Chapter Text
The clicking of tattoo guns, the smell of fresh incense burning nearby, the gorgeous greens and deep blues dancing throughout the tattoo parlor. People trickled in through the doorway smiling excitedly as they chose their designs at the front. Artists worked in the back, professional yet laid back and friendly. The outside was simple, a sign out front reading ‘The pin cushion: tattoos and piercings’, with potted plants on either side of the door, and white and gray brick walls. It was silently nestled in between a coffee shop and a record shop.
It was beautiful.
It was everything Eijirou had ever wanted in a job, and now he had it. Well, he almost had it.
After months and months of searching for a tattoo shop that would hire him for more than just the front desk keeper, he’d finally landed one. The owner, Shinsou, had interviewed him and after giving a few pointers to Eijirou’s skills, he’d agreed to hire him after a few weeks of shadowing someone.
Truly Eijirou had been on cloud nine when he’d heard the news. The pin cushion was nearly four hours away from home, but he had no problem packing up and moving as soon as possible. He’d needed a change of scenery from his current shop. The people there sucked and he was ready for a change. Shinsou had been kind enough to give him a week to move cities and get acclimated before actually beginning his work, so today was just a walk through.
This parlor was much different than any other tattoo shop he’d visited or the last one he’d worked for. In his old city, the shops were often filled with screamo music, and decorated in dark themes of red and black. Honestly Eijirou didn’t mind that, he went through a phase like that in high school. The problem was the fact that he didn’t really fit the tattoo artist ‘look’. He had not a single tattoo to show for himself, nor did he have piercings, or any other body modifications for that matter. He was new, a baby in the industry, but it had always been a dream to work at a shop like this.
“So what do you think,” Mina, one of the workers he’d be shadowing for the first few weeks, had poked her head around the corner of her stall.
Her hair was bright bubblegum pink, and her skin was dark and beautiful. Jewels dazzled on her teeth with each word she spoke, placed strategically on her canines.
“I love it,” Kirishima smiled. “The vibes here are different from my last place. Much more mellow.”
Sero clapped a hand on his shoulder as he left his booth, following a girl who’d just gotten a sleeve completed. The dark haired man had many tattoos, of different shapes, sizes and colors. There was no real theme to his art, he just enjoyed getting inked. At least that’s what he’d told Eijirou when they’d first met.
“That’s what Shinsou’s going for! It matches the little cafe next door, we should check it out sometime.”
At the mention of the cafe, Mina gasped in agreement. It must’ve been a popular place to get so excited over.
But Eijirou had just gotten the keys to his apartment two days ago, and he was really in no shape to be going out when his apartment was filled to the brim with boxes.
“When I can walk two feet in my house without tripping over boxes we can totally go,” he laughed.
It made him feel good to be adopted into their friend group. Mina and Sero were extremely sweet, and made it a point to include them in everything they did together.
“Denki said it looks like a bomb went off in there,” the pink-haired woman giggled.
Eijirou nodded his head with a chuckle, following the woman back to the front with Sero. Denki was his new neighbor, and also conveniently Shinsou’s boyfriend. Their apartment complex was nice, small but cozy, and rent was cheap. He’d only gotten a one bedroom, because he didn’t know anyone in town.
“What brings you to town anyways Kiri? You don’t seem like the city type,” Sero asked as he scrolled through his next few appointments.
Eijirou shrugged his shoulders.
There wasn’t really any reason in particular, he was just bored as hell. Kirishima didn’t like to stay in one place for too long, he didn’t like permanency. Nothing had ever captivated him into staying around for too long.
“Fresh start I guess.”
—
Denki stretched his arms across the table of the cafe. After a week of moving shit around his apartment, Eijirou finally made the time to meet his new friends at the infamous cafe next door to the Pin Cushion. The electric blonde had helped him move into his apartment and they’d become exceptionally close. Kaminari was a bartender at a nightclub a few blocks over, which explained why Eijirou saw him at home during the day so often. He and Shinsou had been dating for a few years now, Mina and Sero had known Kaminari since high school, and they were also friends with someone who worked here.
That was why they’d wanted Eijirou to come so badly.
“This cafe has the best breakfast,” Mina said cheerfully, squeezing Eijirou’s arm to emphasize.
The redhead smiled with a nod, gazing at the menu. He was starving, and tired, and a little sore. His fingers were itching to tattoo someone, but he still needed to wait for another two weeks before that could happen.
