Selecting a contract was an art. At least that's what Kaminari had told Kirishima. He once thought Kaminari said it as an excuse to explain why he took so long picking from a list, but as week one with no contracts came to a close and week two began, Kirishima was starting to think that maybe he was right.
When contracts weren't being offered to them directly, he and Kaminari would take turns choosing which ones to apply for. Kaminari focused more on the payment and Kirishima focused more on the specifics. Kaminari would spend hours, significantly more time than Kirishima had ever seen him use before, deciding on which one they'd go on. He'd weigh the workload against the payment, trying to find which contract offered the most profit for the least amount of work, and usually settled on something straightforward. It was impressive if not finicky.
Kirishima never opted for the dangerous ones (Kaminari didn't either despite them paying significantly more), but he did choose ones that would be of interest. More often than not he'd have to settle for one that was boring and centered around collecting or monitoring something from a planet, but every once in a while he'd manage to snag a contract that introduced him to something more exciting. He liked the ones that had them accompanying entire crews to learn about new cultures the best and scoured the lists for those first. They were usually snatched up by senior teams, but he applied anyway on the off chance it'd be granted to him should a team drop out. Next, he'd look up anything that allowed them to safely explore new cities he'd never been to. After that, his preferences dwindled and he'd pretty much select anything from the remaining categories.
He never used to be particular in what he chose. He had his methods, sure, and a process of elimination, but in the end, a contract was a contract. It was work. It didn't have to be exciting, it just helped. With the addition of Bakugou, however, every contract he viewed went through the wringer of his mind. They had opened up an okay at best line of communication between them and Bakugou probably wouldn't burn his face off once they left civilization, but there were still precautions he had to take.
Bakugou would be able to hold his own if a contract went sideways. He was more than capable and had proven that ten times over. He was intelligent, perceptive, and, as much as he tried to hide it, curious. In any other situation, Bakugou would handle contracts easily. Contracts, in fact, would be an excellent career choice had he not had literally everything else about him hanging over his head. Despite that, Kirishima was still wary about throwing a human, no matter how mechanically enhanced they were, out into the universe. Oterra alone had some things that left Bakugou stunned and Kirishima was unsure if traipsing around on new planets would cause some sort of sensory overload.
He was also hesitant to expose Bakugou to potentially overwhelming situations. He didn't have the best track-record and if something scared him or made him uncomfortable, Kirishima wasn't sure what the outcome would be. He knew it'd be violent, just not sure how violent. The improvements were immense but, as much as Kirishima wanted to give the benefit of the doubt, he couldn't ignore his past experiences of Bakugou lashing out unexpectedly. Kirishima wasn't about to risk anyone's safety, Bakugou's included, for some Units.
Cities and deliveries to cities were automatically off the list. Oftentimes any contracts based out of a city were in ones of high population. Bakugou already could hardly stand the crowds of Oterra and most planets didn't run on the same "mind your own business" mechanics. They didn't need prying eyes peering under his hood and raising alarm to the Federation. Kirishima's imagination ran wild when he pictured what Bakugou would do to someone who ratted him out and conjured up images of melted eyes and crispy bodies.
He shuddered.
Uninhabited planets were a hit and miss. They didn't have civilization so they'd be safe in that regard, but sometimes they ran into hostile wildlife. Kirishima had yet to be harmed by any creature on his travels because the contracts were well-detailed about the precautions they needed to take, but the unpredictability of Bakugou had him nervous. He didn't seem like the type to back down from a challenge, even if said challenge snarled with thousands of sharp teeth. The last thing he needed was for the human he saved to be chomped in half because he didn't know how to step away.
Uninhabited planets also posed another risk in Kirishima's mind, one that he tried to push away because if he said it out loud, he realized how paranoid he sounded. As of yet, Bakugou hadn't shared what he or the other humans were doing on Alduous. Maybe it was simply because no one was around to see whatever they were doing or maybe, as Kirishima's worry supplied, the planet had to be uninhabited for a reason. Maybe reuniting Bakugou with a similar planet wasn't such a good idea at all.
Lost in his thoughts, Kirishima missed Kaminari approaching him from across the room. He squawked a protest when the comm was pulled from his hands and Kaminari waved him off, dropping down beside him on the couch.
"I can smell the smoke from your brain. Those gears are working harder than they ever have before!" Kaminari offered as a vaguely insulting explanation, dragging his finger along the screen to see what contracts Kirishima had whittled the list down to. He frowned and dropped his hand, tilting the screen to show Kirishima the list he had just been looking at. "These ones are all fine! Why don't you just pick one?" Kirishima didn't bother fighting for his comm back and resigned himself to his fate, dropping his head back to stare at the ceiling.
