i love how i got to update AMAD on Kirishima's birthday and that i get to update this on mine :')

also i realize the title is dumb but i couldn't think of anything else, lmao.

---

Kirishima

Kirishima unconsciously mouthed along with the lyrics of his music as he worked, his brush creating fine little strokes of red on the polished underside of the skateboard. He sat casually on a padded stool at his work desk in the garage, his hair tied back and his feet lacking shoes. A fan was running in the corner in an attempt to keep it somewhat cool, but to no avail. As a result there was a sheen of sweat across Kirishima's forehead, though he was in too much of a trance with his work to bother getting up to turn the thing off.

He was so consumed with his work, in fact, that he didn't notice the sound of the garage door opening or the footsteps approaching from behind. It wasn't until a slightly rough and all-too familiar voice cut through the monotone sounds of the garage that he realized there was someone standing behind him.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" Bakugou asked.

Almost instantly, a smile spread itself across Kirishima's lips and he swiveled around. "Hey, babe," he said, hopping down to give his boyfriend a swift kiss.

"No, seriously," Bakugou mumbled, half distracted as he accepted the kiss. His eyes were pointed straight at Kirishima's torso with a hint of incredulousness.

"What, you don't like it?" Kirishima asked, amused.

"It's a fucking crop top, Ei. I don't know what the fuck to think."

"I'm wearin' it 'cause it's hot," Kirishima explained. "'S just an old t-shirt I cut."

Bakugou blinked a couple times down at his boyfriend's bare midriff, and Kirishima couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the slight bafflement and conflict in Bakugou's eyes.

"Jeez, dude. You act like you've never seen my stomach before," he teased. "'S no big deal."

"No, but I've never seen a dude in a crop top before."

"And?"

"...whatever," Bakugou muttered. Seemingly to distract himself from the subject he held up a styrofoam to-go box with the logo of Sero's family's restaurant printed on the top. "Anyway, here," he muttered, holding it out to Kirishima.

"What is it?" Kirishima mumbled, taking the box and popping it open. Inside was none other than Sero's mom's absolutely delicious marble cake with chocolate frosting. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed.

"There happened to be one piece left so I snagged it for you, since you suck that shit down like crack or something."

"It's good," Kirishima insisted. "'S not my fault you're weird and don't like frosting."

"It's straight fucking sugar, and I like my teeth."

"Says the guy who brushes his teeth like a maniac," Kirishima reasoned as he hopped back up on the stool and lifted the fork from inside the box.

"I don't brush my teeth like a maniac," Bakugou was quick to defend, dropping his backpack on the floor and taking his place on the stool beside the other.

"How many toothbrushes do you go through in a month?" Kirishima asked around a mouthful of the absolutely delectable cake. It was still moist and even more flavorful than usual, leaving him to sigh in delight the second it touched his tongue.

"Doesn't fucking matter, Dumb Hair. Eat your stupid cake," Bakugou grumbled, leaning over onto the workbench with his phone. Kirishima merely chuckled.

As soon as he finished his cake he was back to work, all too happy to have Bakugou back by his side as he did so. It was always so calming to have the presence of the other beside him, watching him with increasingly sleepy eyes. Where he used to be so nitpicky about people watching him work over his shoulder, especially his mom, he couldn't bring himself to mind anymore. He couldn't figure out if it was the way watching him paint made Bakugou sleepy or something else, but he always seemed to feel prouder of his work while Bakugou was there, breathing slowly, barely moving with his chin resting on the desk.

Only about an hour had passed when he realized Bakugou's eyelids were becoming dangerously droopy, so he tossed his brush in the water and wiped his hands on the nearest paper towel, immediately waking the other up.

"You done?" Bakugou mumbled through the beginnings of a yawn.

"For tonight, yup," Kirishima told him, stretching his arms over his head. "'Specially since you're about to fall asleep, and with my luck you'll end up falling off your stool and smacking your ass on the concrete or something."

"Shut up," grumbled Bakugou halfheartedly. "'S been a long ass day."

"Yup. Let's go see if Mom made dinner, and then we can go watch a movie."

There was no trouble in getting Bakugou to agree, so after making sure his paints were shut securely, his water cup was empty, and the music was shut off, they shuffled into the house where there was still the lingering smell of chicken stir fry.

The two bustled about the kitchen for a few minutes, heaping servings onto plates and heating them in the microwave with nothing but the sound of the machine, their feet shuffling along the linoleum, and the faint babbling of the television in the other room where Kirishima's mom was engrossed in something on Netflix.

When they were done, glasses of soda (in Bakugou's case) and milk (in Kirishima's) poured, they settled in beside each other to eat in a comfortable quiet.

"Hey, I have a question," Kirishima said, breaking the silence a few bites into the meal.

"Hm?" Bakugou mumbled around a mouthful.

"I was just wondering if you've decided what you're gonna tell your parents. About the whole school thing, I mean."

Kirishima spoke with mild caution. They'd both been avoiding the subject for weeks; really, they hadn't brought it up since just after graduation but it was something that was on Kirishima's mind almost daily. He didn't want to pressure Bakugou into anything, but they were already halfway through the summer and most of the schools Kirishima knew about already had their extended, last-minute application deadlines fast approaching.

