Bakugo's apartment was almost exactly how Kyoko pictured it to be. A pristine one bedroom; where his living room housed, not only a comfortable couch and big screen TV, but a small workstation with extra gauntlets he had been tinkering with and a small bookshelf dedicated to All Might memorabilia. The kitchen was off to the other side with the counters completely bar except the utensil jar. Tucked away in the hall was his bedroom and the bathroom.
"Make yourself comfortable, you can watch some TV." He pointed off to the couch, "I'll bring you a pillow and blanket after I shower."
Kyoko nodded as she set her bag next to the big couch. She sunk into the cushion after she grabbed the remote. She seen Bakugo disappear into the hallway to the bathroom and she began scrolling through his entertainment apps of recently watched shows. She scrolled across the screen, not interested in any of the titles he was watching but laughed to herself when she landed on Sailor Moon.
"Caught you red handed." She spoke under her breath as she moved on to the recommended list.
After she found a docuseries to turn on, she got up to grab a drink from the kitchen. She was in awe at how clean his entire place was, not that she was messy by any means it just wasn't up to a Bakugo standard clean.
After going through his cupboards to find a glass, she realized the tidiness was due to him owning the bare minimum. Four lonely glasses sat in a cabinet next to two coffee mugs, on the shelf below was a small stack of plates. She began perusing his entire kitchen, finding a few pots and pans, a rice cooker, crockpot, and drawer of utensils spaced out in a few of the cabinets.
She filled her glass of water and headed back to the couch, peering down the hallway. She knew the first door was his bedroom, and she only deduced the fact since the second door had a light coming from the bottom of the door.
She placed her cup on his coffee table and looked over at the hallway. She was curious about what his room looked like. She could only expect it would be minimalistic since his place didn't entirely look like a bachelor pad as much as it looked comfortable. Her legs started to move of their own accord, placing her in front of his door. Her hand hovered over the doorknob. He did see her room; it would only be fair. At least that's what she was telling herself as she turned the knob and stepped in.
She was partly disappointed when she turned on the light. He had a queen sized bed pushed up against the wall with red bedding, a desk hidden in the corner with a bookcase placed in front of the desk housing a few books and more figurines.
Kyoko smirked, knowing the only figurines worth displaying in a bedroom would be scandalous anime figures. Curiously she walked over to the bookshelf, she huffed once she realized they were just the ultra-rare All Might figures. She rolled her eyes, her sight landed on his desk next to the bookcase. Her breath hitched, and she held it as she stared at a figure of herself on his desk next to his lamp.
"Do you snoop in every house you visit?"
Kyoko snapped her head towards the door. He was leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his bare chest and her eyes wandered down and quickly shot back up once she realized he was only in a towel.
"I…uh…" Her face felt like it was on fire as she struggled, "was curious."
"Well, you saw, now get out so I can dress."
Kyoko hurried towards the door and stopped in front of him, pointing out to the hallway, "I just… you're blocking the way."
He stepped into the room a little, giving a small gap that Kyoko could go through. She could feel his body heat radiating off of him as she squeezed by. She didn't even dare look at him, her legs were already giving out on her as she got into the hallway.
"There's a towel in the bathroom if you want to shower and get ready for bed." He said as he closed the door.
She took a couple of breaths, pounding her fists on her thighs to bring the feeling back to them. Her conversation with Atori flooded back into her head before she shook her head and hurried to grab her bag by the couch, hoping a shower would help calm her down.
She has had plenty of crushes in the past, usually a lust at first sight. It wasn't as if she hadn't noticed that Bakugo was extremely good looking, more like his attitude prevented her from thinking about it. She usually left any conversation with him either annoyed about what he said or about how she reacted to him.
She put her face into the cascading water, trying to wash the shirtless image of him from her mind. She had no time to be dealing with her feelings; not only did she have her growing career to be worrying about, but now she had a potential creep stalking her. The once innocent fans' face now had a nefarious energy surrounding him with each encounter she recalled.
She rushed through her shower, wanting nothing more than to lay down and hope for sleep. After she dried herself off and dressed in her pajamas, she headed back out to the living room.
Bakugo was sitting on the couch. He was now dressed in gray sweats and a black shirt. A bowl of noodles in his hand.
"How many Sailor Moon outfits do you own?" His eyes didn't even leave the TV.
She frowned as she sat down next to him and looked to see Fight Club playing on the screen.
Bakugo pointed to a bowl on the coffee table, "It's teriyaki noodles."