"I don't want to make a mistake, dude. There's a lot of pressure trying to find the right one. He's…" Kirishima didn't want to call Bakugou 'delicate' because he wasn't and he didn't want to refer to him as 'difficult' because he was scared of bionic hearing. From his peripheral, he could see Kaminari grinning although looking back to the comm and Kirishima glared. "Complex," he settled on.
"Yeah, yeah. We're doing this one." The comm was shoved into Kirishima's chest and Kaminari stood up quickly, putting distance between them before he could look at the screen. Kirishima pulled the comm away to glance at it, watching the pending icon in the corner fade in and out as their credentials were scanned for possible approval.
"This is—"
"Boring? Mind-numbing? Mundane?" Kirishima's brows furrowed and he looked away from the screen to fix Kaminari with an annoyed stare. He was backing away to the door, arms up in a shrug.
"No, it's—"
"Away from cities? Not on a deserted planet? Hardly any wildlife?" Kaminari's grin widened and he elbowed the panel beside the door, sending it open with a whoosh. "The atmosphere is fine, it's not too far away, and it's easy. It ticks all your boxes, dude. He can't murder anyone, he's not going to freak out in a town, he's not going fight an animal," he counted off the points on each finger, "and you get to spend some quality time with on a beautiful, sunny day. What more do you want?"
Frustrated, Kirishima clicked his tongue against his teeth and turned back to the screen, hardly offering a wave as Kaminari bid his goodbyes. The icon continued to blink in the corner and then a new message popped up.
Approved.
. . .
"Flowers." Bakugou read over the dossier again as though he had missed a key point in the information.
When Kirishima told him a few days prior that a contract had been selected, Bakugou said he didn't care much about the details. That had confused Kirishima at first because up until that point, Bakugou had been looking into everything, whether he asked questions aloud or not. Kirishima fully expected him to pour over the contract then and there, scouring the words and images to commit them to memory. But he didn't. He wasn't interested at all, by the looks of it, and the only questions he really asked were about supplies pertaining to the contract and how he was going to obtain them.
It dawned on Kirishima after a flippant comment that it wasn't so much that Bakugou wasn't interested, it was more that he didn't care what he had to do to get off of Oterra and further away from Earth. Kirishima felt pretty stupid after that obvious realization.
All that being said, loaded up onto the ship and ready to head out, Bakugou started to look as though he regretted not reading over the specifics before agreeing to go along.
"Flowers," Bakugou repeated, voice flatter than before, and he glanced up at Kirishima from over the top of the comm. "It took you that long to pick this?"
"Oh, man, he didn't," Kaminari laughed as he dropped himself into the chair across from the main panel of the ship. "I did. He was picking flowers when he found you and I thought it went full circle!" Heat blossomed into Kirishima's cheeks and had Kaminari not already started the sequence that had their ship hovering in the hangar, he wouldn't have been opposed to kicking him out of the hatch.
"You were picking flowers…" Kirishima couldn't read Bakugou's tone; he didn't sound amused whatever it was. Flustered, Kirishima busied himself with his own set of tasks, programming the coordinates and checking the fuel levels for the third time to save him at least somewhat from the awkward conversation.
"Gathering," he corrected, as nonchalantly as he could. "Gathering samples, actually. For science." Kaminari snorted in amusement, guiding the ship out of the mouth of the bay and Kirishima gave up on pretending to look occupied. He turned back around to Bakugou, gesturing in Kaminari's direction. "He doesn't get it. We were asked to get samples of a variety of plant life and—"
"Don't start thinking this guy is some scientific genius, Bakugou. We both almost failed every class we took - he just follows the contract."
"Or we don't get paid! Shut up." Kaminari waved him off from over his shoulder, but his mouth remained shut otherwise. Relieved that the taunting and endless torment was done, Kirishima's focus returned to Bakugou and he took the comm back with a smile. "We figured doing a basic contract first was probably for the best. You know, so you could get an idea of how things are done."
Bakugou followed Kirishima's lead and sat down on a seat next to another interface. His eyes travelled casually over to the large window spanning the hull of the craft, watching the horizon drop lower as the ship ascended through Oterra's atmosphere in a steady climb. His expression was similar to the one Kirishima had seen weeks ago when Bakugou was transfixed on the tree in the park. He wanted to ask what the crafts on Earth were like. Were they big or small? Were they fast? How often had Bakugou travelled?
