A/N: Hello! Welcome back! Sorry this chapter took so long, I was busy starting another Bakushima fic, Roses are Red, which you can find on my profile if you are interested! In the time between updates, this fic has gotten even more fanart, wow wow wow you guys are amazing! I don't know how to add links onto fanfiction/dot/net, but I really really want to give these artists a shout-out, especially tumblr user and deviantartist thefoxwalker, please go check out their work, it's amazing!
Please, enjoy this chapter!
There was a slight shifting on the mattress and a movement from between his arms – nothing too drastic, but just enough to rouse Eijirou from his sleep. His eyes flitted open, adjusting to the bright light of another beautiful, sunny day. They quickly focused in on Bakugou, who had just turned from his back to his side, their faces now no more than a dozen centimeters apart. The blond's eyes were closed, his breath slow and even, but he had a habit of playing possum, and by now Eijirou knew better than to assume that he was completely asleep. At any rate, he looked peaceful, happy even. Which was a beautiful sight, and frankly a bit of a relief.
To be honest, Eijirou had been a little worried the day before, right after lunch when Bakugou had disappeared. He didn't know where Bakugou had gone – although if he had to guess, he'd say to talk to Kaminari, since Bakugou had mentioned him, but Eijirou couldn't be sure. And when Bakugou had returned, it was like nothing strange had happened before.
Even now, as Eijirou studied Bakugou, eyes following the gentle curve of his cheekbones, hands trailing softly up and down Bakugou's spine, feeling the way their chests deflated and expanded with every breath they took, he was overcome with the feeling that everything was fine. If Bakugou had a serious problem, they would have talked about it already, right? There was tremendous trust between them, after all, and Eijirou was certain that Bakugou would share with him anything that he felt needed to be shared.
And there was that feeling again, for the thousandth time, like pride and happiness and honor, that this trust that was shared between them was probably unlike any connection that Bakugou had ever allowed himself to have anyone else before. It felt good, knowing that he had helped Bakugou break down those walls, and it felt even better knowing that Bakugou was slowly learning to break down those walls for other people as well. He was growing right before Eijirou's very eyes, more and more every day, and witnessing such a transformation was incredible.
Without even thinking, he brought a hand to brush a longer strand of Bakugou's hair behind his ear, gently cupping his cheek. And Bakugou's eyebrows scrunched together, and he let out a long groan, turning his head as if trying to smother his own face in the pillow.
Through the fabric, Eijirou could just make out a muffled "you woke me up, you fucker".
Eijirou couldn't help but snort at that. "Sorry, sorry." He didn't take his hand away.
Though, Bakugou didn't really seem to mind. He wasn't hiding his face any longer, and if anything, he was now leaning into the a smile stretching from ear to ear, Eijirou scooched forward, bringing their bodies closer together, gently nudging his face against Bakugou's, placing the softest of kisses on his cheek, then another, and another, and another, coaxing Bakugou to give into the affection. Eventually, the blond leaned forward, allowing their foreheads to join together, their lips barely hovering apart.
Eijirou's thumb brushed gently against the corner of Bakugou's lips. He closed his eyes, hesitating.
"This okay?" he whispered, his voice turning so low he could barely hear it himself.
At first, Bakugou didn't respond. And maybe it wasn't normal to ask that question, especially since they had already kissed a lot, but Bakugou was still so new to the experience of intimacy. Eijirou was too, for that matter, and he wanted to be sure that Bakugou still had the opportunity to choose if he wanted to or not.
Then, Eijirou felt a nod against his forehead. He grinned, leaning forward.
The kiss was soft, affectionate, breathtaking, and Eijirou firmly concluded that no matter how many times they do this, he was never going to get tired of it. The two of them allowed the kiss to linger, move, deepen a bit. Just enough to quicken heartbeats and feel a little exhilarating, and pretty soon, Eijirou found himself perched up on an elbow, leaning over Bakugou who lying with his back to the mattress, their kisses so gentle and loving it was as if they were scared they would never be able kiss again.
Eijirou pulled back, taking in the sight before him. Bakugou's sleepy eyes were finally open, widened in wonder, his lips upturned in a slight contented smile. Eijirou beamed, his lazy fingers brushing across a cheekbone, finding their way to ash-blond hair, combing through the strands.
Then, as if he had been overcome by something, Bakugou brought his own hand to the nape of Eijirou's neck, pulling him down for one last passionate, lingering kiss.
