AN: for kiribaku month 2020 day 15 prompt: parallel universes
redri0t69 is online
Bakugou looks up from his phone when his computer lights up with a notification and grins, pushing himself off the wall so his chair rolls over the short distance to his desk. He begins typing immediately, hands flying across the keyboard as he chucks his phone over one shoulder.
New private chat
explodok1lls: fucking took you long enough to get back online, shitty hair
redri0t69: awwwww you missed me huh?
redri0t69: also you gotta stop calling me that :( your character has basically the same styling as mine
explodok1lls: stfu my character is handsome as fuck
explodok1lls: u getting on or what?
redri0t69: yeah yeah yeah, just gimme a second
Bakugou grins as his loading screen pops up and he immediately opens their shared save file. They've played hundreds of hours at this point, and every weekend Bakugou looks forward to another round of Plus Ultra with Red.
As he waits for Red to join, Bakugou rests his chin in his hands as he considers his next message, hesitating for a moment before deciding, "Fuck it all," and hitting send.
explodok1lls: hey
explodok1lls: voice chat?
Bakugou waits as he watches the three dots appear and disappear back and forth for a couple of minutes until he sees Red's avatar appear on his screen.
redri0t69 is typing...
Bakugou moves his own avatar forward until he stands side by side with Red and wonders if he looks like that in real life, or if he's modeled his character after some mental character of his.
redri0t69: ok
Incoming voice chat from redri0t69
"Hello?"
"Hey, Blasty! What's up!"
"Damn," Bakugou says, grinning around a sigh of relief. "I was kinda scared you were gonna fucking be some creepy old man with how badly you fucking play but you sound pretty fucking normal."
"And you," Red answers with a laugh, "Sound exactly how I imagined you, dude! Three F bombs in your first sentence spoken aloud to me."
"Fuck you, Red," Bakugou growls. He's glad there's no video or he'd be struggling to hide his smile.
Maybe in some other universe, he thinks, they'd be able to meet in person. They would be able to stand side by side for real, and not just in a game, and they wouldn't live on opposite sides of the globe with shitty time zone differences.
For now, though, Bakugou contents himself with listening to Red's laugh carry across his headphones, crackly and staticky but so, so bright.
–
Shit.
Bakugou overslept his lecture. He grunts as he throws his alarm at his bed, cursing it for being a piece of trash that runs out of battery all the time. He dashes around his room to get dressed and is out the door and all the way to the lecture hall in record time.
Bakugou squeezes into the back half an hour late and settles against his seat, only to reach down and realize that he didn't bring his fucking backpack. "Shit," he whispers. He growls when somebody turns around in their chair to shush him.
"Hey, dude, you good?" a voice next to him whispers. Maybe it's the soft whisper, or just the proximity of the air brushing against his ear but Bakugou feels a shiver go down his spine.
"What?" He turns his head to see a hand extended towards him and follows up the arm to see some asshole with the most obnoxious hair and an even more obnoxious smile.
"Kirishima Eijirou, at your service."
The shusher turns around again and angrily whispers, "Some of us are actually trying to learn, not socialize."
Bakugou's feeling like a petty bitch, so he responds, "Some of us are trying to mind our own fucking business, huh, how about that?"
He hears Kirishima stifle a little snicker beside him and feels relatively satisfied, up until he smiles and apologizes to the girl in front of them. Miffed, Bakugou slides down in his seat with nothing better to do and angrily crosses his arms, attempting to at least remember as much of the lecture as he can with his brain.
Not too long passes, though, before a sheet of paper and a pencil are slid toward him. Bakugou looks up in surprise to see Kirishima making eyes down towards the paper, and looks down to see what he's going on about.
Hey, sorry about that. Feel free to borrow this if you need to take notes, i figured you must have left it at home. Btw, my number's (xxx)xxx-xxxx if you want me to send you my notes from earlier that you missed :)
Bakugou's mouth twists up a little at that, and he looks over at Kirishima who's holding up a pair of thumbs ups which morph into finger guns. He rolls his eyes but gives him a thankful nod anyway, going back to write his notes on the page.
After class, he sends a short and simple message, taking probably far too long fretting over it before he hits send.
Hey. This is Bakugou Katsuki, from CHEM 201. Can you send me your notes from this morning?
The response comes just minutes later.
Hey bakugouuu! Cool name! Here u go!
[IMG_ ]
Leemme know if u need notes again anytime, i gotchu broski! :D
Bakugou smiles at that, gripping Kirishima's pen in his hand as he copies the notes from his phone. Kirishima's handwriting is surprisingly neat and clear, if not necessarily pretty and Bakugou can appreciate how organized the notes are. He sends a simple message of thanks, and goes about the rest of his day.
Later that week, Bakugou buys a better alarm: one that plugs into the wall in addition to having reserve battery power. He's never late to class again, so he never needs to ask for notes.
Maybe in some other world, Bakugou doesn't need an excuse like that to send a text and ask for coffee. But in this world, he's a coward.
–
"Hey," Bakugou says. When Jirou doesn't move an inch, he shouts a little louder to be heard over the pounding bass blasting through the speakers in the club. "Hey!"
