Chapter Text
It started small.
Little things that Hitoshi picked up on; a pile of blankets left unfolded by the corner of the couch, boxes of chicken strips and nuggets hidden in the very back of the freezer behind all the frozen vegetables, the television being set to a childrens channel. Things that sounded insignificant and they should be.
But this was Bakugou we are talking about. And God knows that anything out of the ordinary couldn’t just be ignored so simply.
Everyone who knew the explosive blonde knew that his entire life was structured around strict routine. Hell, he even had his own bedtime! So when these sorts of things started adding up, as little and insignificant as they might seem, Hitoshi did take a bit of notice.
And one night when Shinsou was supposed to be out with Denki and some other friends, just to catch up and enjoy a night out, one of Denki’s friends ended up getting sick halfway through their outing which forced them to all head home for the night.
Not that Shinsou was particularly distraught about it, because if he was being honest, being at home might help to ease the swirling thoughts about Bakugou in his mind.
So when he pulled into the driveway to their apartment complex, taking the elevator up to their floor, and then unlocking the door to their home, it was not expected that Hitoshi walked in to see Katsuki staring horrified at him.
It took the lavender-haired male a few moments for the gears in his head to turn and fully process what he was seeing—his roommate wearing what looked to be some bright superhero-themed shirt, the same hero on the tv where a cartoon was playing, and the usual fiery blonde with a pacifier in his mouth . And just as Shinsou was about to open his mouth to speak from where he was still standing frozen in the doorway with said door still half open, the blonde beat him to it.
“Get out- don’t look at me !” Katsuki shrieked, the pacifier falling out of his mouth and onto the floor. But Hitoshi was silent, unmoving, which in response Katsuki did the same; he was a very reaction based person, so for Hitoshi to not even do anything was likely causing the blonde to mirror his body language. They were both silent, and eventually both of their eyes were drawn to where the plastic soother was still rocking side to side as it stabilised itself on the floor where it had fallen to, but Shinsou’s eyes snapped back up to the blonde within an instant when he heard that desperate whine.
Katsuki looked nearly hysterical which was alarming as it had been mere seconds since Hitoshi walked in, his face turning red as he bit his lip. Hitoshi didn’t even think that he was breathing, desperately trying to hold his breath, trying to hold the noises in that wanted to escape, but it was no use. The moment that Bakugou let that breath out, it was like a dam had broken.
A heart-wrenching sob came from the other man, and within an instant Hitoshi had already closed the door and made the distance to pull his roommate into his arms. “Shh, it’s okay,” He murmured in what he hoped was a soothing tone, feeling stressed for his own reasons since how was he supposed to react to this? His instinctual reaction has always been to care though, so pulling Katsuki into his arms and lap was not even a question: it was natural for him.
But this wasn’t about him right now. While he and Bakugou weren’t particularly close despite them living together, he still did care about his roommate. Initially their living situation came to because Hitoshi had been looking for a new apartment, and their mutual friend Denki had suggested that he move in with Bakugou since he was looking for a roommate anyway. Despite him and Katsuki hardly getting along at first, both of them pushing the other and just being generally as annoying as possible, they did both eventually find a nice peace between them both.
That had been months ago now, the two of them finding that in between along the way, and Hitoshi even dared to call them close acquaintances by this point. They both mostly did their own thing too, with Hitoshi streaming online and Bakugou working part time, sort of just co-existing in the same space. It was rather nice, Shinsou found, that he didn’t have to come home to an empty apartment. The presence of having someone around more than comforting to him.
Katsuki whined and thrashed in his hold initially, but Hitoshi’s grip was firm with his arms encircled around the other, and eventually Katsuki allowed himself to sit there without struggle once he realised that this wasn’t going anywhere. He was still crying, shaking his head as he hid his face in Hitoshi’s neck. He didn’t mind the wet tears against his skin.
“S-stop,” Bakugou cried in such a quiet voice, so uncharacteristic of him, his entire body shaking as he weakly hit his one fist against Hitoshi’s chest, “It’s weird .” It was clear to the lavender-haired man that his roommate was torn, obviously very embarrassed and clearly upset but with the way that Bakugou had his hands balled into fists, holding Hitoshi’s shirt so tightly as if he was going to vanish into thin air. He knew that Katsuki wanted the support.
Continuing to gently shush the blonde, Hitoshi acted as he felt it was natural; he let his hand rub in circles along Bakugou’s back, making sure the movement was grounding.