"Well, good morning to you, too," the redhead muttered, amused, against the lips that pressed against his own. Honestly, what a great way to wake up. Eijirou would treasure moments like this forever.
Into the stillness of the air, his phone let out a ding.
Against his lips, Bakugou sighed.
"Gahh," Eijirou let out a laugh, rolling onto his back, flinging an arm over his eyes. "Stupid phone."
He could hear Bakugou let out a yawn next to him. "It's been doing that all fucking morning," his voice graveled. Even after the kissing, he still seemed to be half-asleep. "Just, silence the damn phone or something. I'm going back to sleep."
"No, nope, nope, I'm wide awake now," Eijirou elbowed the blond's side. "Seize the day, Katsuki!"
"No."
"Come on, dude," Eijirou nearly whined, continuing to prod at Bakugou. "We gotta get up!"
"Fuck off, 'm still tired," he mumbled again, bringing his pillow out from under him to cushion against his ears and block out the light. His voice came out all muffled. "Too goddamn tired for this bullshit. Seriously, the alarm exists for a reason, asshole."
Eijirou narrowed his eyes curiously, tilting his head to the side.
The alarm…?
His eyes widened, his stomach dropping so quickly that it felt like he had just gone plummeting down the first hill of a roller coaster. With a yelp, he lunged for his phone.
10:17.
Eijirou nearly screeched. "Oh nooo, Katsuki!" He ripped the pillow away from Bakugou's head, patting his shoulder with crazed desperation.
Bakugou squinted up at him, "What the fuck—?"
"Katsuki, get up, you have to get up!"
"I said, fuck off—"
"—I forgot to set an alarm!"
At that, Bakugou bolted upright. His eyes were wild, tuffs of hair sticking out every-which-way. "You what?"
"It's past 10!" Eijirou's voice was nearly an octave higher than it normally was. He held the phone screen out in front of him so Bakugou could see the time. "It's past 10, we're late for class, ohhh no, we are sooo late, oh my god..."
"Shit," Bakugou hissed under his breath, scrambled out of bed, dashing to the bathroom. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…" The door slammed behind him.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god…"Eijirou scrolled through the mammoth wall of notifications on his phone – messages from Kaminari, that must have been who had been blowing his phone up all morning – and each entry made him feel even sicker to his stomach.
[Pichu] 7:27
Hey, I'm not getting English prepositions, do u think we can meet up and compare the worksheet before class?
[Pichu] 7:48
Hey buddy I'm kinda stressing here, think u can get ready and get here any faster?
[Pichu] 8:03
Class is starting. Is something wrong? u sick?
[Pichu] 8:04
…blasty's not here either (¬_¬)
[Pichu] 8:04
And u know how my pervy mind can be sometimes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[Pichu] 8:08
_(:3 」∠)_
[Pichu] 8:52
yoohoo~
[Pichu] 9:03
Kiri?
[Pichu] 9:24
Okay seriously, both you and Baku are gone, did something happen?
[Pichu] 9:52
….. is something happening?
[Pichu] 10:01
now Iida's noticed. People are starting to wonder what's up….. talkin about how you two've been acting funny lately….
[Pichu] 10:02
u do not want to know what Mineta just said, you really don't
[Pichu] 10:04
or the rest of the class for that matter
[Pichu] 10:14
probably bombed that assignment, thanks friendo (b-_-)b
[Pichu] 10:17
aaaaand now Mic's threatening to take my phone so I hope ur happy (;_;)
As Eijirou read, his phone buzzed once more as one final text came through.
[Pichu] 10:18
~u best have an explanation, loverboi~
Bakugou burst out of the bathroom, darting around the room, trying to locate various clothing items, a mantra of curses being muttered under his breath without pause.
Eijirou's legs wouldn't move. He could only look up from his screen, bug-eyed, drop-jawed.
"Fuck. Fuck."
"Nope, nope," Bakugou tugged a white undershirt over his head. "Less fucking, more dressing." After a beat of silence, the tips of his ears turned violently red. "...Not like that."
"Oh my god."
"Shut up! You know what I meant!" The blond began trying to hop into some pants, not even bothering to tuck in his undershirt. "Fuckin, quit sitting there and hurry up already!"
"Right, right," Eijirou finally regained mobility in his limbs and leaped out of bed, rushing to the restroom to start a reader's digest version of his morning routine. And it didn't even matter if he had just woken up a few minutes ago, he was wide awake now.