Footsteps gradually got closer, but Eijirou didn’t pay much attention to them. He assumed it was just the waiter coming to take their order, and since he hadn’t looked at the menu long enough, he wasn’t interested in the waiter.
Well, he wasn't until Kaminari practically jumped out of his seat and yelled, “Bakubro! Good to see ya man!”
When Eijirou finally looked up his breath caught in his throat.
Holy shit.
/Holy shit/.
“Do you ever fuckin’ work? You were here yesterday too,” The blonde guy, allegedly called Bakubro, rolled his eyes as he tapped his pen against his notepad. He seemed a little mean, but in a familiar way, like maybe that was his usual way of existing.
Kaminari let out a huff before grinning at the pretty man in front of him. Eijirou couldn’t even meet the blonde's gaze. He caught one glance and immediately felt his insides jump like a game of hopscotch. He’s never seen someone so pretty up close before.
“Well pardon me for wanting to see my dearest bro,” Denki put his hand to his chest, faking a wound.
Eijirou couldn’t believe how easily Denki was acting around this dude. How was he not a sputtering mess. He didn’t trust his own voice to speak normally at the moment.
The blonde jutted out his hip before placing a hand on it and peering around the crowded cafe. “Tch, well let me know when you find the guy so I can throw your asses out of here.”
Kirishima didn’t even know what to say. He’s not sure his tongue would start working if he wanted it to.
This guy was beautiful. The picture perfect man, with sharp cheekbones and a cut jawline. His nose was slim and dipped down ever so slightly before pointing out. Narrow and sculpted, just like the rest of him. His sleeves were long, but even beyond the loose flannel, Eijirou could tell the guy was fit. The flannel sat open to expose a tight black shirt that clung to his skin, and left tiny dips and divots on his flat stomach that he assumed was a set of abs. His black jeans clung tightly to long legs that ended in those adorable, platform, dr. Martens that so many people wore at the tattoo shop. They added a bit of height to the blonde, not quite as tall as Kirishima, but definitely taller than Denki and Mina.
“I’m Kirishima,” he said suddenly, totally unaware that he just interrupted the beautiful, beautiful dude.
The blonde stared at him with twitching red eyes, piercing straight through Eijirou’s own and making him feel small in his seat. He was anything but small, in fact he was the tallest out of everyone here. There was just something about this guy that made him feel nervous, and excited, /Interested/.
“Okay? Want that iced or hot?”
His face heated up almost immediately. Had he ordered something? Iced or hot? What? No, this was a hard rejection. This guy didn’t even want to introduce himself to Eijirou. He’s twenty six years old and blushing like stupid sixteen year old with a crush on some random guy.
“W-What—“
“Don’t be like that, Bakubabe,” Mina saved him from his embarrassment.
The group laughed, making him feel a little less tense and humiliated, but nothing could shield him from the gravitational pull of the blonde. He was pretty, and from where Kirishima was sitting he could smell a sweet Caramel musk coming from him.
“This is Kirishima, he moved into the spare unit down the hall. He’s a tattoo artist at Hitoshi’s place,” Kaminari raised his brows up and down, as though he was trying to sell him to the other man like some sort of car dealer.
Bakugou’s gaze was strong on him. First impressions were everything, and Eijirou could only hope he looked at least somewhat put together. He didn’t expect to be meeting the prettiest man alive the minute he sat down at a coffee shop.
The blonde scrunched up his nose. “I don’t see any tattoos, how credible is that?”
“Ah, they’re a little too permanent for me,” Eijirou shrugged, but he felt a little stupid saying it now that a piercing gaze was judging him critically.
Bakugou hummed slowly, his voice was full and deep, with a certain rasp to it that had the hairs on Eijirou’s arms rising. He looks at him with narrow half lidded eyes, lips pink and soft as he spoke.
“No permanence is ours; we are a wave that flows to fit whatever form it finds.”
Eijirou didn't know how to respond. He sort of just sat there and let those poetic words soak into his skin. /God/ this blonde was hot /and/ smart? Kirishima might as well get those words tattooed on his forehead now that he’s heard them fall from such pretty lips. He’s not sure if he’s quoting someone or just making shit up on the fly, but the words sound like liquid velvet, pouring into Eijirou’s head and coating his brain softly in it. It made his hands feel sweaty.
Does he look stupid? He must look stupid. Suddenly regaining his consciousness in the real world, he realized his mouth is slightly open, and his friends are just sitting there staring at him, waiting for him to say something.
“So, iced or hot?” Bakugou asked again after a beat of silence.