Kyoko's stomach growled when she looked at the bowl, realizing she hadn't eaten since breakfast. They sat in silence, the only noises from the movie and the chopsticks tapping against the bowls as they ate. The warm food felt comforting, and she tried savoring the flavor but it was probably the best teriyaki noodles she had ever eaten. Once her bowl was empty, she set it on the table and sunk back into the cushions. She looked over at the blond man, his face was relaxed as he watched the movie, his arms were crossed and resting on his stomach.
He didn't turn his head as he looked at her in the corner of his eye, "Ya got something to say, or ya just gonna keep staring at me?"
"You have a figure of me?"
"Yeah." His response was curt.
"Why?"
"Why do you have a figure of me?"
"I told you, Atori… Oh! Atori!"
She thought back to the convention and her best friend handing a gift bag to Bakugo. Kyoko had figured it was an All Might figure or something of that nature since Atori told her it was 'nerd shit'.
"You don't have to keep it."
He shifted to look at Kyoko, "And you don't have to keep yours."
He was using logic against her. Kyoko chewed on the inside of her cheek as they kept eye contact. Bakugo broke the contact after several seconds, reaching for the pillow he was resting against and pulling it out from behind him. He gently whacked Kyoko in the face with it.
"Hey!" She whined as he got up from his spot.
He leaned over to grab the remote off the table, clicking out of the movie and scrolling through a few shows before turning one on.
"Here." He handed her the remote, "If you need anything, you can ask. No need to snoop."
The theme to Sailor Moon played in the background. Kyoko pouted as she looked up at him.
"I wasn't snooping."
He snorted, "Tch yeah, okay."
He left her on the couch, disappearing in the hallway as he walked to his room. Kyoko moved the pillow and pulled down the blanket he left on top of the couch. She snuggled into it as she turned her attention to the TV.
…
Kyoko stifled a yawn as she sat in the coffee shop waiting for Atori to show up. The two were trying to make sure they set aside at least a few hours a week to hang out now that they weren't roommates. Both were starting to find that they had only hung out so much due living together, and that their personal lives and career lives were keeping them apart more than they'd like to admit.
Atori strolled in happily, waving to Kyoko. She took a seat next to her best friend and leaned over to hug her. Kyoko could hear Atori inhaling deeply. Atori let go on the hug and looked at Kyoko bemused.
"Why do you smell like Bakugo?" She asked as she leaned in again taking a big sniff.
"Wha—how do you know what Bakugo smells like?" Kyoko questioned back.
"That man sweats a lot, granted due to his quirk, but you can get a whiff of him the moment he steps into the vicinity, whew!" She raised her eyebrows at Kyoko, "So, why is it you smell like him?"
Atori rested her chin in her hand as she smiled mischievously at Kyoko, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. Kyoko looked at her annoyed, but sighed knowing she was either going to have to make up a good excuse or tell her why she had spent the night at his place.
Just as Kyoko opened her mouth to say something, she was cut off.
"Oi! You left this."
Kyoko turned in her chair, mouth slightly ajar as she stared at Bakugo horrified. He was holding her hairbrush, trying to give it back to her. Atori was grinning ear to ear, awaiting her best friend's response while looking between her and Bakugo.
"Oh, Kyo, so scandalous!" Bakugo furrowed his eyebrows, "You didn't tell her?"
"I was debating."
"Debating? Kyo, this is news of the century!" Atori began counting on her fingers.
"The only news Blondie is that she has someone following her around and folled her to her apartment last night."
Atori's expression fell, "What? Why didn't you call me?"
"I didn't want you to get dragged into this. I don't want you to potentially get targeted too."
"You called Bakugo over me?" Atori shrieked, pointing to the man who was trying to hide his smirk.
"Statically, it's less probable getting attacked when you have a man with you. Probably double that with it being a pro hero."
A frightening expression crossed Atori's face as she looked to Bakugo, noting the smallest shiver run down his spine, "I don't think it's wise to leave Kyo fully alone. Someone needs to walk her to and from places to deter this man."
She turned her attention to Kyoko watching her get angry.
"Kyo, what did he look like, I can see if I can dig up—"
"No, Ato, I don't want you to get involved. You could get hurt."
Bakugo spoke up, "I've seen him, at a battle. He was in a business suit, brown hair, plain looking though. He gave her a rose."
Atori turned her attention back to the Pro Hero, ignoring her best friend, "I need you to walk Kyo home tonight."
Before Kyoko could interject, Bakugo glared.
"Don't tell me what to do Blondie!"