When he emerged from the bathroom, Eijirou threw on some untidy resemblance of the school uniform. And then the two of them were brushing their teeth, rather furiously to make up for the lost time,, Eijirou barely even managing to comb fingers through his hair before they had shoes on, backpacks slung over their shoulders, and were rushing down the stairs and across campus to the academic building. They changed into their indoor shoes as fast as they could, and then were on their way to Class 1-A.
"It's between second and third period now," Eijirou huffed as they practically sprinted down the hallway. "If we're lucky, we'll make it just as teachers are switching classes. Either neither of us will get in trouble, or we both will. All or nothing, dude."
Bakugou just grunted in response.
They got to the door, and before either of them could catch their breath, he immediately reached out to grab the handle. The door opened, and all the chatter in the room came to a grinding halt. Thankfully there was no sign of a teacher, but heads had swiveled and pretty much all of the students' eyes were on them.
Eijirou smiled cheerily, "Hey guys!"
Some waved back at him, some went back to what they had been doing without a second thought. But others still were giving them a curious once-over, and that wasn't the best of signs. Bakugou sulked into the room directly after him, ignoring some raised eyebrows as he headed towards his desk.
As Eijirou approached his seat, Kaminari just stared him down, arms crossed, expression, unimpressed. "…Dude."
"What?" He slid into his chair.
"What the fuck, dude," the blond whispered harshly, giving Eijirou a pointed once-over. "You're like three hours late. Your uniform's all wrinkly. Your hair's not even up, you're all sweaty and gross-looking. And you're not the only one. Just… what have you two been up to this fine morning?"
"Bro," Eijirou rolled his eyes. "Only a pervert would jump to that conclusion."
"Then I guess half this class is perverted."
Eijirou's eyes widened. He peered around the room, noting how clumps of students would glance in his direction every now and then. He looked down to avoid any eye contact, a blush growing on his cheek. "Shit. Really?"
"'Fraid so," Kaminari nodded, gravely. Then he shrugged. "A lot of people noticed how close you two have gotten."
And that was something that Eijirou hadn't even considered – the consequences of both him and Bakugou showing up late for class – looking as disheveled as they did, no less. Frankly, it didn't look very good, and he wasn't sure he could blame any of his classmates if they made jokes about it.
"Now that I think about it, you two do kinda have a knack of getting into hard-to-explain situations, don't you? And…" Kaminari glanced to his right, and then his left, and then he leaned in real close. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper. "You guys really are trying to keep it a secret. Hmm, risky stuff."
"Not really, just…" Eijirou struggled to find his words. After a pause, he spoke up again. "Just more on the down-low for now. Neither of us had been expecting anyone to figure it out so soon. But if people are already talking behind our back about stuff like that… well, crap."
"I mean, it's not like there's a reason to panic, pretty much everyone was joking, except for maybe Mineta, but you know how he is." Kaminari was trying to pass it off as being casual, but Eijirou wasn't entirely sure how much of that was truth and how much of it was Kaminari trying to avoid chaos. "I tried to cover you guys too, although I don't think you two coming in together looking like that helped at all."
"Well, what else were we supposed to do? We weren't just going to skip an entire day of class!" Eijirou hissed, a little too loudly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shouji and Tokoyami look over at them. He ducked his head, bring his voice to a more sensitive volume. "My alarm didn't go off, that's literally all this is."
"Really?" Sero leaned over towards them, seemingly having caught on to the tail-end of their exchange. "Seems unlikely. I mean, what are the odds of that? Both you and Bakugou's alarms didn't go off?" He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.
The way he said it was… innuendo-y, but ironic. Not serious, as if Sero had just wanted to get a reaction out of him – a harmless punch on the shoulder, an exasperated 'quit it already, man'. But still, without even realizing it, he technically wasn't too far from the truth, and now that Eijirou knew what type of rumors had been spreading around about him and Bakugou, his cheeks felt like they were catching on fire, his mind drawing a complete blank.
"Uhhh yah," he tried to chuckle, but his voice was coming out a little strained. "Yah, uh. Something like that."
And that was possibly the worst way he could have responded, because now Sero had this look on his face, his lips pursed, eyes squinted, like he was trying to figure something out. He turned to glance across the room – in Bakugou's direction – and then his head snapped back too face Eijirou, his eyes wide, as if a realization was just dawning on him.
Oh god.