Eijirou shook his head again in confusion, “I haven’t picked anything.”
“On the house newbie, hurry up before I change my mind,” the man said, tapping his pen against the tiny notepad he used to take orders.
Eijirou turned to look at the rest of the group who smiled casually. It must be a normal thing, perhaps they always get free coffee when they come here. At first glance, this guy seemed a bit intimidating, as though he didn’t have the time of day for the group. He was starting to think that maybe the squad had some sort of one sided friendship with him.
But now it seemed more like an actual friendship. The blonde was just a bit rough around the edges.
“Iced.”
With the confirmation, the beautiful man nodded his head and wrote it in quickly before turning back to the kitchen. He hadn’t asked for anyone else’s coffee orders, or food for that matter, leaving Eijirou more than a bit confused.
He wanted to ask if they would order food eventually, because he was a bit hungry, but his brain was too frazzled by the giant wave of thrill the blonde had sent through his bones.
“He’s the hottest server I’ve ever had in my entire life,” he admitted before leaning his head forward into his hands.
Kaminari let out a huff, obviously feigning disapproval, “I guess if you’re looking from really far away and it’s dark—Ouch!”
Mina slapped him in the back of the head playfully before putting her elbows on the table and grinning. The star tattoos on her wrists twisted and stretched as she spoke.
“Bakugou is a cutie, but he’s got a major attitude.”
He nodded in agreement. That much was evident, but his attitude was charming in Eijirou’s opinion. He was snarky, and confident, and gods was he pretty.
“Is he…”
“Gay? /Duh/. No offense or anything but your gaydar needs to be checked, that guy is as gay as they come,” Denki rolled his eyes as he flicked through his phone.
Okay, good. Gay is good, gay means he at least has a chance with this guy.
“And he’s taken,” Mina added, pointing his finger in Eijirou’s face knowingly.
A boyfriend. Of course Bakugou has a boyfriend. Who wouldn’t want to date someone as perfect as him. He was smart, charming, and a little bit bratty. God, he was everything Eijirou had ever wanted. Of course he was taken.
“Unfortunately,” Sero groaned in annoyance.
At that he whipped his head towards the other man. “What?”
Sero let out a surprised laugh, like it was stupid of Eijirou to think that he’d ever be interested in the blonde.
“Oh no, not like that. It’s just, Bakugou’s boyfriend is,” He started to explain, but then awkwardly started to taper his words.
Kaminari nodded his head, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “He’s kind of a…”
“He’s a total douche bag,” Mina finished their sentence. “His name's Takeshi or something, who the hell knows. He rarely hangs with us, and gets mad when Bakubabe comes to hang out as well!”
Kirishima nodded his head, a bit disappointed. So Bakugou was dating someone his friends weren’t too fond of. He still had a boyfriend though, which meant he was totally off limits. Eijirou didn’t like to sneak around and make people cheat, and he really didn’t want to be the guy that breaks up a perfectly normal relationship. Even if Bakugou’s friends didn’t like his boyfriend.
“So they’re pretty solid,” he tried to mask how upset he was from his new friends. No point concerning them with his desolate love life.
“They’re anything but solid from what I’ve observed,” Kaminari scoffed but quickly shut up when Bakugou arrived with their food.
The discussion seemed to end as soon as the blonde placed the serving tray on a nearby table. Eijirou didn’t want it to end though. He wanted to know why they weren’t stable. He wanted to know what this guy's boyfriend lacked, what Bakugou needed that he wasn’t getting.
It made him feel crazy, the way he craved this man in front of him so much. He’d met Bakugou thirty minutes ago, and he was already trying to find out how to be the man of his dreams. Eijirou had barely even talked to the guy.
But still, he couldn’t shake that feeling. The feeling he got when he first laid eyes on Bakugou. The thrill that followed the blonde beauty, the chill that tumbled down his spine at his voice. The hold that squeezed around his entire being when the man voiced his brain's complexity.
In other words, he was down so bad for Bakugou.
—
He hadn’t gone to the cafe since.
Life got busy, and Eijirou didn't have the time. This week was spent shadowing Mina and Sero, finishing up the final touches on his apartment, and searching for a new gym to join. He also needed to fill a sketch book by the end of the week, to show Shinsou his personal style and skill and how they aligned with the rest of his coworkers. That was more nerve-racking than anything. Eijirou was never confident in his own art, so having to show it to his future boss was terrifying.
