Work Text:
Scintilla
(n.) a tiny, brilliant flash or spark; a small quality or feeling.
1.
Bakugou has never been sick in his entire life.
Which is simply absurd. Who hasn’t been sick?
Eijirou knows that he was perhaps somebody who was born to be sick. The number of times he had passed out due to fever is astounding. There had been times when he’d have to stay in bed for days as far as weeks and it’d drive him crazy. All in all, Eijirou hates being sick and he especially hates it when he has to be admitted to the hospital because of it (yeah, that happened).
When he realises that Bakugou had never, not even once, been sick in the entirety of the sixteen years he had been alive, Eijirou just cannot believe it.
“Not even a cold?”
Bakugou grunts, which is a ‘no’.
“Dude,” Eijirou laughs, “are you even human?”
“The fuck else do you think I am?”
“How can you not be sick even once? There’s gotta be at least one time.”
“There isn’t. Unlike you dipshits, I am actually good at taking care of myself.”
Eijirou begs to differ.
Not that he wants Bakugou to be sick, of course not. But, it’s hard to imagine that a person could go through so long without being ill even once.
So, when Bakugou finally does get sick, Eijirou isn’t sure whether to be upset, happy or excited. He decides to be tentatively worried.
“Get away! You wanna die?” Bakugou screams at… well, everyone.
“Dude,” Eijirou chokes back his laugh. “You’re sick.”
“No, am not!”
“Yeah, no, you are. I’d recognise those symptoms anywhere.”
Bakugou sniffs at that and pouts, looking away. Eijirou finds it adorable.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
“I can do that myself!”
“I’m still coming,”
“Fuck you,”
He lets Eijirou follow him to his room.
It takes a few moments in the room with a very, very sick Bakugou Katsuki for Eijirou to realise that the blond is absolutely clueless about this.
“Hell if I know what to do!” Bakugou screams, slurring most of what he says. “I’ve never been sick before, dammit.”
Eijirou sighs at the privilege he is about to receive: taking care of Bakugou Katsuki.
He does, in the end. He takes care of him. Even though Bakugou yells at him and tells him to leave, he never really does anything else when Eijirou doesn’t waver in the slightest. Eijirou takes it as a subtle invitation to stay.
When Bakugou falls asleep, wheezing more than snoring, Eijirou pulls the blanket over him and touches his forehead. Bakugou’s skin is burning hot and it makes Eijirou frown.
Bakugou, on the other hand, leans more to his touch.
It makes Eijirou blush, but he doesn’t remove his hand. Perhaps he craves the cold over his burning skin.
Eijirou smiles at that, not wanting to leave anytime soon. He wants to stay. He wants to keep taking care of Bakugou.
2.
Bakugou is freaking obsessed with cleanliness.
It happens once during the rainy season, when Kaminari and Sero play near the puddles, splashing muddy water over each other. When they enter the hall, leaving a trail of muddy footprints, Bakugou simply freaks out.
“The fuck!” he screams. “Throw your fucking shoes off before you enter, you fuckers!”
Kaminari and Sero couldn’t say a thing. They simply stare at Bakugou.
“What?”
“Does it bother you so much?” Kaminari asks.
“What bothers me?”
Kaminari grins. “This.” he walks towards the couch where Bakugou is settled, splotching mud everywhere.
“Fucking stay away from me!” Bakugou screams before getting the explosions ready on his palm.
Eijirou laughs at that. “Guys, stop. Iida’s going to kill you.”
“We’ll clean it, don’t worry.” Sero chimes before following Kaminari.
The second time it happens is when the entire class gets the cleaning duty. The wrath that the class has to face because of it is truly something, Eijirou thinks. Bakugou turns out to be a ruthless critique when it comes to cleaning.
“Fucking Deku!” he screams at random times. “Can’t you even clean the windows properly?”
“Kacchan, I did it twice...”
“Well, it isn’t fucking enough!”
In the end, Eijirou, on the requests of literally everyone, suggests Bakugou to rest it out and that he’d handle the rest. It is surprising, yet endearing when Bakugou trusts him readily, walking back to his room.
It isn’t like Eijirou hasn’t been to Bakugou’s room before. But, he wonders if Bakugou keeps his room as tidy as he wants the halls and everything to be.
Guess who was right.
Bakugou’s room, now that he notices, is absolutely spotless. Contrary to popular belief, it is actually tidier and cleaner than even the girls’ rooms that he had seen.
“Bakugou?”
He gets a grunt in response.
“Do you enjoy cleaning?”
“‘Course I do. It’s called being hygienic.”
“Wow,” Eijirou says. “I didn’t expect that.”
Bakugou doesn’t say anything, but Eijirou wonders if it is his imagination when he sees a tiny tinge of red creeping on Bakugou’s ears.
“It’s therapeutic,” Bakugou mumbles before settling on his bed.
Somehow, Eijirou understands.
3.
Bakugou cries when he’s overwhelmed.
Midoriya is known for the number of times he cries in a day. The bet was about forty-five per day.
But, something that shocks Eijirou to the core is when he sees Bakugou cry.