"Kirishima~!" Pink hands suddenly splayed across his desk, and Eijirou had never been more relieved about a distraction in his life. Ashido rocked back and forth on her heels, a bright smile on her face. "Glad you're here! You feeling okay? Kaminari was telling everyone about how you're, like, deathly ill!"
"I'm…?"
Eijirou blinked a few times. He glanced to Kaminari for some sort of an explanation. But Kaminari was just looking right back at him, eyes wide in alarm, like a deer hypnotized in headlights seconds before a collision.
"I feel fine now, don't worry!" He tried to laugh it off with a little wave of his hand. "Kaminari was exaggerating, I'm sure," he pressed very pointedly through clenched teeth, turning to the blond in question with raised eyebrows. "Isn't that so?"
"Well I figured that was probably the case, but you are kind of a mess?" Ashido tapped a finger to her chin.
"Yeah, well, you know how it is," Eijirou shrugged, nonchalant. "Had to book it over here before class started up again."
"Both you and Bakugou, huh?"
The tone of her voice… it actually seemed innocent enough, not implying anything inappropriate. But, there was something in the way she looked down at him out of the corner of her eye, then over to Bakugou, then back to him, suspiciously, like she was trying to read their minds…
Oh god.
Ashido brought her hands together, the clap making Eijirou jump. "Well I'm glad you're okay, I was getting a little worried there! I got some homework to finish before algebra, so I'll be sure to talk to you later!"
"Sure thing!" Eijirou waved her away with a smile that he was sure was oozing with half-assery. As soon as Ashido took her seat, towards the front of the classroom, he swiveled to Kaminari with a harsh whisper, "Oh great, so I'm supposed to be deathly ill now? That was your big cover?"
"I was trying to help!"
Eijirou set his elbows on his desk and planted his forehead in his palms. He let out a little giggle that sounded more manic than anything. "This is so stupid."
"Tell me about it," Kaminari patted his back, 'there, there'. "But seriously, if you guys are trying to be on the down-low, you might want to avoid lunch. She looks a little suspicious, and it wouldn't surprise me if she's planning to corner you and hound you with questions in the cafeteria."
"Great, just great," Eijirou let out a sigh, composing himself, before bringing a finger to nudge Kaminari's shoulder. "By the way, sorry about the English homework, bro. I know you were counting on me."
"Don't worry about it, man, stuff happens," Kaminari waved his hand in dismissal. "Also, don't look now, but Bakugou's definitely looking this way."
"Really?"
Eijirou snapped his head up and looked longingly across the room. Red met red, hearts fluttered in unison. Bakugou snapped his head away quickly.
Kaminari let out a low whistle. "Not the most subtle of guys, is he?" he muttered, amused.
"Leave him alone," Eijirou laughed quietly, whacking his shoulder. "He gets flustered, just like everyone else."
"You don't say," Kaminari regarded Bakugou from across the room with what seemed like genuine awe. Then he turned back to Eijirou with a wink. "Wonder what else you can do to make him flustered…?"
"Stop it, you. I told you like a week ago, it's not like that. That hasn't changed!"
"Whatever you say, loverboy!"
Just then, the door opened, and Midnight entered the classroom, calling for the beginning of their Hero History course. Eijirou hoped and prayed that everyone would just lose interest in this whole ordeal sometime soon.
But before the class got underway, he just barely heard a mumble coming from his left, under Sero's breath.
"… Loverboy…?"
Oh god.
This was going to be a long day.
Bakugou blinked warily at the scenery around them. "Why the fuck are we up here again?"
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we're in a bit of a crisis here," Eijirou huffed out, sitting criss-crossed next to Bakugou's feet. He patted the open space next to him, prompting the blond to join him. "I figured that avoiding all of our problems and pretending like they don't exist was the best course of action." Eijirou impatiently tore off the lid of the bento he had quickly snatched from the cafeteria.
Bakugou raised an eyebrow, but sat down anyways, their shoulders brushing against each other. He surveyed their surroundings some more, picking up a seaweed onigiri from his tray and taking a bite. Something about the way his mouth was quirked made him look incredibly amused.
"But the fucking roof? Seriously, Kirishima?"
"Listen—" Eijirou sighed, leaning his head back so it rested against the wall, "I didn't have the chance to think about this earlier, because we were kind of in a rush this morning, yeah? But, well, we were both gone at the same time, and then we showed up, at the same time, looking like we had just rolled out of bed together…"
"We had just rolled out of bed together, dumbass."