Because he was so wrapped up in it, Eijirou hadn’t gotten around to seeing the beautiful blonde at the cafe.
It’s not like he was obligated to get closer with Bakugou, but more so that he craved more of the man. It was a hunger only he could satiate, even though he’d only met Bakugou once before.
There was something about the blonde that drove him crazy. Something behind those eyes were deep and misunderstood, and they pulled Eijirou in like the moon pulled the tide; gentle, yet powerful.
Eijirou let out a groan, leaning back against the back of his couch. The sound of Mina and Denki clicking away at their controllers drowned out his stress, and he took a moment to relax and watch his new friends finish their match. Mina, Sero, and Kaminari had basically invited themselves over tonight, which Kirishima wasn’t against.
It was late in the evening, maybe seven or eight, and all he’d done today was draw in his sketchbook. Because it was supposed to be used for tattoo ideas, it had to be perfect, so each page took an exceptional amount of time and energy. So it felt nice to have people keeping him company. Sero sat on the couch behind him, drinking a beer and typing away at his phone.
He was about to ask who the brunette was talking to when there was a knock on the door.
“It’s open!” Sero called out.
Eijirou furrowed his brow. He hadn’t invited anyone else over and he sort of wasn’t in the mood to meet new people right now. Sero ran quickly towards the door, inviting the unknown guest inside. The moment he saw blonde hair he felt his breath hitch in his throat.
It was Bakugou. Bakugou was in his apartment. Suddenly Eijirou worried about the mess. His dishes were still sitting in the sink from his quick breakfast this morning, and he had random little objects placed around the living room due to the lack of storage in the apartment.
“Katsuki!” Mina smiled, pausing the game to drag him into the living room.
/Katsuki/. What a pretty name. Eijirou pursed his lips just to stop himself from saying it with his own mouth.
“Oh my god he showed up. Someone alert the media,” Kaminari teased, nudging at Eijirou’s side.
Kirishima looked up to meet Bakugou’s gaze. He was in sweats and a band shirt, fitted tightly to his form. He looked nice, Eijirou assumed the blonde had a thing for fashion.
The man shook Sero off his shoulders, eyes unmoving from Eijirou’s own. There was something there, something so deeply rooted that Kirhsima didn’t quite understand. Like there was some sort of sorrow in the reds of his eyes, like rotting cherries.
“Fuck you, Sero wouldn’t get off my back about it,” Bakugou grunted before sitting down on the floor next to Eijirou.
Kirishima felt the tips of his ears heat up, immediately closing the book of drawings in his lap. The blonde was so close, close enough that he could feel his body heat radiating next to him. He smelt so sweet, like caramel and leather, and a tinge of smoke from a cigarette he was sure the man had just finished off outside.
Hanta let out a huff before falling back into the couch. “It's a squad hangout man, you're obligated to join us.”
Mina picked her controller back up, and the tv lit to life with music and sound effects. The attention was off of Bakugou and back on the game in seconds.
But not before Eijirou was able to hear the man speak under his breath. “Takeshi’s gonna flip shit when he finds out I left.”
Takeshi must’ve been his boyfriend’s name. Why would he freak out if Bakugou was hanging out with friends? Isn’t that something everybody does? When he looked over towards the blonde, his face was scrunched up a bit, like it pained him to even be here right now. He spoke so quietly, unlike his usual loud, and confident voice. It was almost like Bakugou didn’t want his friends to hear him say it. Yet he still did. It didn’t make sense.
It felt like something was off. The way it felt when a storm was brewing. What sort of boyfriend was this Takeshi?
And why did Bakugou’s voice sound so tired, so lifeless, when he spoke of the man he was supposed to love most.
Eijirou shook his head. It’s none of his business, he hardly knows Bakugou. He could be some psychopath for all he knows. They’ve exchanged a few sentences to each other but nothing that would warrant talking about Bakugou’s mystery man.
He opened his sketchbook back up, sharpening his pencil and continuing to shade the current emblem he’d been drawing. For a while it was pretty quiet. Sero and Kaminari exchanged senseless banter, Mina screamed about her newest crush on the girl working at the clothing store a few shops down from the pin cushion. It was peaceful.
Almost.
But as the night progressed, there was an incessant nagging coming from Bakugou’s phone, in the form of a continuous buzz. Someone was calling him over and over again, and each time the blonde denied the call it would start right back up. Kirshima wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t just answer it. At first he thought it was a scam caller, but those guy usually gave up after the second call. This calling was non-stop. Each decline button vanished for about a quarter of a second before it started up again and again and again.