"We're collecting samples for science." Bakugou hadn't pulled his eyes away from the window, but the words had pulled Kirishima from his questions left unsaid. He continued to watch Bakugou's face, transfixed himself for other reasons, and nodded though Bakugou couldn't see.
"Well, a small company that focuses on phytomedicine put the contract out. The flowers are in bloom so they need us to harvest some before they die. Then they'll just dry them out and do whatever they need to do to make the medicine. We'll get paid based on the weight we bring back, but they often put a cap on it so other contract workers don't completely wipe out an entire species of plants." Bakugou grunted and leaned forward when the sky began to darken into the expanse of space; rich and black with twinkling stars in the distance.
"Harvesting?" He asked off-handedly. Kirishima hummed in confirmation and that's when Bakugou finally looked away from the sky, eyeing Kirishima from over his shoulder. "So, we're picking flowers."
Kaminari's laugh echoed loud in the cockpit.
.
Eamipo spent the majority of its year covered in dead, golden grass. The nightly layer of frost prevented anything from growing for months on end and the only vegetation that could be found were crops grown safely in warm greenhouses. It wasn't a large planet; what the inhabitants called cities there barely passed as villages most anywhere else. Farmland took up most of the civilized areas, dotted with a few buildings here and there, and the rest of Eamipo was covered in sprawling fields and rolling hills.
It was when the chill of the long cooler months thawed that Eamipo really showed what it had to offer. Though the season was short, the heavy rainfall of spring had plants sprouting up chaotically in the areas not yet taken over by civilization. Bright green shoots and bursts of colourful blooms trailed across the landscape, painting everything in its wake in a myriad of flora. It was a sight to see even by normal standards, the lush green was truly breathtaking, but it was the rolling fields of Liq flowers that attracted the interest of many around the universe.
Among the greenery sat seas of naturally occurring fields, flooded with flowers that grew close to the ground and densely packed. The honeyed shade of vibrant orange stretched well beyond the horizon in all directions when standing on Eamipo. While the flowers were stunning and filled the air with a scent akin to sugared spices, their medicinal properties made them worth more than a pretty sight. It was discovered that Liq flowers could assist in many ailments, from easing nausea in powdered form to healing wounds and abrasions when made into a salve.
Liq contracts were plentiful during the time they were in bloom due to their value in the medical field and Kirishima had no doubts that they'd visit a few more times before the season was over. It wasn't his most favourite job, but seeing the way Bakugou stood up to peer down at the patchworked surface of Eamipo, completely abandoning his efforts to appear bored and uninterested, made plucking flowers that much more palatable.
"The atmosphere is a little different here, but it doesn't look like you'll have to gear up," Kirishima said as their ship began to land and Bakugou turned away from the window to give him his attention. "You might feel lightheaded for a bit or your body might feel more…" He trailed off and scrunched up his nose, flapping his hand around in the air trying to think of the word. "Floaty? But it should pass once you adjust."
The ship shook as it met solid ground and Kaminari stood up from his seat as well, leaning over to grab one of the equipment bags propped against the wall. "Yeah, just let us know if you can't breathe!" Kirishima fixed Bakugou with a strained smile and stooped down to pick up the other bag.
"I would love to say that he's joking, but yeah. If you start to feel like you can't breathe, let us know. Sometimes the atmospheric calculations can be off."
"Comforting," Bakugou said though the information was anything but and Kirishima's smile shifted into one of amusement. He laughed and waved Bakugou forward, following Kaminari to the hatch.
"It was one time and only because Denki's insides are delicate," Kirishima teased and Kaminari made an indignant noise.
"The doctor said those little acid particles your brute lungs couldn't feel were eating away at me!"
The code to release the stairs was entered despite the bickering and a rush of sun-warmed air laced with the scent of the Liq flowers rolled into the ship. Kirishima inhaled deeply - the smell new and familiar all at the same time - and urged Kaminari forward with a light push on his back. The trip to Eamipo wasn't a long one, but he was still itching to get outside where the air was fresh and not fuel-soaked like Oterra's. He was also maybe a little excited to be there for Bakugou's first contract, eager to see if his reactions to the flowers and other surrounding areas were the same as when they went to the park.