"Oh, Bakugou, what's up?" Jirou asks, turning to face him.
"I'm gonna grab another drink, you gonna be okay on your own for a bit?" he asks, half yelling to be heard.
She nods at him and leans back on the railing. "Can you grab me a drink, too?"
Bakugou nods before slipping into the crowd. He lets himself be pushed along gently with the flow of the music, weaving in and out until he pops out on the other side, pressing into the bar to make himself known to the bartender who's at the other end of the counter. He receives a nod that he'll be over in a couple of minutes, and Bakugou resigns himself to leaning back and watching the crowd as he waits.
"Hey, do I know you?"
Bakugou looks over to his side and snorts when he finds a guy about his age half draped over the counter, looking up at him with a red face and glassy eyes.
"Does that line usually work on people? 'Cuz it's kind of shit," Bakugou answers back, leaning over to see if the bartender is done yet.
"No, no!" the guy insists, straightening up even as he wobbles a little bit on his two feet. Bakugou automatically reaches out a hand to the guy's shoulder to steady him on reflex and the guy somehow melts into his touch as if they've done this a million times before. "It's not a line, I'm really wondering if I know you from somewhere. The gym, maybe? My name's Kirishima, by the way. Kirishima Eijirou."
Kirishima Eijirou. Bakugou rolls the name around in his head a little bit, testing it to see if it rings a bell. It doesn't, but there's a feeling of familiarity about it. About the whole thing really. How perfectly his hand fits against this guy's shoulder, how easily the responding pressure comes. The spiky red hair and the embarrassingly flashy shoes he has on with a denim jacket tied around his waist.
Bakugou turns to look back at the bartender who's still busy pouring a line of fancy shots for a group of giggly girls wearing tiaras and sighs.
"Kirishima Eijirou," he says out loud and Kirishima perks up at the mere sound of his name. "I'm Bakugou Katsuki." He turns to head towards the bathroom, pausing only when he feels a hand on his wrist.
"Wait, where are you going?" Kirishima asks and there's something familiar about the way his hand wraps around Bakugou's arm with ease, too.
"Bathroom. Come on," Bakugou answers, tilting his head towards the wall.
"Oh. Oh!" Kirishima says, eyes finally lighting up with understanding. "Oh! Okay!"
Bakugou would normally be turned off by the innocent eagerness this guy exudes but he can't help but think about how much he wants to run his hand through those gelled spikes and tear them apart until it becomes fluffy between his fingers.
They stumble together towards the bathroom, muttering "excuse me" and "sorry" as they bump through the crowd, not nearly half as elegant as Bakugou had been earlier but that makes it all the more thrilling and exhilarating, building up the touches and brushes until they finally manage to stumble into a bathroom stall.
"Oh," Kirishima says again, and it's the last thing out of his mouth before Bakugou is descending on him, grabbing at Kirishima's shoulder with one hand while the other disentangles itself from Kirishima's fingers to fist at his hair instead. It's sloppy and fast paced and messy and bruising, yet Bakugou finds himself sighing into every touch as their hands fumble against each other.
Something small in his brain says that it's not usually like this, but Bakugou has no time to think about usually when he knows that he'll probably only ever spend thirty minutes in this cramped bathroom stall with this stranger before they never see each other again.
Maybe in some other life, they'd have more time together.
As it is, Bakugou eventually steps back with a number scrawled in black sharpie on the inside of his arm, stopping by the bar to grab two drinks before tracking Jirou down in the dark of the club.
She raises a sleek eyebrow at the state he's in, grinning as she asks, "Looks like somebody's got some action."
Bakugou just shrugs and tugs her out to the dancefloor until he sweats the marker off his wrist and it becomes a memory he'll think about when he sees flashes of red and denim.
–
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Bakugou is just barely stopping himself from capsizing the gondola and all of its shit eating contents with it, driver and all.
"Sorry," the guy shrugs, looking not an ounce apologetic. "Them's the rules."
"That's so fucking unfair! I backpacked all the way up here by myself and I will get a ride by myself."
The driver snorts. "No you won't."
"Ugh!" Bakugou kicks a rock at his feet but knows a lost cause when he sees one. With a resigned sigh, he turns to go down the mountain when suddenly somebody is bumping into his shoulder.
"Hey, no biggie, I'll ride with you!"
Bakugou squints up at the dusty silhouette of a man until his eyes adjust to take in tan skin, sharp teeth and bright red hair. "Do I know you?"
"We can get to know each other!" the guy answers, slinging an arm around Bakugou's shoulder as he drags him over and into the gondola. "Off we go," he says to the driver who merely rolls his eyes and pushes them off the dock.
Bakugou frowns, but settles in anyway. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Bakugou finally turns his head back and nods, "Thank you."
The guy smiles and shrugs at him as if to wave it off, and Bakugou turns back to take in the sights around him instead.
He really means it. He's not one to express gratitude lightly, but he had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long while. It was supposed to be the highlight and crowning moment of his backpacking journey, so even if it means nothing to this stranger, Bakugou will savour every second of it as he breathes in the slightly salty scent of the breeze on his face and drinks in the colors of the scenery before them.