"Exactly!" Eijirou snapped a finger. "It did not look good. At all."
"So?"
So…?
Was… was Bakugou not getting it? Like, there was no way he was being so calm about something like this, it was a goddamn crisis. But Bakugou had never been the best at jokes, or gossip, or social interaction in general, so maybe Eijirou needed to explain himself a little better.
He shook his head as if to clear it, and tried again. "So, apparently that got some people talking. Making some… jokes, about what we could have been up to." He picked up some tempura shrimp with his chopsticks, taking a rather ungrateful bite and continuing to talk as he chewed. "I've heard some of them, and they are not the most appropriate."
As understanding dawned on him, Bakugou looked down, a slight blush growing on his cheeks. His jaw was set, teeth clenched. "…So?"
And that entire reaction was a lot more subdue than Eijirou had expected it to be. Eijirou blinked, before eating another piece of tempura. "So, we're avoiding it."
The blond took a bite of his food, shrugging tensely. "It was a joke, right? So it doesn't fucking matter, no one was being serious about it," he mumbled through the rice. "This'll all die down eventually."
"Well, maybe, but…"
"Not very fucking manly, running away from something like that," Bakugou quipped.
Hold up.
At that, Eijirou froze, staring into his bento, deep in thought. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that ahhh shit, Bakugou had a point there. Things like this, silly gossip, it all fades out at some point. Had he been working himself up all day, freaking out over nothing? Running away from confrontation, like some sort of unmanly person?
"But that's not all," Eijirou murmured. He turned to Bakugou, his eyebrows low in concern. "Because now they're thinking about it, aren't they? Thinking about us, being together. Even if they're just having some fun, that'll still make it easier for someone to add two plus two, won't it?" He lifted the bento and practically shoveled some rice into his mouth. "Like, I'm pretty sure Ashido already actually thinks something is up. And I think Sero overheard me talking with Kaminari, so he's suspicious too. One person figures it out, and the entire class will know in like two seconds, I guarantee you."
"So?" It came out more like a grunt than a word.
Eijirou studied him out of the corner of the eye. The way his eyes were still soft, his posture relatively slack, his hair flitting gently in the wind without a care in the world… Eijirou rested his bento in his lap, tilting his head curiously.
"Are you… okay with that?"
Bakugou didn't respond at first. He just looked out in front of where they were sat, out to the horizon.
Eijirou felt like he was holding his breath for something, anything. Some sort of a reaction, and when none came, he almost spoke up, just to ease his own nerves. But then, something brushed against his hand. He glanced down. It was Bakugou's pinky, brushing against his, and Eijirou's heart was fluttering. Their fingers crept closer together, hands were overlapping, intertwining.
Finally, Bakugou cleared his throat. "I... can't really do PDA."
Eijirou blinked down to where their hands were joined. "Well. I mean. Clearly, sometimes you can—"
"But not in public, yeah? I can't, fucking, put myself out there like that. I'm not even sure I can be comfortable with anything more than this," His fingers squeezed Eijirou's. "It not some easy thing for me, it doesn't come naturally. And it probably never will. But if I ever turn away from you, or take my hand away, it's not because of you. And it's not because I want us to be a secret either. None of that bullshit, it's just… I don't know why, but that's just how I am. I can't do that sort of thing, not even for you, sometimes I wish I could but, I just, I can't…"
"I know." Eijirou squeezed his hand, giving him an anchor to latch on to, hoping it would reassure Bakugou. "You don't have to do any of that for me. It's okay."
Bakugou nodded. Took a deep breath, one that was a little shaky. Let it out.
And it really was okay. Eijirou never expected Bakugou to be the type of person who was okay with that sort of lovey-dovey stuff, especially when other people were around. And anyways, talking about this sort of thing, it was important. It cleared the air, made sure that both of them were comfortable and on the same page about everything. And, it meant that Eijirou was learning more and more about Bakugou, and that meant so much to him.
"I don't want to keep it a fucking secret either," Bakugou spoke again, his voice tearing through the quiet. "That's not fair to you. And, I want people to know."
The fact that Bakugou was considering both of them, left a smile on Eijirou's lips. He turned to look ahead again with a content sigh. "So, what do we do?"
Bakugou didn't respond. Maybe he simply didn't know how to.
"It's not like we have to tell the whole class," Eijirou tilted his head in thought. "We tell like, two people, and everyone'll know in a few minutes anyways. We could book it out of there before chaos ensues. We don't even have to be there when most people hear about it. Less stress for us."