Kaminari must've noticed because a sharp elbow was jabbed into Kirishima's ribs and he was met with a knowing grin. "I'll set up the scales and packaging if you two want to start on the flowers?" The question was more of a statement as Kaminari began to do just as he said, setting up a small station where they could weigh and properly wrap the flowers. That was usually how it went anyway - Kaminari was significantly better at setting up the comms to provide accurate readings whereas Kirishima was much more inclined to get his hands dirty so to speak. The roles were fine, but it was the glint in Kaminari's eyes that didn't sit right with Kirishima and, though he nodded in confirmation, he was sure to convey his disdain with a look over his shoulder. Kaminari purposefully ignored him and Kirishima was left motioning Bakugou to follow him to the Liq field they landed beside.
They reached the edge where stray flowers were spilling out into the tangles of grass and stopped. Kirishima took in the blanket of orange as he often did every time he was on Eamipo, never tiring of the planet's scenery. He had seen many planets in various seasons, but Eamipo was frequently on his mind as one of the top ones as far as nature goes. Maybe it was the way the flowers met with the almost unnatural looking cyan sky or how the hills broke up the horizon in sweeping waves. Maybe it was the way the planet went from a dead husk to filled with life in the span of months. Maybe it was how the flowers grew only there, at one specific time, and managed to replenish themselves year after year to supply endless remedies around the universe. He thought back to when he told Bakugou that planets had souls. Eamipo was exactly what he meant. He didn't think Bakugou understood that, he doubted that he'd understand by the end of the contract, but he hoped that one day he would.
"What do you think?" he prompted after a pause and looked away from the field to Bakugou. His expression wasn't as open as it was when he saw the trees. He looked more guarded; brows furrowed and his mouth pulled into a tight line. He looked uncomfortable or unsettled. He looked on edge, Kirishima realized, and he frowned in concern.
Bakugou was scanning everything in front of him. His eyes darted from the field to the cluster of trees on a hill to the peaks of roofs in the distance. At his sides, his hands clenched and unclenched in a nervous rhythm and something twisted in Kirishima's gut that made him worry that the contract was too big of a step too early on.
"Hey…" Kirishima said softer this time, lowering his voice so only Bakugou could hear him as though that'd give them some kind of privacy even with Kaminari nearby. Bakugou opened his mouth to respond and decided against it, clamping his mouth shut again. He instead squinted at the field and forced his expression into his usual scowl. It was strained - a mockery of normalcy - and Kirishima fought down the part of him that wanted to assure Bakugou that everything was fine.
"It hurts my eyes," Bakugou grunted and Kirishima urged a grin to appear on his face despite knowing that it wasn't what Bakugou wanted to say at first. He focused on the flowers again as well and hummed a soft acknowledgement. With the sun shining bright, each petal did reflect harshly back up at them.
"This entire planet looks like someone cranked the colour up on it," he agreed with a chuckle and began to step forward into the field. He didn't want to make it obvious that he noticed the apprehensive behaviour, especially not when Bakugou tried to cover it up so quickly. "C'mon. We don't want to work around the edges - that's where the animals graze. We want the stuff further in. There's less damage to those ones." Bakugou looked at the crushed flowers beneath Kirishima's boots and hesitated for a moment, as though trampling over the valuable plants was sacrilegious, but gradually he followed.
The flowers were bountiful, so it didn't really matter where they started to harvest as long as it wasn't along the perimeter. Still, Kirishima led Bakugou through the expanse of orange until they were quite aways in but close enough to the ship that hauling the bundles back wouldn't be too much of an effort.
"Harvesting the flowers isn't hard," Kirishima began as he selected a spot and knelt down. Bakugou scoffed.
"No shit."
Kirishima frowned down at the bag and opened it, remaining relatively unfazed by Bakugou's comment. "We really just want to leave the roots behind so the flowers come back next year, but you still want to get as much of it as you can."
He rummaged around and sifted through the contents, producing two shears and a smaller canvas bag. After handing one of the shears to Bakugou, Kirishima buried his hand into the flowers to secure a bunch and moved them over to one side. "They're tough little guys so you can just grab a handful and they won't get damaged. And then you just cut them as close to the ground as you can." With a quick snip, Kirishima cut through a bundle of stems and held up the fistful of orange petals for Bakugou to see, smiling wide. "Easy!"
Kirishima didn't feel the need to monitor Bakugou's handiwork, the task was relatively straight forward (they were right, it was picking flowers technically), but Bakugou still dropped to the ground beside him and copied his actions almost exactly, even down to holding up the flowers bunched in his hand for inspection. He didn't expect him to look for his approval, but Kirishima nodded anyway and smiled encouragingly. That was all Bakugou needed for him to continue on; gripping the flowers, cutting at their stems, and then dropping them into the bag.
