Bakugo rested against the propped-up pillow; the paperback book tucked comfortably in between his hands as he escaped into his mind.
'Click, click, click'
A rhythmic clicking sound caused a vein to prude on Bakugo's forehead. He looked around the still room. Who the hell was making such a cacophony sound!? Bakugo ran his tongue over his bottom lip, he just wanted some peace and quiet!
Bakugo frowned, pinching his face he turned to the wall on his right. He stayed perfectly stiff, his ears searching out the irksome noise.
'Click, click, click'
There it was again.
Bakugo felt his heart skip, realizing the sound was coming from your room. Closing the book, forgetting to mark his place, he threw the blankets from his legs. He knew you had gone off with All Might and Aizawa earlier today to get a checkup from your doctor. His bare feet pattered against the tile of the flooring, making his way downstairs, the dorms were quiet.
It was one of those rare nights where everyone was off doing their own thing. Bakugo loved these types of nights, where he was left alone and not constantly nagged by that damn Starburst or sharp toothed red head.
Bakugo stepped into his kitchen, flipping the lights on he pulled fresh ingredients from the fridge and began chopping the chosen vegetables as he began to cook one of the many recipes he created throughout the years. He always wondered what your feedback would have been.
Pouring the steaming contents into a bowl, he grabbed a spoon before turning the lights off and heading back upstairs.
At your door he hesitates, but only for a second, swallowing the lump in his throat, he gives a quick knock. He heard the clicking hesitate but only for a moment before continuing.
"Tch." Bakugo clicks his tongue, feeling the side of his head throb out of annoyance. Taking a page from Mina's book, Bakugo turned the doorknob and walked in.
Bakugo was met with an annoyed expression, the first thing he noticed was the cloth laid over the table you sat at with your handgun disassembled before you, was that what he had been hearing?
"It's rude to enter without permission."
"It's rude to ignore when someone is knocking!" Bakugo shot back.
"I should start locking that door." You mutter, turning away from him, back to the task at hand.
"Tch." Bakugo frowned, feeling insulted how you could pull your focus off him so quickly. He could barely rip his attention away from you for three damn seconds, yet there you sat returning to the mindless task of cleaning your gun and ignoring him. "Here." Bakugo steps into the room, holding the porcelain bowl, steam dancing off the surface.
The crimson eyed hero didn't give you a choice; he shoved the bowl in front of you, careful not to knock any of the gun's contents onto the floor. You stared at the murky liquid, neither of you took the first step to breaking the awkward tension.
Bakugo's heart pounded inside his chest, he felt his hands sweat, he quickly wiped them on his sweatpants before looking back over to you. You stared down into the bowl as if there were live fish swimming around in there. Bakugo quickly realized he didn't know what to say, or how to talk to you, he didn't know...you...this realization caught him off guard as he took this still moment to gaze around your room.
Bakugo furrowed his brows, recalling how your room used to look before-Katsuki shakes his head, refusing to dip back into the memories of him sitting beside your grave. He went back to looking around the unpacked room. There was no spec of personality in here, boxes remained untouched in the corner of the room. He noticed the bedding and pillows were neatly placed on one of those boxes, he turned to your bed, seeing it was bare.
What the hell?
"What is this?" Your voice caused him to flinch.
"Dinner-!" He didn't mean to snap; he just wasn't expecting to hear your voice. "-you need to eat..." He tried to recover with a softer tone, you looked back down at the bowl with furrowed brows. The blond turned, spotting the television All Might got you when you first moved into the dorms. All the cords laid forgotten on the floor.
"Why isn't any of this hooked up?" Bakugo wondered; it seemed like a waste to leave such a nice piece of technology to do nothing but collect dust. Bakugo sucked in a breath when you didn't respond so instead, he squatted down, picking up the cords to the TV and console.
"You can eat that food, I'm not gonna turn around-" Bakugo's tone was mellow flavored. "-I made it for you...so...just eat it."
Bakugo was figuring out why there were so many damn cords when he heard the spoon clatter against the bowl, causing the explosive blond's lip to twitch upward as he painstakingly moved as slow as his body could allow him while hooking up machines you didn't care about.