Nothing big happens. At least, not as big as a villain attack.
Instead, it simply starts with a panic attack.
Eijirou, although is perhaps the most emotionally intelligent amongst his peers, is terribly inept when it comes to things like panic attacks. He’s never had them. He’s never seen anybody else have them.
But, he realises soon enough that Bakugou is secretly a constant worrier, having bouts of anxiety to panic attacks now and then. He does a pretty good job at hiding it… until when it goes out of hand one day.
Eijirou doesn’t know what the trigger was. It had been a normal day and he couldn’t think of anything in his room during the hot afternoon which could cause it.
It isn’t very loud or elaborate either, but that is perhaps what bothers Eijirou the most.
It is completely silent.
Bakugou doesn’t speak a word, but his eyes are fixed on a single line he had been reading for the past fifteen minutes. Eijirou isn’t staring! He simply happens to notice and snickers. “What did the book do to bother you?”
Bakugou is dead silent. His mouth opens slightly but no words come out. The grip on the book he had been holding increases considerably.
“Dude, you okay?”
No response.
This worries Eijirou and he drops his phone to settle beside Bakugou.
There are beads of sweat that threatens to fall down Bakugou’s face. His breathing is ragged and Eijirou realises what’s happening.
But, what should he do?
Slowly, he grabs the book and places it on the table beside them. Bakugou lets him, with no complaints.
“Can you hear me?” Eijirou decides to ask.
No response.
“Sh—should I call someone?”
Eijirou starts to get up, but a hand tugging on his shirt makes him sit back down.
There are tears forming in Bakugou’s eyes, ready to fall at any given moment. And Eijirou is just confused.
“Don’t,” Bakugou breathes and Eijirou understands.
Don’t call anyone else. Don’t tell anyone. Please.
Eijirou wants to help desperately, but he doesn’t know what to do. He does what he could do best.
He slowly creeps closer and gently tugs Bakugou for a hug.
He’s ready to harden himself, in case Bakugou decides to use his detonate, but what Eijirou certainly doesn’t expect is when Bakugou grabs hold of his shirt and embraces him back. Eijirou can feel the tears drenching his shirt, but he keeps holding him, almost vowing to himself to never let go.
4.
Bakugou loves mountain-climbing.
Eijirou is already aware of that. But, what he didn’t know was the amount of love the boy held for the activity.
Bakugou’s eyes gaze at the sunrise while Eijirou’s gaze at him. On top of a renowned mountain whose name Eijirou had already forgotten, he and Bakugou are standing, breathing the thin, cold air.
Bakugou doesn’t smile, but there isn’t a frown on his face either. There’s satisfaction etched instead. Eijirou looks at the rising sun and smiles. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It is.”
Eijirou swears he is in love.
5.
Bakugou doesn’t smile a lot.
He frowns so much, it is kind of impossible to believe that he is capable of smiling at all. If Eijirou had to imagine him smiling, a horrifying image pops up in his mind automatically, the kind Bakugou makes when he sneers during a challenge or merely while kicking somebody’s ass.
So, when during the most mundane day imaginable, the moment comes when Bakugou genuinely smiles, Eijirou knows that he was not ready at all.
Bakugou’s lips tug up and he smiles. He smiles. HE SMILES.
There’s nothing anymore that Eijirou is concerned about. Crinkles form beside Bakugou’s eyes. His eyes are the softest red Eijirou had perhaps ever seen. He had perhaps even forgotten why Bakugou is smiling at him, and he keeps staring at him.
Kaminari laughs and continues talking.
Right. He had made a terrible joke.
Eijirou knows he had short-circuited when Bakugou has the nerve to let out a tiny laugh. His mouth widens and his eyes close momentarily. And that one moment causes the world to completely disappear from Eijirou’s sight. His cheeks are just as red as his hair, he’s aware of that. He’s also aware that Bakugou is staring right at him, the tiny sign of his smile still there.
Bakugou’s cheeks are red too when he pouts and looks away.
And Eijirou has never been so in love before.
6. Bonus.
Bakugou is very well capable of love.
Hard to believe, Eijirou knows.
But, he’s also the only one to know this so well, the fact that Bakugou holds so much love inside him, it’s overwhelming.
After a hard day of his internship, it is Bakugou who waits in the hall, yawning, yet waiting for Eijirou.
It is Bakugou who pulls Eijirou towards him when a car approaches the road that Eijirou fails to notice.
It is Bakugou who helps him study and pass the exams, showing concern for his studies more than Eijirou ever did.
It is Bakugou who pulls him closer when he pretends to be okay during the days he’s not.
It is those little ways Bakugou shows his love that Eijirou cherishes so much. He’s awkward, but what matters is that he tries his best.
When they share their first kiss, it is Bakugou who asks if it’s okay. The tiny gesture makes Eijirou cry. But, Bakugou doesn’t judge. He doesn’t go anywhere.
At times, it makes Eijirou wonder if someday Bakugou silently vowed to himself to never leave Eijirou just like he did.
The thought makes Eijirou’s heart swell, especially when he knows that he is holding Bakugou’s hand on his own, both of them not willing to let go just yet.