Was it an emergency? Surely not, because who would ignore an emergency? Was Bakugou just an ass? Ignoring a phone call from work, or family. Kirishima didn’t think he’d be the type, but then again he really couldnt pinpoint what type of guy this blonde was. After about the millionth call, Eijirou chanced a glance at Bakugou.
He didn’t look frustrated, or annoyed, or even angry. If anything the man just looked exhausted. His eyebrows were pinched, and his eyes were expressionless. Like maybe this was a normal occurrence. Come to think of it, none of their friends had asked about the phone calls. Even though they were quite loud as the phone buzzed against the wooden coffee table. None of them seemed to even notice.
“Is everything okay?”
It left Eijirou’s mouth before he could even think about it. What sort of conversation starter is that? He said it loud enough for their friends to hear, which meant it was loud enough to embarrass the other man, which hadn’t been his intent at all. But Bakugou looked so sad, and it didn’t look /right/ on him. Kirishima didn’t want the blonde to look so weary, so defeated over whatever was on the other side of those phone calls.
He could see the man's shoulders tense up for a moment, and his eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Bakugou looked surprised, or perhaps caught off guard, which made Eijirou wonder if it really was a common occurrence to everybody else.
“Yep, fine,” the blonde pursed his lips before pocketing his phone. It was still ringing, Eijirou could hear the buzz as it sat in the man’s soft sweatpants.
For a moment the two just stared at each other. Bright scarlet on mellow crimson. Bakugou’s eyes were slim, small, and yet they swallow Eijirou down.
He watched as the blonde toyed with his bottom lip, picking at the skin there until it bled. His gaze was on the floor, near Kirishima’s thigh.
“So Crimson Riot?” The blonde said suddenly, seeming to want to end their conversation.
Eijirou turned to look at the sketch book laying in his lap. Shinsou said he could draw anything as long as it was designed to be a tattoo, so Eijirou used this page to draw his favorite superhero. It was an older show, not many knew about Crimson Riot because he was a side character in the All Might series.
“Oh, uh, yeah, pretty lame I guess,” the redhead closed the book quickly.
He spent his whole life defending that character and even got made fun of a bit in middle school when he started dying his hair red to match him. His response was an instinct at this point.
“I don’t think so,” Bakugou shook his head, but otherwise his face remained calm and emotionless.
The redhead isn’t sure why it made him blush, but it did. His face burnt and his lips wobbled into a smile. He had never met someone who watched the show, let alone liked it.
“No?” He asked with a grin.
“Nope,” the blonde confirmed with a pop of his lips.
Eijirou nodded his head, before opening his sketchbook back up. Bakugou was cool. He seemed to be the type of person who meant what they said. He was sort of a jack of all trades Eijirou was beginning to notice. He knew about books, quotes, poems, and also things like vintage superhero shows, and video games like Nintendo’s Super Smash. Overall he just seemed /smart/, like his head was so full of knowledge simply because he wanted to know more. The blonde didn’t go out of his way to correct people, or make them feel stupid. Instead he just inserted his information when it was necessary.
It was charming. Eijirou found that he really liked that about the brooding man.
“I mean, obviously All Might is the strongest in their Universe,” the blonde added in a teasing tone.
“Woah, woah, that’s heavily debatable,” Eijirou pointed his pen towards Bakugou.
The man raised his brows before grinning a wild, beautiful smile.
“Is it? I’m not sure it is.”
It was unlike any smile he had ever seen from the blonde. This one was genuine. Crooked, kind, and stripped of any emotion other than happiness.
He looked happy and Eijirou decided that he needed to see that smile over and over for the rest of his life.
The smaller man grabbed the pen out of Kirishima’s hand before tapping it on the redhead's forehead. “But it’s cute that you're rooting for the underdog.”
“Cute huh?” Kirishima raised his brows.
It was daring, maybe a little too daring for someone with a boyfriend, but he couldnt halt the disgusting feeling of want for the person in front of him. It swallowed him whole, made him feel greedy, and jealous. He wanted Bakugou.
However, it seemed that maybe Kirishima had pushed it too far, because soon Bakugou was dropping the pen back into his lap and facing forward.
“Fuck off,” Bakugou laughed. He was still smiling, but he seemed to back off from the conversation a bit.
Kirishima did his best for damage control, opting to change the topic. He didn’t want to stop talking to the blonde. When they talked, Eijirou's veins were filled with energy in the best way possible.