You were surprised by how flavorful the meal was, your eyes flickered over to him watching him sign into his streaming platforms knowing you weren't ever going to use those. Why was he here? It seemed like a waste of time.
Bakugo didn't turn until he heard the tinkering of the spoon stop for a while. He spotted your masked face, but an empty bowl beside you. Bakugo grinned, feeling slightly victorious, he noted how you returned to reassembling the weapon.
Bakugo licked his lips, gazing around the room before staring at your expressionless eyes. There were so many emotions coursing through Bakugo right now and he quickly realized he had no idea how to express any of them.
He opened his mouth, feeling a natural need to let them pour from his chest but when he parted his lips, it felt as if the letters were running so fast to get out, they all tripped over each other and now all the words were a tangled-up knot sitting inside his chest leaving him utterly speechless.
Bakugo's heart hammered away; he racked his brain for any good reason to stay in this room with you. He didn't want his peaceful night alone with his guilty pleasure, he wanted to be right here with you, even if this moment was shrouded in silence.
As he continued to rack his brain for a reason to stay, the heavens smiled down on him, in an instant the power cut out, encasing the room in total darkness.
"Shit-" Bakugo cursed under his breath, quickly fishing for his phone for the flash. With a shaking hand he quickly shined it onto you, ready to comfort and wrap his strong arms around you and never let go. Bakugo's fantasies were met with disappointment as he frowned, seeing you hadn't been fazed by the random power outage, in fact you had continued to reassemble your gun even without the aid of light.
Commotion outside the room caused Bakugo to swiftly cross the room with ease, opening the door just enough to poke his head out, he didn't want anyone knowing you were here.
"Dammit Kaminari-!" Voices cursed the blond. "-we said no eating from the outlet, you have your own generator now!"
"I'm sorry-" The electric hero defends, "-but it doesn't taste as good!"
Bakugo sighed, shaking his head as he closed the door, quickly returning to your side.
"(y/n) are you ok-?"
"I'm not scared of the dark-" Your voice was deadpan never looking over at him, the annoying light from his phone caused your eyes to ache. "-you can go now." Your short acerbic tone shot a sting through Bakugo's chest, for a moment he felt foolish standing here.
"Come on." Bakugo shook off his negative thoughts, reaching out gripping your forearm, pulling you off the chair his eyes darted to your leg.
"I already told you-" You began to bite, voice detached.
"Do you have to wear that brace while your asleep?" Bakugo wondered, seeing it was missing.
"What-?" You were ambivalent as he pulled you towards the door. "-no, why-?"
Bakugo didn't respond, he just gently guided you out of your room, into the hallway and pulled you into his dorm. You heard the click of the lock on his door. Your brows pulled together, visually confused as he turned to face you.
"We are starting back at episode one." Was all he replied, walking to the double doors of his closet, using his phone for light. You looked around the dark room before turning back to him:
"Did you have a stroke-?" You wondered pointing out the bizarre behavior, "-can you smell toast?"
Bakugo smirks, seeing your humor was still intact, he pulls out a thick silver portable DVD player. His dad and him would use it while camping when he was a kid, they would all huddle together in the tent watching All Might documentaries. Bakugo still uses it from time to time on his long hikes, that's how he knew the batteries were still good.
Bakugo didn't reply, he just went to his shelf filled with books and the full season of the favored show between you two.
"No shoes on my bed." He points, placing the DVD in the player, waiting for it to load. He grabbed his desk chair, propping it so it could be seen from the bed. "You gonna stand there all night?" Bakugo comments on how you hadn't moved. "You loved this show, why don't you want to watch-?"
"I'm too tired-" You breathed, feeling the full effects of your sober body. "-I'll fall asleep."
"So-?" Bakugo frowns, not understanding your tangled words. He glanced at his bed, you had slept with him before, was it an issue for you now because of that damn bird?
"It's not time for me to sleep." Your voice felt grim, unable to mask it, you licked your lips, feeling the cut burn.
"What are you-?" Bakugo didn't understand but he wanted to.
"Hey-!" A frustrated One slapped you across the face,"-I know it hurts but you have to stay awake!" She yelled, shaking you so hard you felt more like a broken rag doll between her fingers than a live person. "Five-!"