"Yeah."
"We could even do it this evening or something?"
Bakugou took a deep breath, perhaps calming his nerves, and for a second, Eijirou was worried that it was still too soon. But then the blond exhaled, nodded his head slowly. "Yeah."
This was all a drastically different tune than the day before, but Eijirou wasn't complaining. Openness like this, between each other and even with their friends, it was good. Like they wouldn't be restricted anymore. He leaned his head against Bakugou's shoulder, closed his eyes. Squeezed his hand. He'd been doing that a lot lately.
"What changed?"
"Hm?" Bakugou's voice rumbled in his ears.
Eijirou shrugged. "Yesterday before when we went to lunch we talked, and neither of us really knew how open we wanted to be. And now, you're okay if the entire class knows. You want everyone to know. Which is great, it really is, because I think that's what I want too. But, what changed your mind?"
Bakugou was quiet at first. It honestly wouldn't have surprised Eijirou if he didn't have an answer at all, at least not a clear-cut one. So when Bakugou did speak, and so unflinchingly, it came as a bit of a surprise.
"It's because of you."
Eijirou's eyebrows knitted together, confused. "Me? What did I do?"
"Well it's not like you did one fucking miracle and now everything's okay. It's been a lot of things, building up."
"Like what?"
"Like…" Bakugou waved his hands around, almost a little flustered, clearly knowing the gist of what he wanted to say but not quite sure how to word it. "You keep telling me how much you've seen me grow, but I couldn't tell a single difference. But all these weeks, months of getting to know you, feeling like I actually have someone I can count on to always be by my side. It made me want to be better. Be more like you." His voice had dropped, so low that it almost wasn't there, but there was an intensity behind his words that was chilling.
"But it's not just you who's noticed it," he continued. "Yesterday, someone told me that other people, they can see it too. And if other people see it, if they've noticed how you've changed me, made me a better person, then maybe it's true. Maybe…. maybe I'm not…" Bakugou ducked his head. His words were strained. "Maybe I'm really not a bad person anymore. Maybe I..."
Bakugou trailed off at that, but there was something in his voice, this raw emotion – pain, and hope that was so strong that Eijirou felt the beginnings of tears stinging his eyes, and it was as if Eijirou could finish the sentence himself.
Maybe I really am worthy of being loved by someone like you.
And the fact that Bakugou had to realize something like this in the first place, as if he had thought that he wasn't the type of person who deserved to be loved, as if falling in love with him hadn't been the easiest thing that Eijirou had ever done…
Eijirou couldn't help but latch onto Bakugou, bring his arm around his waist, press his forehead into the crook of Bakugou's neck. "Of course you're not a bad person, Bakugou," he whispered. "You've never been a bad person. I think maybe it's just taken you this long to realize it."
The air between them was quiet and still, but there was an intangible energy flowing between them, an aching in Eijirou's heart to be closer. To let Bakugou know just how amazing he was, how appreciated and loved he was. He lifted his head off of Bakugou's shoulder, pressed their foreheads together. There was something about sitting like this that was so intense, so intimate. They were in such close proximity, holding each other, on equal ground, just the two of them in their own little world. Eijirou wanted in this moment forever, never let these feelings go away.
"I also didn't change you," he breathed. "Yeah sure, maybe I have encouraged you a little bit here and there. Help smooth over some of the rougher edges. But your heart, your soul, it's all still you. This person who you feel like you can be proud of, it's who you've always been in your core. It was just… covered up for a while. So really, it's your mask that's changing. It's cracking, falling away, and now, for maybe the first time, everyone can see you for who you really are. Including yourself. And it wasn't me who did that. You decided to do that, all by yourself. I am so proud of you."
Everything went quiet again, a sliver of time frozen in place. It was so, so slight, but Bakugou was trembling against him, his hand gripping onto Eijirou's with such strength that he could feel his fingers turning cold.
"I love you," Bakugou's hoarse voice broke through the still air.
It was just as much an 'I love you' as it was a 'thank you', and the second it was uttered, all of the pent-up energy that was surrounding them released at once. After a few steadying breaths, Bakugou pressed his nose into Eijirou's shoulder, pulling him into a tight embrace.
Eijirou couldn't help his grin. Couldn't help the pure joy that filled him up, couldn't help how it engulfed him completely, saltwater stinging his waterline.
"I love you, too."