Notes: I wrote this for Karmahope's birthday! But I wanted an excuse to write Kirikacchako as well and some more Kirichako too, so it worked out.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The whole idea had been to surprise Bakugou, but Kirishima was apparently terrible at keeping secrets. When Bakugou had asked him what he was doing tonight, he had blurted that he had to go to the gym. That wasn't a bad excuse, seeing as how he did go to the gym often, but when Bakugou had asked what time, he had balked and said that he wanted to go alone. Uraraka could only watch with a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter as Kirishima slapped his face in mortification and then stammered through saying goodbye to his very confused and somewhat irritated boyfriend on the other end.
"Oh my god," Uraraka laughed, finally pulling her hand away. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Kirishima sighed, staring mournfully down at his phone. "I panicked."
"Yeah, I could tell!" Uraraka blew a raspberry and shook her head.
Kirishima sighed in defeat and set his phone aside on the kitchen table. She kept her phone on her. No doubt she would be getting a text soon from Bakugou asking her if she knew what Kirishima's problem was. After they had decided to officially get together, they had all made it a point to be open with each other and always make communication a priority. Kirishima's frantic response meant that he was either lying or he had an issue that he didn't want to talk with Bakugou about, both of which were causes for concern.
"I was planning on calling him when I came up with an excuse," Kirishima lamented, "but of course the ass had to call me first."
"You should be used to living on Bakugou Time by now," Uraraka pointed out.
Even though he was sour about reacting poorly, a sneaky grin worked its way onto his face and he stepped into her space, wrapping his arms around her and holding her against him. "Ah, well, that's your fault. You spoiled me. You got me on Chako Time and it's so distracting." He lifted her from the floor and nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck, making her giggle and protest as he gently nipped at her. They were on timetable, after all. They didn't have time for distractions.
Right before she could decide that maybe they did have the time for a short distraction, her phone buzzed in her back pocket, playing the sound of an explosion. Kirishima begrudgingly pulled his face away from her neck. When they connected eyes, she raised her eyebrows at him and he let out another sigh before setting her back down. Not needing to check her phone to see who the text was from, she opened it up and read it off out loud: "Ejirou just blew me off for no fucking reason. He said he was going to the gym, but I don't think he is. You got any ideas?"
Uraraka showed Kirishima the text so he could see she had read it as it was. He let go of her completely to hold his head in his hands and groan. "What do you think I should say?"
"If I'd known the answer to that before, I would've said it," Kirishima pointed out.
After humming in consideration and thinking it over, Uraraka said, "I'll just tell him you had a bad day at work and you didn't want to bother him."
"You know that's just going to fuel his idea of us starting our own agency," Kirishima told her. He walked back into the kitchen where most of the food prep was taken care of while she sent the text. It would appease Bakugou for the time being, but Kirishima was right. She and Bakugou still worked at separate agency from Kirishima and they all had their own places too. She spent the night at both of their places often enough. They...did not spend the night at hers nearly as much. She didn't blame them. Her bed wasn't big enough for all of them. Kirishima came over more than Bakugou, not because he was too good for it, but because he struggled with not asking her to move in with him. She wasn't about to break her lease, but, looking at his place now, it was tempting.
"No," Uraraka said decisively, putting her phone away. "I know it sounds rude, but I like having our work separate. I feel like it would make us claustrophobic if we ran an pro hero agency together too."
"You would know," Kirishima said as he turned on the stove. "How's Katsuki been at work?"
"He's ready to branch out," Uraraka replied, "and I don't blame him, but…"
Kirishima smirked at her. "Is that hesitation I hear?"
"He wants his own agency and I want him to have it," Uraraka said, "especially since there's been talk of Deku and Todoroki opening their own." She let out a breath, picking up a knife to finish chopping the last of the vegetables - or dicing, as Bakugou would say. "He'll be in a mood for a month if they do it before him." Kirishima snorted softly, but he didn't disagree either. He knew she was right. "I love working with him. I love being on a team with him. I love… I just love being around him when he's at the top of his game in the field, you know?"
"Oh yeah," Kirishima agreed. "It's contagious."
"I think he's holding himself back," Uraraka said.
Kirishima gave her a surprised look. "Really?"
"He knows I won't follow him," Uraraka continued, not looking back at him. She was kind of embarrassed about her stance on this matter. Kirishima didn't seem to mind the idea of them co-owning an agency, but, the more she thought about it, the more she didn't want it for herself. She loved Bakugou. She loved Kirishima. She also knew when there was too much of something. She knew they needed to maintain a semblance of balance and space in this relationship or it would become too much. "I want to do my own thing too and I think, as much as I love teaming up with him, I can do that once he's got his own agency." She finally peered up at Kirishima. "That makes me sound so selfish, doesn't it?"
"Nah," Kirishima told her, "I totally get it. That's kinda why I chose the agency I did when we graduated. I knew it was small, but I wouldn't have anyone I knew with me. I wanted to prove that I had what it took to be on my own."
Uraraka smiled in gratefulness. She had been anxious about what Kirishima thought of her decision in not wanting to work with them. It wasn't that she didn't like working with them. While she and Bakugou still worked at the same agency, she and Kirishima had worked together in rescue missions here and there. All agencies pitched in as far as natural disasters were concerned. She enjoyed team ups and she loved working in tandem with them, but she kind of wanted to work on her own for a while too and see what she was capable of without them.
Plus, she spent so much time with them outside of work. It wasn't like she was never going to see them. She saw them all the time.
"Katsuki is just…" Kirishima waved a spoon in the air. "Demanding." Uraraka snorted and Kirishima grinned. Oh, yeah, that was the understatement of the year. Bakugou was a little more than demanding in a lot of ways. "He might act like a lone wolf half the time, but the other half is him wanting our time and attention. He's kind of needy if you think about it."