"I'm not. I already know you'll do it anyways because of your moral compass."
He glanced at Kyoko before he grunted and began for the door to walk to work. Kyoko tensed her jaw as she looked between the two.
"Thank you! I'll have to get you another present!" Atori called out to him, snickering.
"Don't." He raised one hand up, signaling bye and he sauntered out the door.
Atori looked back to Kyoko, winking at her, "Looks like you get the royal treatment today."
"I really don't want that Atori. I can't have someone with me 24/7."
"Please, just until we can figure out what to do." Atori gently placed her hand on top of Kyoko's.
Kyoko just nodded, she didn't want to admit how freaked out she was getting, especially with the reaction Atori had to learning about what happened the previous night. She's supposed to be a Pro Hero, the one saving people, the one not scared to head into a dangerous situation. Yet, she felt like every situation she had been in lately, someone was always saving her.
Atori was glued to Kyoko's side the whole day, circling her as if she were a secret service agent. Even though Kyoko loved her high energy friend with her whole being, the energy never shut off until Atori was asleep, and Kyoko was losing her patience.
"Stop, Atori." She stretched out her arm, stopping the woman from circling around her for, what seemed to be, the 100th time.
"Oh, look!" Atori pointed behind Kyoko.
Kyoko turned around and seen Bakugo walking towards them. She looked back at Atori, surprised he had listened to her and shown up.
"Why'd you have to tell him to pick me up, I'll be okay."
"Bakugo said he wanted to make sure you got home safely, don't you remember?" Atori smiled, knowing she was putting words in his mouth.
Kyoko could feel Bakugo hovering over her from behind.
"I didn't say I wanted to, you wanted me to."
A smile curled on her face, "You did tell me not to tell you what to do. I didn't tell you to show up, you just did."
"Your presence really pisses me off." Bakugo growled, "Let's go Bun-head. Go home Blondie."
Atori happily took off, waving bye to the two heroes. Bakugo started heading in the direction of Kyoko's apartment.
"You don't have to walk me home." Kyoko trailed after him.
"I know." He stated simply, not making eye contact with her.
Kyoko sighed and walked beside him in silence. She already knew not to argue with him, but it didn't stop her from sulking about it. She was walking with her arms crossed and staring at the sidewalk. She felt drained, mostly due to watching Atori jump around all day and drag her everywhere, and due to her mind racing the whole day.
The two of them turned down the street the building was on, the sun was beginning to set and the street was getting quieter as families made their way back home. A couple of streetlights began to turn on as they got closer to her apartment. Kyoko's stomach began to feel queasy, her intuition trying to tell her something was off. She looked around the street, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Bakugo nudged her towards her steps. She looked up at the entrance and back to Bakugo, who was starting to walk away. She caught part of his shirt, causing him to stop and look at her.
"Wait…"
"What?"
"I don't know…Something just feels…off."
Bakugo grabbed Kyoko's hand and removed it from his shirt, he pulled her up the stairs of the building. He punched in the code and opened the door, gesturing to her to walk in. Kyoko felt a little better that Bakugo would walk her up to her apartment. She led the way up the few flights of stairs.
Once at her door she was beginning to think she was just being paranoid. Nothing was wrong with her door; she inserted her key and twisted it. Her heart was pounding as pulled it open.
Yet, everything from the doorway looked in place. She placed her hand to her chest, trying to get her heart rate down. She stepped into the apartment, taking her shoes off.
"Is it all good?" Bakugo walked in behind her, watching Kyoko look into the kitchen.
She still felt as if she was on alert, it was the same feeling she would get while battling and not knowing where the villain was going to attack from. She scanned the room, her gaze stopping on her coffee table in the living room. Her stomach dropped.
A lonely rose was laid out on the coffee table. Bakugo followed her gaze.
"Why are you keeping those, you should just throw them."
"I haven't kept any of them…"
Bakugo's expression darkened, "You mean…"
Kyoko slightly nodded. Somehow the man broke in without a key.
"You need to see if anything was taken." Bakugo pulled on her arm trying to get her to move from her spot.
Kyoko tore her eyes away from the rose before she started towards her room, noticing the door to each room was open. She felt like she was going to throw up. She watched Bakugo head into Atori's old room. She took a deep breath, trying to shove her feelings down, trying to think about this situation from a work perspective and just investigate.
She peered into her room, everything seemed to be in the exact place she had left it. She shakily exhaled the breath she realized she was holding.
"You need to make a police report." Bakugo spoke from behind her.
