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Shinsou was really starting to question his sanity. After all, what sane person would agree to extra combat training at six in the morning in the middle of winter? But Aizawa-sensei was just trying to help him catch up to his new classmates in the heroics class, and he knew it would be stupid of him to pass up an opportunity like that.
So here he was, fifteen minutes before his morning training, downing a coffee in the middle of the shared kitchen in an attempt to at least fake the energy needed to fight his teacher-slash-mentor-slash-kinda-sorta-foster-dad.
The only other person in the room was Bakugou. Apparently he got up at this time every day to do his own form of extra training – willingly, with no outside motivation like coffee or a dedicated teacher waiting on him. Truly baffling, in Shinsou’s opinion.
Ever since Shinsou started his early morning training, he’d been running into Bakugou every morning in the kitchen and so far, he has yet to say a single word to the other boy. To be fair, it’s not like Bakugou ever tried talking to him either, and the guy wasn’t exactly the most approachable person in the world. The most Shinsou had gotten out of him was a grunt of acknowledgement after he nodded to him in greeting one morning.
If Shinosu was being completely honest, he kind of enjoyed the silent routine. He loved his friends and he truly believed that if it weren’t for people like Kami and Midoriya, he would still be the emotionally stunted, awkward guy that he was when he first started the hero course. But, sometimes, he just didn’t have the mental capacity for the boundless energy of his friends. It was nice to know that every morning, without fail, he could sit in the silent company of another, enjoy his coffee, and not have to worry about making awkward conversation every time.
Today was no exception. Bakugou finished up his breakfast first as always, cleared away his dishes, and then left to go where ever it was he did his training.
Once he left, Shinsou drained the last of his coffee cup and followed him out the dorm building. He cursed when the frigid winter air hit him. He really should’ve worn more than just a thin workout shirt. He chanced a quick glance at the time on his phone and decided he’d have just enough time to sprint back upstairs for a jacket and still make it to training on time. Aizawa-sensei would be annoyed if he was late, but he would rather that over risking a potential Dad Mode where Aizawa would fuss over him not looking after himself and setting sick (as if he was one to talk).
It was kind of comforting to see that somebody actually cared enough about him to worry about stuff like that, but Shinsou still felt a little weird and lost being a recipient of that kind of love.
Decision made, Shinsou raced back into the building to grab a jacket from his room. He took a shortcut through the common room and as he passed the couch, Shinsou noticed something draped across the back of it.
Someone had left their hoodie on the couch.
It would be wrong of him to take another person’s clothes. But…he was in a rush and he was pretty sure most of his classmates would be pretty chill about it once he explained the situation.
Shinsou took a closer look at the hoodie and, upon further inspection, it actually looked familiar. It was a soft, heavy material, clearly expensive, and bright orange. The colour reminded of him of something Kaminari would wear, and he figured that must be why it looked so familiar to him – he must’ve seen Kaminari wearing it before.
He was certain that Kaminari wouldn’t mind him borrowing the hoodie for the day so, his mind made up, Shinsou shrugged it on over his workout clothes.
It was a little oversized (definitely a Kami thing to wear) and very cosy. Shinsou made a mental note to ask Kami what kind of cologne he wore, because it smelled really good too.
Now sufficiently layered, Shinsou headed back outside, he still had over five minutes to get to the training room.
***
Two weeks later, Shinsou wandered downstairs to the kitchen for his usual morning coffee.
He had mentioned to Kami that he borrowed his hoodie that day and Kami had told him that, since he hadn’t even noticed it was gone, he could just keep it. Shinsou was pretty happy about that, honestly, because it was a really comfy hoodie – even if his purple hair did clash with the bright orange, he liked it anyway.
He was wearing it for the first time since then this morning, and when he entered the kitchen to the usual scene of Bakugou already eating breakfast, he couldn’t stop from yawning loudly into the large hood pulled up around his head.
Bakugou glanced up at the sound and promptly choked on his food.
Shinsou looked over at the blond, spluttering and gasping for air.