It's only when he's back at the hotel that Bakugou thinks to regret not asking for the other traveler's name.
–
"Jesus Christ," Bakugou groans as he pushes the door of the cafe open, only to be forced back up against the door by the crowd of the winding line. He'd just moved into town for work and wanted to grab a quick mug of coffee to-go, but his hatred of crowds seems to be winning over his hatred of early mornings.
Bakugou taps his foot for about five minutes more, leaning this way and that to peek around and see if the line is about to move any faster. He finds himself watching the single barista at the front, grudging a small amount of respect for the guy as he manages to hold up his cheery customer service smile even as he whips up drinks with practiced professionalism.
Unfortunately, as fun as it is to watch the barista push back his locks of red hair as they fall forward into his face while he whips up some latte art, Bakugou has somewhere to be and places to see, so when the line is still only a third of the way through after ten minutes, Bakugou finds himself exiting the shop out the side entrance.
Maybe some other time, he thinks as he trudges down the sidewalk to his office, stifling a yawn.
–
Bakugou Katsuki is fucking seething. He's never been more pissed off in his life, but he also refuses to admit defeat so easily.
Fucking Deku. Of all the assholes he had to pick for Uraraka's silly little secret santa game, he's forced into Christmas department store rush hour just to find a gift that fucking shitty little nerd will like.
If he's being completely honest, he's pretty sure that Deku would light up and cry with joy if Bakugou gave him a used tissue, but he knows Uraraka would have his head for that kind of behavior towards anyone at her Christmas party, more so if it's her little boyfriend.
So, he finds himself rooting through antiques stores and thrift shops in hopes of finding that one vintage playing card set of Deku's favorite comic book hero he remembers the nerd mentioning at some point, or anything else equally nerdy and shitty that freckle faced crybaby would like.
Bakugou's rooting through his sixth store by now (glaring at the shop owner for yelling, "Hands off the goods you little delinquent" as he deliberately touches his hands on every item he passes) when he spies it on a shelf in the back of the store.
It's no vintage playing card set, but Bakugou's patting himself on the back for his find as he beelines over to the All Might Cuckoo Clock (who the fuck decided to make something as idiotic as this, Bakugou has no idea) when, just inches away from his finger tips, some absolute asshole decides to pick it up off the shelf before he can.
"Hey!" Bakugou barks out. "I saw that first!"
"Uh, what?" Wide red eyes stare back at him, and then to the clock, and then back up to Bakugou. "Oh, you mean this?"
Bakugou is absolutely prepared to fight tooth and nail for this, and he shows it by rolling up his sleeves and baring his teeth. "You fucking bet I mean that."
What he's not prepared for, however, is for the guy to brightly smile and nod. "Oh, okay! No worries, you can have it."
"You fucking bet I can– wait, what?"
"Here!" he says, holding it out and wrapping Bakugou's hand around it. There must have been some leftover static on the clock, because it shocks Bakugou's hand as he grabs it, fingers brushing momentarily against the other guy's fingers. "I was just gonna buy it as a gag gift, but if you want it then you should totally take it! Only seems right that you have it."
Bakugou feels a little bit embarrassed by his outburst now and finds his neck heating up as a blush crawls up his face. "Fucking. Okay."
"Hope it comes to good use!" the guy says before walking off towards a different section of the store, leaning down to push buttons on trinkets and feel furs on coats as he goes.
Bakugou isn't quite sure how long he stands there looking at the guy's retreating back before he shakes himself out of his stupor and goes to make his payment.
Later that week, Deku bursts into tears ("they're tears of happiness, Kacchan, I promise!") as he cradles the barely functioning All Might cuckoo clock in his double sling while Uraraka wipes away his tears and snot.
"You're fucking welcome, shitty nerd."
He wonders how that guy's friend would have reacted to a gift like this. Probably in a much more respectable manner than the scene his friends are making right now.
–
"Hey dude, great job back there!"
Bakugou turns to look down his nose at the scruffy kid running up behind him. He merely grunts and turns back to walking towards the entrance of UA.
"I'm pretty sure you killed the most robots out of everyone in our section!" the kid prattles on, waving his hands in the air as he imitates Bakugou's quirk by making exploding noises come out of his mouth. "When you were like boom and bang and fwoosh! That was seriously epic!"
Bakugou squints as the kid catches up to him and walks alongside him. "Fucking 'course I was."
"Haha yeah, well…" The guy trails off then and smiles brightly at Bakugou. "It'd be sick if we both made it in, yeah? My mom's here so… Hopefully I see you around sometime!"
Bakugou watches him run off, only finding his voice a second too late. "Wait! What's your name?"
By then, the guy's too far away to hear Bakugou's question and Bakugou scrubs a hand at his face, wondering why he feels multiple lifetimes of regret coursing through him. Maybe in some other universe, he'd be a step faster than this.
Three months later
Bakugou slides the door open with a bang, ready to march into the classroom and declare himself king above all these extras only to stop short.
"Oh, hey! I never introduced myself last time. My name's Kirishima Eijirou. I can't believe we're in the same homeroom class!"
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