He didn’t say much of anything, letting the blonde take his time to calm down. After a long while he could nearly feel the tension leaving Bakugou’s body. Eventually those harsh sobs subsided and became little whimpers which then became sniffles. He didn’t care how long this whole ordeal had taken, but it was clear it had been a while. The sun had fully set now, when it had hardly been setting when he walked in the door.
Shinsou waited for Katsuki to pull away first, letting the blonde wipe at his puffy and red eyes. “Are you.. okay?” He asked hesitantly after a few more moments of quiet, almost like he thought that the wrong thing would cause Bakugou to start crying again or startle him off.
“I’m
fine
, damnit,” The blonde in question huffed, his carmine-coloured eyes taking a peek at Hitoshi’s own amethyst ones. And then it was like the spell was broken, whatever sort of calm this was.
Katsuki nearly jumped out of his lap, but unfortunately for him Shinsou was still holding him there. “Let go! Shit, you’re so annoying, Mind Fuck-” He cursed and started squirming, almost clawing at Shinsou’s hands on his hips in a last-ditch effort. “Let go of me! Seriously! Shinsou -“ He cut himself off for a moment with a frustrated growl, pushing at the others chest again to try and create space between them.
“Wait-“ Shinsou tried to cut in, but was interrupted, “Shut up ! God, don’t you know how to fucking listen? Or are you just stupid?!”
Hitoshi had it. In a stern voice he demanded,
“Enough, Bakugou!”
In an instant, the blonde stilled. Those eyes went wide, staring at him in disbelief, and Shinsou didn’t even let him have a chance to get any words in. “This has to stop, Bakugou. Seriously. Do you think I don’t notice stuff? The way you jump to shove things under your blankets when I walk into your room? The baby soap we have suddenly under the sink in the washroom? I don’t know what’s going on, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to walk in the house to this,” He gestured vaguely to Bakugou and the room around them, “But I
do
know that something is up.”
Taking a moment to sigh and calm himself down for a moment, Hitoshi ran one of his hands through his hair, leaning back a bit to get a better look at the blonde still in his lap. He looked so small somehow, softer almost. Terrified, sure, and he certainly didn’t look like his brash self. He looked embarrassed and ashamed also, which made Hitoshi just want to get to the bottom of this sooner.
He also recognized that walking in on your roommate engaging in child-like activities, not to mention literally having a pacifier in their mouth, was not a typical thing one would expect.
The thing was however, Hitoshi wasn’t stupid. While he was not sure what was going on, he was patient enough to sit and figure it out as best he could, hoping that Katsuki might indulge him a bit despite how awkward or embarrassing or scary it might be.
“Look.. I didn’t mean to snap at you. You don’t have to tell me anything, i’m not going to force you or anything. Say the words and i’ll pretend this never happened, i’ll never bring it up and we won’t have to talk about it,” Shinsou started, choosing his words carefully in the process while making sure to keep his voice soft, as comforting as possible. “However, despite what you might think, some people in the world do care about your infuriating ass. So if there is anything I can do to help you, or support you, or anything really–just let me know.”
Bakugou seemed to think about Shinsou’s words for a moment, chewing on his lower hip while his eyes would look everywhere except for the lavender-haired male’s face. Hitoshi had no problem sitting there waiting patiently, knowing that Katsuki wasn’t a very words-oriented person.
Katsuki was almost the textbook definition of ‘actions speak louder than words’. He really was a genuine person when it came to the people he cared about, and while his words would likely be harsh, the blonde would go more than out of the way for any of his friends to show them how much he cared. This included barging in during exams week to help them clean up their room, bringing people home cooked meals when they were sick, and much more heartfelt actions.
So Shinsou would wait. He was good at that, giving people their time and space, though some might call him too stoic or unemotional or unresponsive. They might tell him to be more assertive, tell him that he should demand attention, but Hitoshi wasn’t that kind of person. Besides, sometimes taking it slow and just waiting was the better way to go about things.
The blonde would open and close his mouth a few times, almost as if he was gathering the right words or even possibly trying to find words themselves. But with time—a few more moments—Katsuki spoke.
“I’m.. i’m a little. I age regress,” He started slowly. So slowly, in fact, that Hitoshi believed that’s all Katsuki was going to say. He was going to try and get more out of the blonde and opened his mouth to do so, but he was cut off, “A-and I know it’s weird, okay?! I know it’s not normal, and that it’s gross, and that i’m gross, and-”
Hitoshi cut him off, quick to reassure, “Hey, hey, slow down! Calm down, I don’t think any of those things.”