They worked in relative silence. Kirishima hadn't bothered to start a conversation with Bakugou; not out of pettiness, of course, but respect and patience. He himself was content to work in the quietness, happy to let the sounds of a light breeze trailing through the field and the snipping of shears fill the space instead. It was a companionable silence that wasn't strained or awkward. It felt sort of normal and maybe that was why Kirishima let it stretch on for as long as it did.
To his surprise, it was Bakugou who broke the silence.
"The flowers were orange." His voice cut clear through the quietness they created and when Kirishima did little more than stare at him, Bakugou let out a frustrated huff. He focused back down on the flowers, closing the shears with a bit more force. "Where you found me."
"Oh! Right!" Kirishima let out an embarrassed laugh and thought back to the flowers. "Denki's right. I don't know much about science, but those flowers were really cool. They changed colours. First, they were blue and then purple and then, when I ripped a petal off of one, they all went this really bright white. Lit up the whole area." Bakugou nodded and fell quiet again.
And so did Kirishima until he honed in on the orange petals sprouting up between his fingers and a realization dawned on him.
The tense shoulders, the shaking fists, the uncertainty. All of that happened when Bakugou actually got to see the orange flowers which were probably very similar to the last orange flowers he saw before passing out on Alduous after whatever happened to him. It wasn't enough to send him into a panic, but certainly enough to bring back some unpleasant memories.
Kirishima felt like kicking himself.
This was Bakugou trying to let him in.
"We can leave if you want," he offered, trying to play it off like it wasn't an afterthought. "Or you can hang back at the ship if you're uncomfortable. I'll still split the contract with you."
Bakugou shook his head. "Shut up. It's fine. It just… reminded me. That's all."
The silence that came after that wasn't the same as before. It still wasn't awkward and it wasn't really all that tense. If Kirishima were being honest, Bakugou seemed as though he went back to work without a second thought about the brief conversation they had. He didn't seem bothered at all by sharing a bit of information or the lack of Kirishima's awareness. It was Kirishima who felt the change. He was internally berating himself for not piecing the information together quick enough and, while he didn't know the relation between the flowers and he actually wasn't the one who picked the contract, he did feel a bit guilty.
He distracted those thoughts by reminding himself that it was a good thing that Bakugou opened up, even if it was about a potentially triggering subject.
.
Kaminari eventually joined them to help out and it became easier for Kirishima to stop his thoughts from spiralling. They chatted idly to pass the time. It was mindless work - repetitive. Although the new conversation helped, Kaminari and Kirishima both found their enthusiasm for the contract draining. They took longer and longer breaks as the hours ticked by, leaning back into the flowers to rest their aching hands.
Bakugou didn't take breaks, Kirishima learned. Pretty early on Bakugou gradually began to drift away from them, but not deliberately. He worked like a machine, for lack of a better description, and had cleared nearly double the area Kirishima and Kaminari had combined. Every so often Kirishima would glance up to check in on the human and found that the only respite Bakugou granted himself were fleeting seconds of inspecting the flowers, gently tracing the petals with a quiet curiosity. He would then immediately dive back into working without a moment's hesitation - precise and focused.
"He makes us look bad," Kaminari quipped, keeping his voice down. He had followed Kirishima's eyes to Bakugou when he noticed his friend had stopped working and let out a soft whistle at the meticulously straight line of flowers that had been clear-cut from the field. "How the hell does he do it? I can barely find the energy to cut these damn things anymore."
A smile pulled at Kirishima's lips upon hearing his friend's words, but he didn't look away. Seeing Bakugou knelt amongst the flowers had reminded him of Alduous too but in his own way. Only this time, it was different. Back then Bakugou had been lying bloodied and bruised in a field of glowing white; sickly, afraid, and on the cusp of dying. Now mended and healthy, he was more vibrant than the orange pooling around him.
Kaminari made a sound of disgust and Kirishima quickly tore his eyes away from Bakugou as though he had been caught staring because he definitely had been, but not by the human. "Shit. You like him." Kirishima's eyes definitely didn't widen and he definitely didn't feel heat rise from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. He returned his attention to the flowers and continued to trim them from where his shears were left poised.
"He's not so bad once you get to know him."
"No, you like him!" Kaminari hissed lower, more emphatically, and became significantly more interested in needling Kirishima over the realization. "You were just making eyes at him, dude!" The shears were closed much more violently than needed and Kirishima gawked at Kaminari.