She yelled until her throat was coarse, but you remained unresponsive with your side bleeding out. "-hey-!" She coughed; your head fell backwards as you dipped into unconsciousness. "-fuck!" One curses.
She helplessly watched as the collar around your neck lit, little beeps let out a warning which was left unnoticed by you. One closes her eyes as the collar lights, electricity filling your body, slowly the power increased until you slammed your eyes open, the night air filled by your anguished cry.
"Hey-!" You snapped your eyes off the floor, hand subconsciously going to your neck as Bakugo gripped your shoulders. "-where did you go?"
"I-" You let out a slow breath to steady yourself, "-I don't sleep until four."
"Why?"
"Because-" You replied, Bakugo could see you shutting down. "-I have to go-"
"I'll keep you awake-!" Bakugo quickly rambled off, just wanting you to stay with him he caught your hand before you got too far. You looked back at him. "-just...just stay..."
"I-I just wanted to hear your voice again-" His voicemail echoed through your head; the remorseful tone caused your heart to clench. You look to the door then to him.
"Fine." You breathed, moving to sit on the bed, back to the wall as you hung your feet off the bed. Bakugo noticed how you didn't move to remove your shoes, and he had a suspicion that had something to do with the fact you won't sleep until four in the morning.
For tonight however, he wasn't going to go prying for details, just for tonight...for now he pressed play and took a seat just inches away from you.
"How's the side?" You asked out of the blue as the opening credits played.
"My side?" Bakugo frowned, confused. You shot him an annoyed look. Bakugo stomach rolled as his throat dried, he swallowed, clearing his throat.
"You-You remember when you were under that quirk?"
"It's going to be ok because I am here-" Bakugo's heart instantly kicked into overdrive, making him feel like the room was ten degrees hotter. "-I love you (y/n)!"
"No-" Your voice caused a mixture of disappointment and relief to flood Bakugo. "-All Might told me what I did."
"You didn't do anything-" Bakugo pressed, "-it's not your fault you were under some damn villain's quirk."
"Mm." You hummed letting the conversation die.
"So-" Bakugo cleared his throat, not letting the conversation go. "-you really don't remember anything while under that quirks influence?"
"No." You shrug, "Everytime I try to recall something I get a tension headache."
"I see." Bakugo nodded. "Well...my side is fine; you didn't get me that good." Bakugo felt the smirk causing you to roll your eyes.
"That's because I was under a quirk." You replied, holding a cocky smirk of your own.
"Sure-" Bakugo laughed, "-blame the quirk!"
"I'm sorry-" You scoffed, turning to face him. "-who was the one who got their shit rocked during my evaluation?"
"I let you." Bakugo brushed off.
"You wish you let me." Your chest was light as a playful chuckle left your lips causing Bakugo to smile down at you.
"How much of this show do you remember?" He wondered.
"Not much." You replied, "Didn't you finish it?"
"No." Bakugo shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Because it was ours-" Bakugo replied, eyes soft like butter as he gazed into yours. "-we only watched it together..."
You were left speechless, staring at him as the small screen outlined his features. You swallowed the lump in your throat feeling your heart fluttering and your stomach wasn't sitting well with the meal you just ate.
Without a word you turned forward, giving the screen all your attention. The two of you allowed the conversation to die as you focused on the show, quickly recalling why you two loved it so much, Bakugo watched you from the corner of his eye. The longer he sat here beside you, even without words, he remembered why he fell so hard for you, and why it damn near killed him when he had to carry your casket.
Half-way through the first episode Bakugo's eyes instantly widened feeling your head fall onto his shoulder. His head whipped sideways so fast he felt the muscles in his neck strain, his shocked expression quickly softened as he watched you take deep breaths, his eyes trailed down to your neck, where the harsh mark remained from the collar. Bakugo frowned, recalling how your hand instinctively goes there whenever your mind travels off. What happened while you were held prisoner under Shooter?
Obviously, he wasn't going to wake you like he promised, he knew you had become a light sleeper, but he couldn't stop himself from turning his head and placing his lips against your forehead, closing his eyes as he did so he let out a shaky breath.
"I've missed you."
