys just made more sense.
One interesting thing about “Night Knocks” was that as far as they were concerned, no one else knew about it. It was their little thing. Neither talked about it in the morning, and neither would admit that it was even something they did if asked. Kirishima did it for Bakugou, and Bakugou did it because he liked people to believe that he hated them. It was his love language.
Eijiro sat on his bed, facing away from the door.
“Oh hey!” he turned, his voice shaky. “Come-come on it.”
“Three knocks my ass.” Bakugou muttered to himself, kicking the door shut.
“I’m fine, I’m actually fine. Just a…bad dream.” Kirishima rubbed his eyes.
“Are you going to tell me what it was about?” Bakugou asked bluntly. He wasn’t the best at the whole comforting thing.
“Umm.” Kirishima breathed in, “So, um, you died. And it was really scary. And I really missed you…and-”
Bakugou laughed, “Well that was a dumb dream cause I’m not dying anytime soon.”
Really not good at the comforting thing.
“I know,” Eijiro said, “I know, but…” he moved his hands wildly around, motioning what he couldn’t put into words.
Bakugou may have been bad at comforting people, but he knew when he needed to lay off. Like when Mina talks about her body, he simply tells her she's wrong. Because she is. Or when Sero says he isn’t good enough. Bakugou says he’s wrong because he is. Or when Denki says he’s not smart and never will be. Bakugou says he’s wrong. Because he is.
And when Kirishima is worried, Bakugou lays off. He knows that he thinks things sometimes. Things that to Bakugou seem like something that would never happen. But Kirshima worries. He worries and he worries. And when he does Bakugou knows that he needs to take a step back.
“I’m not going anywhere Eijiro.” he says, “Because what would I do anywhere else? I’m not going to be a villain and I sure as hell am not going to get killed by one.”
“That’s not what happened.” Kirishima said, looking up at Bakugou for a second and then looking away. “That’s not…”
“How did I die? In your dream?”
“You were saving someone. Like you always do.” Tears were streaming down his face, “You saved someone and they ran out. They were the last person in the building. And I saw you. I saw you in the doorway but it…it collapsed. And you didn’t get out in time. I tried to run…so I could reach you. I thought maybe, maybe, I could hold it up. Just for one second, just so you could get out. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. It felt like…like it happened all over again.”
“You saved me that time. Why wouldn’t you save me again?” Bakugou said.
Normally, they didn’t really get physical with each other. They would high five and fist bump, but only sometimes. Kirishima liked to hug people, he hugged Mina, Sero, Denki, even Deku sometimes. But he never hugged Bakugou.
Tonight that changed.
Bakugou hugged him.
“Bakugou…” Kirishima said, suprised, “You didn’t have to hug me, man. I know you don’t really hug people.”
That was true. He never really hugged anyone, not since he was little, but he hugged Eijiro because he knew he needed it. Besides, nobody would need to know that he broke his hot headed and angry facade for one second to hug his best friend.
What the hell, nobody would know anyway.
“Eijiro, you are my best friend. I’m not dying. And even though I don’t need it because I can save myself, I can always count on you to have my back. And I’ll always have yours.”
Normally, after something like this, and this happened almost never, he would swear someone to secrecy. But he knew he didn’t have to with Eijiro. They could be honest with each other.
“Thank you, Katsuki.” Eijiro said, and he seemed like he had something else he wanted to say. But he stayed quiet
“Yeah?” Bakugou asked, annoyed he wouldn’t spit it out “What?”
Eijiro bounced his leg, “Um, if it isn’t too much trouble…I was wondering if um…you would stay…here?”
“Yeah, whatever.” Bakugou waved him off. And Eijiro let out an obvious sigh of relief.
But he wasn’t as indifferent as he seemed. And a part of him wanted to stay too. Kirishima needed him and a part of him knew he needed Kiri. Bakugou didn’t worry, not like Eijiro did, but he felt a little of that fear creep in. What would he do if Eijiro died? If any of them did?
He didn’t want to think about that though, because grief meant you cared and he definitely didn’t care. At least he wanted everyone to think that.
Eijiro laid back down on his bed, and closed his eyes. Not only was the bed too small and Kiri too big, but he also slept totally sprawled out.
Bakugou laid over top of Eijiro's big arm, which he pulled in closer to his body. It wasn’t comfortable exactly, more comforting. He didn’t usually like things like this, touch and whatnot. Mostly because of how much he did like it. It made him feel weak, to crave the touch of another person, and he was anything but that.
But it felt different with Kiri. It made him feel strong.
In turn he wrapped his arm over Eijiro’s chest, the two bundling together and becoming a happy, sleeping pair.