"Don't let him hear you say that," Uraraka warned him teasingly.
"Like when we're sleeping," Kirishima continued, very much amused. "He always has to sleep in the middle. Mr. I Don't Give a Shit, but he wants all the cuddles. What if I want to cuddle you, huh? You're a lot comfier."
Uraraka poked her side. "I'm squishier."
"Bouncier," Kirishima amended, winking at her. She blushed, which was ridiculous considering that he had said much dirtier things to her before. "I'm just saying: I think it would be a lot more comfortable with you in the middle. You've got plenty of muscle to kick ass, but you're still softer and you're not human heater." He tsked and started to add their chopped ingredients to the pot. "But no, Katsuki has got to be the center of everything. He has to get as much from us as possible. He's greedy and needy."
"He does let me sit in the middle when we watch movies," Uraraka pointed out.
"That's so he can play with your hair," Kirishima said.
She wasn't about to argue with that point. She loved it when Bakugou played with her hair while they sat on the couch. She could lay sprawled out with her head in his lap and her legs thrown over Kirishima. It was kind of like Bakugou had to be touching them both at the same time. He would have one hand in her hair while his other hand was thrown over Kirishima's shoulder, on his neck, or in his hair too. She remembered when there had been a time that all Bakugou wanted was space. Now he was almost constantly invading theirs.
"I'll sleep in the middle tonight," Uraraka declared.
"You willing to fight with Bakugou on that one?" Kirishima asked jokingly.
"I'll make sure he can't refuse me," Uraraka replied in her sauciest tone.
It affected Kirishima in the exact way she'd hoped. He rolled his shoulders and cleared his throat. "I'm holding you to it." She bit her lip to keep herself from grinning too much. So many times Bakugou or Kirishima said something dirty that threw her off; it was nice when she could throw a line right back at one of them and make them stumble. He was clearly struggling to get back on track as his mind ran to the gutter. "Does this look good so far?"
Uraraka peered into the pot. "I think so."
Kirishima turned to her. "You think?"
"Need I remind you," Uraraka said, "that it was your idea to surprise Katsuki with his favorite meal when neither of us knew how to cook it."
"That's what the internet is for," Kirishima replied unthinkingly.
She shook her head. Then again, it was just as much her fault as it was his. When he had come up the idea, she had thought it was great. It was so hard to surprise Bakugou when he seemed to always know when something was going on, but he had no idea they were currently in his apartment cooking his favorite meal for when he got off work. Unfortunately, neither one of them were the cook that Bakugou was, so they'd kind of struggled here and there. She hadn't thought it would be that difficult as long as they followed the recipe.
Well, everyone was wrong about something.
"Hey," Kirishima suddenly said, "thank you."
Uraraka glanced up at him in surprise. "For what?"
Kirishima shrugged. "I don't know. For indulging me maybe? I know this was last minute. I know…" He hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip. She'd thought he was so strong from the moment she saw him fight that first time at UA when they were teenagers. Finding out he'd suffered from the same insecurities as her had really been an eye opener. It was something they both struggled with even now, but she was so proud of how far he'd come. "I know you never expected me to get in the middle-"
"Hey now," Uraraka cut in, taking his hand and pulling it away from the food. He glanced at her nervously and then looked away again. Nope, she was not having that. "Can you please look at me?" He nodded and then did as he was asked, looking more than a little sheepish. "You didn't get in the middle of anything. If anything, it feels more like I got in the middle of you and Katsuki." He opened his mouth, but she didn't give him the chance to interrupt, barrelling forward. "Not that I could ever complain about that."
Her joke hit the mark, making Kirishima chuckle. "Yeah, I can't either." He reached out to gently tug on her hair and smiled shyly. "I'm just really glad we gave this a shot - that you were open to it. I know you were anxious about it at first - and I was too - but I was kind of afraid you said yes just of Katsuki or something."
"That was definitely not the case," Uraraka insisted. "I didn't agree to this just so I could date Katsuki. You were just as big a part of it as he was and I'm so glad you are." She put her hands on his face, making sure he didn't look away even as he blushed. He was so cute when he did that. She could melt, but she had to stay strong for just a little longer. "My life is so much brighter and fuller with you in it. Is it a little weird sometimes? Uh, yeah, we haven't told our parents yet and that's going to be very interesting." He laughed. "But I can't imagine being with Katsuki now without also being with you."
"It's like…" Kirishima struggled with the words, swallowing his nerves down. "It's like you were the missing piece to the puzzle, you know? I spent years pining after Katsuki, thinking it would never happen, and then you were there and I thought for sure my chance was over, but… It was just beginning."
Yes, that was exactly how she felt. Things had been a little weird and those moments would continue to crop up. It wouldn't be long before they talked to their parents and more of their friends. Then, there would be the paparazzi to deal with and that was a beast in itself. Neither Uraraka nor Kirishima cared about ranks as much, but she was scared it might hurt Bakugou's a little. He didn't seem to think about it, but she knew it was on his mind whether he admitted it or not. He didn't like people being in his business, but eventually they would be. Three pro heroes in a relationship with each other was going to garner headlines - it just would - and not everyone would like it.
A noise pulled Uraraka's gaze away from Kirishima. "The pot's boiling over."
"Shit!" Kirishima spun around and hastily took the pot off the heat, swearing when hot water splashed on his hardened skin. She had to hold a hand over her mouth as he turned the heat for the burner down and then shook her head as he inspected the pot to make sure the food hadn't been destroyed. They were making Bakugou's favorite meal, not the most delicious one he'd ever had. He could handle that. She and Kirishima had made it for him. That was what counted.