"Eyes? What eyes?"
"Those weird, gooey, lovestruck eyes you do when you like someone!" Kirishima shoved the flowers forcefully into the bag, pointedly ignoring the accusation, and cut away at another handful of flowers. Kaminari didn't drop it. He grinned mischievously and closed his hand over the top of the bag to stop Kirishima from adding more. "You have the absolute worst taste I have ever seen! Wait 'til I tell Mina!"
Kaminari's laugh sounded out loud and clear across the field as more and more red crept into Kirishima's face. "Keep it down! Don't tell her anything and mind your business!" Kirishima bit back, snatching the bag away from Kaminari. Still snickering, Kaminari resumed working but didn't let the conversation go.
"A human. A human! Out of everyone we've encountered, you took one look at a human - a violent one at that - and thought to yourself, 'Damn, that's the one I want.' Be honest, was it before or after he pinned you to a wall and fried your neck? I always knew you were kind of freaky."
"Please just drop it."
"We only found him, what? A month ago? Moving fast."
"It's not like that!" Kirishima protested, exasperated, and dropped the shears to the ground to clear the air. "He's just… He's smart and interesting and cool. And, yeah, I like talking to him or trying to talk to him and I think I can learn a lot from him and maybe he can learn from me or something, but even if it was like that he…" Frustrated, or maybe hurt or some other thing just as confusing, Kirishima closed his mouth and the teasing expression that was on Kaminari's face fell sympathetic.
"He can't stay…" Kaminari finished the thought and Kirishima didn't say anything, but he nodded. Kaminari sighed and reached over to close the gap between them, clapping a hand onto his friend's shoulder and giving a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's not like he's leaving tomorrow or anything. You still have a lot of time with him - he needs you!"
Sighing as well, Kirishima glanced back over to Bakugou, still working tirelessly and most likely determined to harvest the entire field if they didn't step in soon. He didn't quite understand what he felt - fascination, a fleeting crush, something else entirely - but he knew that he did feel something when it came to Bakugou. It was something that was as terrifying as it was exciting. Thrilling and comforting.
"Besides," Kaminari added, his voice lifting up to lighten the mood, "he's kind of a dick. Maybe Earth doesn't even want him back."
Kirishima shouldn't have laughed at the joke, but he did.
. . .
When asked if he thought the contract idea was going to work on their way back to Oterra, Bakugou agreed in not so many words. It was more of a grunt of confirmation, but it meant the same thing in Kirishima's books. He was already scrolling his comm for the next potential contract by the time they reached home, determined to find something that was more interesting than gathering flowers. It wasn't as though Kirishima's concerns were misplaced in selecting the first contract, but he did learn that maybe he had been too cautious. In the end, there had been nothing to worry about. Everything had gone well, after all.
Until that night.
.
Kirishima didn't know if it was the stress of the contract - going to a new place and being reminded of Alduous - or just a coincidence in the timing, but he had yet to face one of Bakugou's bad nightmares. The nightmares he had experienced were nothing like the ones he had originally heard through the walls when he first brought Bakugou to Oterra.
Since it became clear that Kirishima's presence did help with the nightmares in one way or another, they had figured out a new sleeping arrangement. It was actually Kirishima who had figured it out, making an impressive nest of blankets and pillows on the floor while he let Bakugou have the bed, but it was working nonetheless. Bakugou had no input on the matter, though Kirishima had asked many times what he was comfortable with, so he carried on with his own plan.
It seemed to work. The nightmares improved almost instantly, though they were never completely gone. That last part didn't matter though because Bakugou still got to sleep through the majority of most nights, only waking up a handful of times if at all.
Most nights were similar to the first time he truly got to experience one of Bakugou's nightmares firsthand. Just the sounds of Bakugou shifting in discomfort and the quiet grunts of distress. It would rouse Kirishima before Bakugou and on those nights, he would move to the edge of the bed as he had done before and place his hand on Bakugou's back or arm. The reassuring weight of his palm would be enough to ease the unrest and subconsciously ground Bakugou enough for him to sleep peacefully again.
The nights when Kirishima didn't wake up first, he'd open his eyes to see the soft illumination coming from Bakugou's comm. He couldn't see much from his position on the floor and Kirishima knew better than to disturb him, but he had caught a peek at the projections a few times. Bakugou spent those nights scrolling through Earth's database, never looking at anything in particular, until he felt tired enough to sleep again. Kirishima figured the images must've been calming or at least distracting, even though Bakugou wanted to get as far from Earth as possible. It made sense to cling to the familiarity.