“You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
At that the blonde let out the ugliest laugh Eijirou had ever heard. It sounded like a train wreck, and somehow it had him leaning closer to the blonde. It was endearing, how it humanized him.
“If she talked to me I’d use much more colorful words,” he said softly.
It was just the two of them, wrapped up in their own conversation, completely oblivious to the people around them. Sero was way too focused on texting his next hook up, Kaminari was on the phone with Shinsou who was on his way home, and Mina was changing the song playing on the speaker to some new album that came out yesterday.
They were all so oblivious to their conversation.
“You dont get along,” Kirishima concluded. He scribbled into the corner of his page, still staring at the blonde next to him.
His eyes still held so much sadness, or perhaps a sense of mourning for something Eijirou couldn’t understand. Could it be the phone calls? Or maybe the fact that they brought up his mother. He hadn’t meant to touch on a sore spot, he just wanted to get to know the man more.
“I’m disowned,” the blonde said. He said it as if it wasn’t a punch to the gut. It took Kirishima’s breath away for a moment.
Who wouldn’t want to be close with him? How could his parents be anything other than proud of their wonderful creation. Bakugou Katsuki was everything and more.
“Hey, bum me one.”
Eijirou shook his head, still trying to recover from what he’d just heard. “I don’t smoke.”
The blonde nodded before turning around and nudging Sero, “Tape Face, bum me one.”
As the blonde stood, Eijirou could only watch with an open mouth. He didn’t want the conversation to end, he wanted to peel each layer off of Bakugou until there was nothing else to hide. Until Eijirou knew him inside and out.
When the man tossed his phone on the table and moved to the balcony for a smoke, the screen lit up. He had only been here for an hour, and already he had forty seven missed calls and sixty text messages.
And they were all from Takeshi.
It became apparent now, where all of the sadness in his eyes stemmed from. His boyfriend was an overbearing jerk, and his mother and father cut off all contact. Kirishima had never experienced anything like that. It wasn't normal, seeing that many calls and messages. The screen just continued to light up over and over again, haunting the friend group. Eventually Mina grabbed the phone and flipped it over.
“Like we said, his boyfriends a fucking asshole.”
And yeah, Eijirou could see that now. But it felt like there was more to it. It seemed like it was more than just the guy being a jerk. It seemed toxic. Like a horrible poison was spreading its way to Bakugou with each text message that danced across the screen.
When he finished his cigarette Bakugou entered the apartment again with a sour expression.
“I have to go.”
“Ah! What’s the rush, you’ve only been here for like an hour babe!” Mina whined.
“I just have to go,” the blonde shrugged his shoulders. He seemed to be in a hurry.
He averted his eyes from Eijirou, almost like he knew the redhead was concerned. Who wouldn’t be? They just had a heart to heart on the living room floor while their friends were screaming over a video game. A nagging feeling in the back of his brain told him to tell Bakugou to stay. He didn’t know Takeshi, but he didn’t necessarily seem like a nice guy. Judging from the millions of calls and text messages, he seemed more like the controlling type.
Bakugou didn’t seem like a spirit that was meant to be contained. He needed somewhere to breathe and absorb the world's information.
Sero stood up, getting ready to walk the blonde out as the other man gathered his phone and pack of cigarettes.
When he straightened his back, he nudged Eijirou’s knee with his shin and smiled.
“Later Red.”
He smiled and nodded, not trusting his voice to say anything other than for the blonde to stay longer and talk to him more. So instead he watched as Bakugou followed Sero to the front door, and waited to hear the click of him leaving.
“So what was that?” Mina rolled off the couch, a huge grin contrasting with the absolute gutted feeling Eijirou felt.
“What?”
“You two were totally flirting!” Mina shook his shoulders as she screamed.
He blushed hard before taking the woman’s hands off his shoulders. “No we weren’t.”
Kaminari laughed before joining them. “Oh yeah no, /the/ Bakugou Katsuki just goes around calling every guy in the world cute.”
Eijirou groaned. He didn’t know they heard their conversation. Not only was it embarrassing, but it made him feel guilty. They knew Bakugou had a boyfriend, /Eijirou/ knew it too, and he still flirted.
“I got the chills man! I’ve never seen him actually enjoying himself in the company of someone else,” Sero added as he ran back from the front door.
And while everyone else laughed, Eijirou couldn’t find it in him to do so. Not when he’d chipped a layer of Bakugou’s walls and saw the vulnerable insides. Not when there was a pinching feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him something wasn’t right.