“You okay?” He asked, somewhat concerned. For some reason it felt slightly taboo to break their unspoken routine of silence, but the guy was choking.
Bakugou nodded, still coughing a little, but seemed to have caught his breath. Instead of saying anything, he just glared at Shinsou. Perhaps he was angry at him for breaking the silence.
Shinosu shrugged and went about making some coffee.
When he sat down in his usual spot, two seats over and opposite Bakugou’s seat at the counter, he took one long sip of the hot drink and sighed. It was one of those winter mornings where everything outside was cold, dark, and tired, and Shinosu wanted nothing more than to sink into the warm fabric of his new hoodie and just enjoy a hot cup of coffee, and do nothing else for the whole day.
Of course, he couldn’t do nothing all day, so as a compromise, he settled for snuggling deeper into the hood of the sweater, taking a deep sniff of the pleasant – albeit now fading – scent, and holding his cup close to his chest with both hands.
When he looked back up, Bakugou was staring at him, wide eyed and mouth slightly agape.
“What? Not my colour?” Shinsou deadpanned, one eyebrow raised lazily.
To Shinsou’s utter bewilderment, Bakugou blushed of all things. Who knew the shit-talker himself couldn’t take a bit of sass this early in the morning.
They finished their breakfasts in silence after that, but Shinsou definitely saw Bakugou glancing his way every now and then, before turning back to his food and scowling at the counter. Probably trying to come up with some insult or something to say to him.
***
“Hey, Shinsou! I like your hoodie!”
“Thanks, Kami.” It was a Sunday and Shinsou was taking full advantage of his free time by curling up on the couch in his orange hoodie and scrolling mindlessly through cat memes on his instagram.
“Bold colour choice. But somehow it works on you.” Kaminari laughed and plopped himself down on the couch beside him. “Where’d you get it?”
Shinsou turned and looked at his friend quizzically.
“What do you mean?” He said, “It’s the one you gave me. Do you seriously have that much clothes that you forget what half of it looks like?”
“Uh, no dude, I definitely don’t own that.” Kaminari frowned, confused.
“Well, yeah, you don’t own it now.” Shinsou rolled his eyes, “You said I could have it after I borrowed it a few weeks ago, remember?”
“I remember you said you took one of my hoodies but dude, that’s not my hoodie. Never was.”
Shinosu blinked.
“So, are you saying I just stole some random person’s hoodie?”
“I guess so. Wait dude, I’ve seen you wearing that thing like at least five times already. That probably means whoever owns it has seen you wearing it too and you’ve just been walking around like it’s yours now?”
“Oh my god, you’re right.” Shinsou looked around, horrified, as if he was expecting the real owner of the hoodie to jump out from behind the couch and scream ‘THIEF!’
Kaminari snickered to himself and Shinsou buried his head in his hands, mortified.
“So who did I just rob then?” Shinsou asked form behind his hands.
“Um,” another voice sounded beside them and both boys whipped their heads up to see Midoriya fidgeting with his hands. “I might be able to help with that.”
“Oh, Midoriya, is this yours?” Shinsou sighed in relief. At least there wouldn’t be any awkward explaining to do. “I’m really sorry. I thought it was Kami’s one morning and I just grabbed it because I was cold.”
“Um…” Midoriya was still fidgeting, now sporting a bright blush too. “It’s ah, not mine, but I do know whose it is.”
“…Who?” Why was Shinsou suddenly dreading the answer?
“Kacchan’s…”
Aaand now Kaminari was laughing again – this time so hard, he fell off the couch.
***
After about thirty minutes of mortifyingly realising the reason for Bakugou’s strange (read: totally reasonable) reaction the other week, Shinosu decided he should just suck it up and return the hoodie today.
His hope was that the sooner he got it over with and explained the misunderstanding to Bakugou, the sooner he could forget it ever happened. Although, he was going to have to find somewhere else to have his morning coffee now.