The night after the contract, however, didn't follow the same formula as the other evenings.
The nightmare caught both of them off guard. Kirishima didn't wake up from the usual rustling nor did he wake up from the glowing light. He was ripped back to consciousness by the sound of heavy, frantic breaths. They were the kind of breaths that sounded physically painful and, for a moment, Kirishima was left blinking up at the ceiling trying to process if it was him panicking or someone else.
A choked word in a language he didn't understand made everything piece together and Kirishima was untangling himself from his bed to stand up. He could only make out Bakugou's hunched over silhouette in the dim light and he fumbled blindly behind him to the panel to increase the brightness of the room.
Bakugou had curled in on himself, his hand was twisting into his dampened shirt and tugging it away from his body as though it was constricting. He was unsuccessfully trying to pull in ragged gulps of air that made Kirishima's lungs burn just from hearing it. The trembling was so violent that Kirishima was afraid to reach out to him - afraid to even speak - because he looked so fragile and frightened. He tried anyway, stepping forward only to be stopped by a guttural, frustrated yell. It wasn't directed at him. He wasn't sure if Bakugou even knew he was there at all.
Kirishima took in a calming inhale to make himself relax and spoke. "Bakugou." Wide eyes shot over to him; angry and scared, embarrassed and desperate. Bakugou seemed coherent enough to now know what was happening, but his body was running on the residual adrenaline brought on by the nightmare. "It's okay," Kirishima said gently, just loud enough to be heard over the wheezing breaths, and took another step forward to sit on the very edge of the bed. Bakugou's teeth clenched together angrily and he shook his head when Kirishima tentatively reached out a hand. With a nod, Kirishima let his hand drop to his lap instead.
He sat still and patient, keeping his eyes averted as Bakugou worked at getting his breathing under control. Gradually it came easier, although every inhale and exhale shuddered. "Can I get you anything?" Kirishima asked when Bakugou let go of his shirt at long last to flex the tension from his fingers.
"I'm fucking fine," Bakugou said. His voice didn't have any hostility behind it. He sounded more defeated than anything else and Kirishima couldn't blame him. Bakugou fell back against the bed again and crossed his arms over his face, obscuring himself from Kirishima's view.
He seemed ashamed that Kirishima had been there to witness him fighting to do something as simple as breathing. Telling Bakugou that he had nothing to be embarrassed about was immediately off the table, but it wasn't the only thing Kirishima wanted to assure him of. Bakugou was brave and there was a swelling feeling of admiration when Kirishima thought about what transpired. Bakugou used to deal with that nightly. He would fight through it, by himself, exhausted, and somehow managed to pull himself through to the other side.
But he wasn't alone anymore. He didn't have to sit and ruminate about whatever the nightmare was. He didn't have to be stuck with his thoughts, afraid to go back to sleep.
Before Bakugou could protest, Kirishima snatched his own comm from the small table beside the bed and reclined back as well. He ignored the way he felt the remaining tremors coming from Bakugou. He ignored the irritated growl. He ignored the brush of their arms and how warm Bakugou felt against his skin.
He focused on the comm and booted up the database.
"What the fuck are you doing...?" Bakugou muttered, his voice coming out hoarse and muffled from underneath his arms. Kirishima didn't answer and continued to select and swipe through the screens to find what he was looking for. Just as one annoyed red eye peeked out from under the crook of Bakugou's elbow, a projection rose from the screen and sat above them.
"What's that?" Kirishima asked. There was a confused pause.
"What?" Kirishima pointed to the hologram hanging in the air and the bed shifted as Bakugou tilted his head to look up. "It literally tells you everything on the screen."
Kirishima dropped his arm down to rest across his stomach and shook his head. "It tells me what we think it is, but Earth hasn't given us anything to go off of. I want the inside scoop." Bakugou moved again, turning his head back to the side to squint at Kirishima as though he were trying to find his angle.
"I know why you're doing this." Kirishima didn't look at him and didn't respond. "I don't need a distraction. It's stupid." Again, no reply. Bakugou looked back up to the projection and scoffed. "Why are you looking at this anyway? Out of everything there is on Earth." Kirishima shrugged, their shoulders bumping together, and finally, after a long, stubborn sigh, Bakugou answered. "It's a fucking flower. A blossom. The petals will fall off and it'll keep growing until there's a fruit."