Bakugou gave a noncommittal shrug, his eyes dropping down to his food. He seemed to use the mouthful of food as an excuse for not answering right away (despite the fact that he'd been known to talk with a mouthful in the past on occasion).

"'M not trying to make you feel like you have to decide right this second," Kirishima went on. "'S just... summer's going by pretty fast, ya know?"

"I know," Bakugou told him quietly. "Haven't really decided yet."

"'Kay. Well, you know you can talk to me about it, right? Like, if you need a second opinion or whatever. Or just to vent."

"Of fucking course I know that," Bakugou told him before practically shoveling in another bite. Kirishima took that as his hint to drop the subject, so he did.

He got that Bakugou didn't want to accept the support of his parents for some sort of trade school without telling them about his relationship first—heck, he almost couldn't even accept the freaking bike for the same reason, but Kirishima convinced him to do it since it was a promise made before the two of them had even met. And despite Bakugou's words in the past about there not even being a choice between their relationship and school, the whole thing still made him nervous somewhere deep inside of him. Not many people had parents who wanted to pay for their higher education with seemingly no strings attached or some sort of catch; Kirishima was pretty sure he wanted success and a solid future for Bakugou more than he wanted one for himself. No way in hell did he want to be the thing holding him back from that.

But of course, he didn't want to break up with Bakugou, either. The past five and half-ish months had been the happiest he could ever remember having, and it was because of Bakugou. Seriously—he already had a really good life and could always come up with some reason to stay positive, even if his insecurities tended to start getting the better of him on occasion, but being with Bakugou was something that made him feel like he was on cloud nine all of the time. There was no way he could explain the blissful calm he felt whenever Bakugou was with him or the way his whole being seemed to jump with joy in the first instant he saw Bakugou every day or so. It was cheesy as hell, and while he wanted Bakugou to know he made him the happiest guy on Earth, he couldn't muster the courage to verbalize this with him. So he kept it to himself. And maybe it was selfish, but he really, really and truly did not want that feeling to go away. Ever.

So, as he often found himself doing, Kirishima buried his worries about the situation and finished his dinner. He knew Bakugou would come to a decision when he was ready, and Kirishima was prepared to support him no matter what that decision happened to be. Bakugou was too damn important to him to hold him back because of his own selfish wants.

⚜️

Kirishima managed to put the situation to the back of his mind once more when dinner was over and they spread out on his bed together, working through a Netflix series of their own they'd started a few weeks ago together. As usual, his mom had gone to bed fairly early, leaving them without worry of being walked in on as Bakugou laid with his head in Kirishima's lap, fingers running gently through his hair over and over.

It was pretty typical of Kirishima to get distracted by his boyfriend's face that he stopped paying attention, and in this instance it was merely because Bakugou was very obviously falling asleep where he laid. Kirishima was more than happy to let him, too. He worked little more than part time at Sero's restaurant, but up until that week with his bike classes and having to take certain tests to get his license to ride, on top of his already messy sleeping schedule because of it being summer, Kirishima knew he didn't get nearly enough rest.

And eventually he, too, started to doze off, regardless of the fact that he was all too aware of the fact that they were both missing the show as he started to fall asleep.

That was, until Bakugou practically jerked into an upright position suddenly an hour or so later, grumbling something about what time it was. Kirishima peeled his dry eyes open to the only light in the room being the 'are you still watching' Netflix screen and the silhouette of his boyfriend shuffling around the bed for his phone.

"What's goin' on?" he muttered sleepily.

"What time is it?" Bakugou hissed again. Only a second later the glow of a phone illuminated the room, causing Kirishima to squint at the sudden light. "Fuck," Bakugou hissed, practically jumping off the bed.

"What's up, Baku?" Kirishima asked, still reeling from the sudden wake up and trying to get his bearings on the situation.

"'S almost midnight," Bakugou mumbled from across the room where he was clearly already picking up his keys from the dresser. "My mom's probably gonna rip my fuckin' head off if I don't get home, like, an hour ago."

That woke Kirishima up. "...oh," he mumbled. "Oh shit."

It wasn't that Bakugou's mom cared if they hung out, but they were doing everything they could to avoid suspicion from his parents and having him stay at Kirishima's until nearly midnight without letting her know or making sure there was no reason she needed him so he could spend the night wasn't helping their case, especially when it'd never been characteristic of Bakugou to do such a thing in the past with anyone else. If Bakugou's parents were going to find out about them, it would be from him, not by some stupid mistake.

"Yeah," Bakugou muttered. "Where the fuck did I put my shoes?"

"Downstairs, remember? By the door."

Half-stumbling, Kirishima managed to follow the other down the stairs and into the dark living room.

"Are you sure you're good to drive?" Kirishima asked worriedly as Bakugou stuffed his feet, sockless, into his shoes. He'd been borrowing his dad's old car since getting his license until he got his bike.

"'M fine."

"Just lemme know when you make it, okay?"

"Obviously. I'll talk to you in the morning, too."

"'Kay," Kirishima said around a yawn. "Drive safe."

"Yeah, yeah," Bakugou mumbled into the soft kiss Kirishima was already leaning into. As always, it was over way too soon and then Bakugou was flying out the door without another word.

---

i'm sorry that this chapter is kinda boring ;-; it's kind of... needed buildup for what's coming.