Which is why he was now standing outside Bakugou’s dorm room with the offending hoodie draped over one arm. Midoriya said Bakugou would definitely be in his room studying since it was four o’ clock (honestly, that boy terrified him sometimes), so theoretically, all Shinsou had to do was knock.
He seemed to be struggling with actually doing it, however.
No, he was being stupid. Shinsou shook his head. It was a simple mistake and Bakugou could’ve said something that day too. With that thought in mind, Shinsou rapped his knuckles on the door.
“Fuck off!” Came the muffled response through the door.
“Uh, Bakugou? It’s ah – it’s Shinsou.”
There was a pregnant pause, and then the sound of footsteps nearing the door.
When the door finally opened, Shinsou was met with the sight of Bakugou in relaxed black sweatpants that hung low on his waist and a tank top. For a moment, he forgot why he knocked on the door in the first, too busy staring at thick arms and defined pecs.
Then he remembered that other people could see you when you stared at them and suddenly he was blushing madly.
He forced his gaze up to meet Bakugou’s face and found the other boy frowning down at the orange material wrapped up in his arms.
“Right.” Shinsou cleared his throat, “So, uh, apparently this is yours? I’m really sorry. It’s all a big misunderstanding really. You see, I was cold.”
Bakugou raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.
“And – I didn’t know it was yours! I thought it was Kami’s.” Shinsou hurried on, “Then Kami said that I could just keep it, but obviously he didn’t see it because then he would’ve been able to tell me it wasn’t his. But it was comfy so I kept wearing it and then Midoriya told me it was yours so I came to give it back and-“
“Tch, Deku.” Bakugou hissed. Shinsou wasn’t entirely sure if he was blaming this whole thing on Midoriya, or if that was just an impulse reaction upon hearing the other boy’s name.
“Anyway,” Shinsou continued, “Sorry I stole your hoodie. Here.”
He held out the sweater to Bakugou and just before the other boy could take it, Shinsou remembered that he had been wearing it mere minutes ago.
“Oh wait! I didn’t wash it. I should wash it for you first and then give it back to you.” He said.
“Tch, it’s fine.” Bakugou grunted, snatching the hoodie from his arms.
He stood there for another moment, scowling at Shinsou.
“Wait there.” He said, and disappeared into his room.
Shinsou did as he was told, although confusedly, and within a few seconds, Bakugou had returned. He had something dark rolled up in his hand.
“Here.” He thrust the dark material into Shinsou’s arms.
Shinsou unfolded it and discovered it was another hoodie. It was the same quality as the orange one but this time, a soft grey with a large black ‘X’ across the front. It sort of reminded him of Bakugou’s hero costume to be honest.
“What…?” Shinsou trailed off.
“You’re right.” Bakugou said, a light blush high on his cheeks. “Orange really isn’t your colour. Just wear that one instead.”
Shinsou stared at the blond for another second, not comprehending. Once he realised that Bakugou’s face was getting redder the longer he said nothing, something clicked.
Oh.
“Thanks.” He smiled down at the grey hoodie and shrugged it on over his head. It was quite possibly softer than the first one. Shinsou could feel his cheeks heating up.
Seemingly content now, Bakugou gave one short, approving nod, then turned away and shut his bedroom door.
Shinsou smiled to himself the whole way back downstairs, relishing in the fact that that pleasant scent was even stronger with this hoodie.
***
Another morning, another ridiculously early training session. Only, this time, Shinsou wasn’t feeling all that annoyed about it.
He walked into the kitchen, smug smile in place as Bakugou took in his grey and black outfit.
“Morning.” He said, rather cheerfully.
“Hey.” Bakugou replied.
There was already a steaming cup of coffee waiting for him on the counter so Shinsou slid into place beside Bakugou to drink it.
“Got you something.” Shinsou eyed the blond over the rim of his cup.
“Hm?”
Shinsou placed the gift down on the counter between them.
Bakugou glanced down at the soft lilac material for the briefest of moments, then he was looking back up at Shinosu, questioningly.
Shinsou smiled at the blush forming on the other boy’s face and felt his own cheeks heating up to match.
“I figured purple was your colour.”