Kirishima grinned triumphantly and pulled his finger across the comm until another flower appeared, this time with many bright yellow petals. "This flower looks like you. Like your hair." The back of Bakugou's hand colliding with his sternum caught him by surprise and he let out a yelp that trailed into a laugh.
"That's not a flower, dipshit. That's a weed," Bakugou snapped, swatting at Kirishima's chest again. Kirishima continued to laugh and crossed his arms in a pathetic attempt at protection.
"What's a weed?" he asked between chuckles. The database didn't make that distinction.
"A plant no one fucking likes." The laughing stopped and Kirishima looked up at the hologram in concern, dragging his fingers to zoom in on one of the yellow puffs. It looked like a flower to him - no different than any other ones he had looked at before. He frowned.
"That's not nice. Who decides that?"
Bakugou let out an amused sort of sound and shook his head. "It's a plant. Their feelings aren't hurt. Go to the next one before you overthink it and kill your last brain cell."
Kirishima lingered on the dandelion a little longer, personally offended on its behalf, and begrudgingly moved on when Bakugou's elbow nudged his side. They went through clusters of blue hydrangeas, spiky purple thistles, and tiny white flowers called baby's breath. Bakugou pointed out lilies and sunflowers and buttercups; edible flowers and poisonous ones; wild flowers and flowers humans grew for fun. They came in exciting colours and different shapes and sizes and they were all beautiful (even the weeds) to Kirishima. He did his best to repeat each of the flowers' names as Bakugou said them, tripping up only a few times over the pronunciations.
Kirishima stopped on a deep red one, deciding that it was now his favourite even though he had just said the same about the dahlia he saw previously. "What flower is that?"
"A rose."
Kirishima hummed thoughtfully, repeating the word over to himself. "Does it have a purpose?" Bakugou rubbed a hand across his eyes tiredly and stifled a yawn.
"I don't fucking know. It's pretty, I guess? People grow them and give them away."
"Give away?"
The sigh Bakugou let out bordered on frustration, but he had continued to answer all of Kirishima's questions thus far. "To people they like. A gift."
"What do you do with it?"
"Look at it? I don't know. It's just a flower."
Kirishima adjusted himself so he could face Bakugou. "Did you ever get one?" Bakugou wrinkled his nose and Kirishima's heart flipped.
"No."
"Do the other humans not like you?"
Bakugou turned his head on the pillow to shoot Kirishima a glare and Kirishima only responded with a teasing smile. "I fucking hate you." The smile grew and Kirishima looked back up to the projection, studying the curves of the petals and points of the thorns.
"I'd give you a…" he paused, thinking of the word again, "rose."
Bakugou snorted dismissively. "No, you fucking wouldn't. Don't be weird."
"I would!" Kirishima insisted, glancing to his side. Bakugou shook his head in disbelief and Kirishima quickly sat up, knocking the comm from his lap. He fumbled with the device to turn it off and returned his attention to Bakugou. "I'll make one right now if you don't believe me."
Bakugou's eyebrows bunched together in confusion and Kirishima smirked having won their 'argument.' But then Bakugou sat up as well, squinting at him like he'd sprouted a second head. "Make one?" Kirishima nodded, although a little uncertain. "What do you mean make one? How?"
"Oh!" He'd forgotten that he hadn't shown Bakugou. "Okay, so, it's really cool. We have this machine, right? And it's kinda like the ones at the market where it can materialize things, but this one is hooked up to the database. It can only pull plants and stuff like that - I can't make a synthetic animal or anything - but it makes cooking so much easier."
There was another pause. A longer one. One that stretched uncomfortably because Bakugou continued to stare at him, incredulous and almost… angry?
"It's connected to Earth's database, too?"
"Uh… Yeah. Yep. Earth's, too…"
Suddenly Bakugou shoved at him, hard enough to almost knock him over, and got up from the bed. Kirishima stared wide-eyed and perplexed, rubbing the spot on his shoulder where Bakugou had pushed him though it didn't really hurt.
"Are you ok—"
"No, I'm not okay!" Bakugou bit out harshly and Kirishima flinched at the sudden increased volume. The human was still looking at him with that bewildered look and finally - finally - he said something that made sense. "I've been living off of literal candy and you just now think of telling me that I can make fucking food from Earth?"
Oh!
Oh...
A/N: Thank you so much for your patience! I was working on a larger kiribaku piece that can't be posted here because of the ~content~ but it can be found on AO3 (CitrusVeins). Follow on Tumblr (CitrusVeins) or Twitter (Citrus_Veins) if you desire!