Age regression
, that would make so much more sense. Hitoshi could vaguely remember the term being brought up during one of his classes, but they had really only skimmed through the topic during the lessons. Katsuki’s lip was wobbling, his breathing shaky, but it seemed like Shinsou’s words did help to reassure him even just slightly.
“It’s a coping mechanism, right? For stress?” He asked, unsure if he was remembering correctly, as the teachings he had received had been very vague. Bakugou nodded slowly in reply, his eyes narrowing just ever so slightly, as if he was now analysing the man whose lap he was sitting in.
Hitoshi pressed on, “Well it can’t be all that bad, right?” Katsuki scoffed, lowering his gaze in the process. “You don’t have to patronise me..”
“I’m not,” Hitoshi was quick to correct, “I’m sure there are worse things you could be doing to cope with stress or anything else.” He examined his roommate as he said this, watching the smaller male in his lap playing with his fingers which he had finally withdrawn from Hitoshi’s shirt, averting eye contact still.
It seemed like this was going to be a process for them both.
After another long stretch of silence, Katsuki spoke, “I should get this cleaned up..” He was referring to the small mess, blankets and pillows thrown about while a bag of goldfish crackers lay on the table, some pieces of the snack falling out of the bag. Letting the blonde slip out of his lap finally he watched as Katsuki started getting to work.
As much as he might want to press and ask more questions, Shinsou at least could understand that pushing this too much too quickly could end up pushing the blonde away.
So, he would wait.
Hitoshi would help too of course, folding some blankets and turning off the television. He was about to approach Bakugou one final time to just make sure everything was okay and they were all fine and good, when a bit of coloured plastic caught his eye.
The pacifier was still laying on the floor, and so Shinsou picked the item up. He walked to the kitchen where the blonde was furiously scrubbing at the inside of a cup he had been using, watching as his roommate placed it to the side to dry. He also saw how Katsuki’s entire body seemed to go stiff when he noticed that Shinsou was in the small space with him.
“Here,” He said, holding out the pacifier to Katsuki. Katsuki’s eyes widened before he snatched the pacifier from Hitoshi’s hands, stuffing it into his pocket, staring off to the side now. He refused to meet Hitoshi’s gaze, but his eyebrows were furrowed in that way they did when he was thinking hard about something.
Another wave of uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them, and Hitoshi felt like he had to fill it just this time. “I don’t think any less of you, just so you know,” He started, drawing Bakugou’s attention to himself, “We all have weird habits. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Hitoshi paused before adding on, “If you’re okay with it actually, i’d like to look into it more-”
“I know that,” The blonde snapped defensively while cutting Hitoshi off in the process, crossing his arms before turning and storming off. Hitoshi was ready to accept that as that, deciding ultimately that this was Bakugou’s business to deal with and that he should probably just drop it as a whole and especially since he had been so blatantly cut off, when his roommate paused in the doorway to his bedroom just slightly down the hall.
Hitoshi could see the hesitation, watching as the man bit his lip, seeming to contemplate something.
Katsuki finally turned to look at him for one last moment, his eyes seemingly searching for something as the red stared into lavender. “Thanks,” Bakugou finally decided on with a soft voice, so soft that Shinsou almost didn’t hear him, a faint blush smarting across his cheeks. Before Hitoshi had even a chance to reply the blonde had already disappeared into his room with the door closing audibly behind him.
Hitoshi sighed to himself, running a hand through his hair for not the first time that night. At least that seemed to be a step in the right direction. Katsuki didn’t shut him down nor did he tell him that he didn’t want to talk about it with Shinsou, so he took that as a silent permission slip that maybe it would be okay for them to one day discuss this. It would have to be at Bakugou’s pacing of course, Hitoshi didn’t mind having to wait for the blonde to be ready.
In the meantime, Shinsou’s thoughts were swirling. He was exhausted, looking at the digital clock on the microwave which read 11:04pm. He hardly even processed going through his nightly routine as he analysed their entire encounter. Laying in his head as he stared up at the ceiling, he sighed, determination setting in.
He wanted to be there for Katsuki, in any way he could. It didn’t seem fair to him that his roommate felt so ashamed to hide something that was clearly helping him in some way. He knew it wasn’t his responsibility, but.. he did care about the blonde. Hitoshi wanted to help.
He had a lot of research to do.