"They can't do anything."
"It's not about them doing something; it's about what's going on in the case that this maniac tries doing more. Pack another bag, we will stop at the station and you can crash at my place for the time being."
"Okay."
…
Atori stared at the screen. She had watched over a dozen videos of footage at the convention in hopes of catching a glimpse of the vague description Bakugo gave her. Her brain felt fried staring at all the people in the background of each video. She was deep into the hero forums, hoping the convention thread would give her what she needed.
She clicked on another clip, this time bringing up the footage of Bakugo taking Kyoko away from the reporter. She slightly smirked at the shocked expression from her best friend as the grumpy man told off the reporter. She started scrolling through comments out of habit, reading about people speculating about the relationship between the two and adding more fuel to the rumors.
She played a few more clips, seeing more videos with Shoto, Izuku, Ochaco, and Shinso giving interviews. She replayed Shinso's interview, realizing she hadn't checked the background due to enjoying the bashful and surprised look Shinso had with getting an interview. She spotted herself in the background with Kyoko next to her as they walked up to the merch table. She looked on the other side of the screen to see a man in a suit come into frame and stop at the table that was directly behind herself and Kyoko. Atori zoned in on him, waiting for him to turn towards the camera so she could get a glimpse of his face. So far, he looked like a regular convention goer, but Bakugo's words were seared into Atori's mind, only looking for a man in a suit in each video and so far this was the only one in business attire she had seen.
The man slowly turned around to look at Kyoko and Atori, only giving a side profile of his face. His brown hair was slightly unkempt, which was uncommon for most businessmen in the city. His expression remained unchanged as he watched across the way at Atori taking pictures of Kyoko with her figure. Atori could see the reporter come into frame with her camera man and paused the video to look over at the man glancing to the reporter, giving her a full view of his face.
She agreed with Bakugo that the man had plain features, the five o'clock shadow and hair didn't help him. The blonde woman pulled up her snipping tool on her computer and grabbed a snippet of his face.
"Alright, let's see who you are." She mumbled.
…
"Kaa-chan, are you sure you're okay?" Midoriya asked, looking at the man.
Deku had walked into Bakugo's office, snapping Bakugo out of his deep thoughts. He had bags under his eyes. He didn't fall asleep until midnight, well past his typical bedtime for his early morning shift. Making a report at the police station took longer then planned and by the time he got back to his apartment with Kyoko, he was fuming.
He had to argue with the cops to keep the file on report after the officers tried to repeatedly tell them there wasn't enough evidence pointing to the man to even make a report. Kyoko wanted to leave without making it, but Bakugo laid into the officer stating whether he cared or not her apartment was somehow broken into, and it needed to be reported regardless and if he didn't take the report, he let the board of the Safety Commission know. After that, the cop begrudgingly took the report and the two heroes left.
"I'm fine, just need coffee." He grumbled.
He was debating roping Midoriya into the situation. He knew whoever this guy was, wasn't going to just stop following Kyoko around. She was going to hate getting others involved but it was going to take more than just himself and Meku to help investigate.
"Bun-head is being stalked."
Midoriya's expression dropped from his typical happy demeanor and into such a serious expression that even Bakugo was almost impressed at the quick change.
"When did this start?"
"Well, his first contact sounds like was at the Hero Convention, but I am certain the online stalking was much earlier than that."
"So, there has been several contact attempts?"
"She's told me that she had noticed him at a bunch of stores that she constantly frequents, I've personally seen him at a scene when she was battling, he just recently broke into her apartment…" Bakugo started listing as he looked down at the paperwork in front of him, moving it slightly to the side.
"Does she—"
"She's got a spot at my apartment for now." Bakugo already knew what his green-haired friend was going to ask.
"She's probably so freaked out. What can I do to help?"
"For now, stand by. She didn't even ask Meku for help when it started." Bakugo rolled his chair back and stood up, "I just need to let a few more people know in case something happens."
...
A/N:
I won't lie, I've been struggling a bit writing. I think the next chapter will start a week or so after finding the rose in the apartment. I think I've rewritten the last half of the chapter three times (apologies that it's way shorter than typical). I think with parasocial relationships, the most 'wild' I've ever been was just wanting to run into whatever celebrity for an autograph or picture, but I have a few ideas of what to put Kyo through and a few for Bakugo too. (I usually never end up running into any celebrities anyways; and I've visited LA a few times and lived in NJ before, so I was in NY every weekend) Any who, hope ya'll like the teeny tiny bit I wrote.
