Chapter Text
Is that your Quirk, or
are you just Happy to See Me?
By DemonRomantic
“Remind me how you talked me into doing this?” Bakugou grumbled as he walked down the street beside Kirishima.
His red-headed boyfriend’s attention was split between the piece of paper in his hand and the building numbers as they walked past them. He answered without breaking stride. “Because, you love me.”
“Why don’t you say that again a little louder so that the whole damn world hears you!?” He griped.
Kirishima threw a smile back towards him. “Lighten up, Bakugou, nobody cares.” Facing forward once more he glanced at his paper and then back up at the buildings. “We’re here.”
They walked up the stairs of the apartment complex until they reached a door labeled ‘2’. Kirishima raised his fist to knock, pausing only to address his boyfriend. “Remember to mind your manners, will ya?”
Bakugou clicked his tongue in distain before the door was opened by a young woman in a casual outfit of shorts and a tank top. Her hair was black, but she bore a striking resemblance to Kirishima, whom she acknowledged with a hug.
“Eijiro! I’m so glad you showed-up. You seriously are a lifesaver.” She broke the hug and turned to Bakugou with her hands on her hips and a warm smile. “And you must be, Katsuki. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ichika, Eijiro’s big sister.”
Bakugou gave an acknowledging nod, before she waved them inside.
“Please excuse the mess, Maeko can be a little bit wild. Hopefully, she’ll behave for the both of you. Maeko, come out, your uncle is here to watch you!”
A little girl of no more than three or four years old peeked out of a bedroom from down the hall. Kirishima waved, and she came running up into his arms.
“Uncle Eijiro!”
“Hey, Mae. Wow, you’ve gotten big! I’m excited I get to watch you today. We’re gonna have lots of fun, huh?”
“Yay!” The little girl’s happy demeanor immediately shifted to a suspicious stare as she glanced over at Bakugou.
Bakugou did not regularly flinch, but he did at that sudden look. ‘What the hell is this kid’s problem?’ He thought.
Just as he did, Maeko pointed at him and said, “This is your boyfriend, Katsuki, isn’t it?”
Bakugou immediately flew into an accusatory rage. “You told your baby niece about us?!”
Maeko puffed out her cheeks at being called a baby, while both Kirishima and his sister made identical sheepish grins with their hands scratching the backs of their heads.
Ichika elaborated to calm him down. “It’s not his fault, it’s our quirks. Mine let’s me ‘see the truth’, while Maeko can make you spill your guts as long as she’s touching you. Eijiro can’t help but hold her all the time, so a couple of visits ago it just slipped out by accident. Kind of ironic, considering his quirk is basically like having a shell.”
Bakugou eased up a little bit, somehow able to look both dejected and furious. “So, you knew from the beginning, too, huh?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Trust me, somethings I’d rather not know about, but I’m happy that at least my baby brother found love. Anyways, I’m going to get going now, so I’ll see you all in a couple of hours, if you need anything just call. Bye.” Ichika waved as she scuttled out the door and closed it behind her.
Kirishima and Bakugou stood there for a moment staring after her, before Bakugou sighed irritably and turned back to them. “How long are we supposed to watch her?”
“Ichika has a few errands to run today, so I’m guessing about eight hours at least.” Kirishima set Maeko down and placed a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. “You can leave if you want to, I just thought that this way we’d be able to spend the weekend together. It seems like between school and hero studies we barely have time to ourselves anymore, but I also promised Ichika first, so if you’d rather not babysit, then…”
“I already said I’d stick around, didn’t I?”
Kirishima beamed.
Maeko tugged on her uncle’s pant leg. “I’m hungry.”
“Okay. How about we make something to eat? Bakugou, will you check the fridge and cupboards?”
Bakugou did so but made a vacant expression that matched the contents of the kitchen. “Dude, when’s the last time your sister went shopping?”
Maeko’s stomach made an audible growl. “Mommy’s getting groceries today, she left some money for take-out in the jar on top of the fridge.”
Bakugou retrieved the cash and brought it over to Kirishima who shrugged.
“Looks like we’re going out for lunch today, courtesy of sis.”
Maeko held Kirishima’s hand and walked between him and Bakugou as the three of them made their way to a fast-food place down the block. About half-way there, Maeko took hold of Bakugou’s hand as well.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked but didn’t pull his hand away.
“I like to swing with Mommy and Daddy.” Maeko stated.
“What the heck is that?”
Kirishima pulled Maeko up gently giving him a look that told him to copy him. Bakugou lifted her by the other arm and every other step she would jump, and they’d swing her. Maeko giggled happily, and Kirishima laughed along with her. Bakugou smirked to himself as he watched the two of them. Soon they reached the restaurant and Kirishima ordered for Maeko and himself before turning to Bakugou.
“What would you like?”
Bakugou stared at the sign and then opened his mouth, but what came out was not what he had intended.
“The number three with a second side order of fries. They aren’t for me, they’re for my boyfriend. He doesn’t like to admit that he always steals mine.”
The cashier merely smiled and handed them a number, but Bakugou felt the blood drain from his face. He never addressed Kirishima as his boyfriend in public! Looking down, he realized that he was still holding Maeko’s hand. Frustrated, he released it. Kirishima took note of the situation immediately and spoke swiftly to his niece.
“Hey, Mae-Mae, why don’t you go over to the play area while Bakugou and I wait for the food, yeah?”
She ran off innocently, while Kirishima pulled a nearly catatonic Bakugou over to a discreet table off to the side.
“Don’t lose your cool, okay man, just chill out. It was an accident.”
“That little freaking lie-detector truth-serumed me!”
Kirishima became serious, a warning to lay off. “Hey, she can’t help it, and she’s not a lie-detector, she just makes you be your most honest self. It’s not her fault you were holding her hand when you decided to open your mouth, and she didn’t make anything come out that wasn’t already a fact.”
Their food arrived and Kirishima took the side order of fries that Bakugou had ordered him with a smirk.
“I think that’s the first time you’ve actually ordered anything for me.”
“Just shut-up.” Bakugou seethed.
After they finished eating, the trio made there way back towards the apartment building. Bakugou had his hands shoved into his pockets and was brooding. They passed by a playground with numerous kids around Maeko’s age all playing on the equipment, when she piped-up.
“Can we go to the park?”
Bakugou was baffled. “Didn’t you just get done running around inside of that restaurant play-place?”
Kirishima winked at Bakugou, though he wasn’t sure why, before he nodded to her. “Go ahead, sweetheart. Get your energy out.”
She ran off towards the swings, while the both of them walked around the perimeter and periodically kept eyes on her.
“Why the hell are you spoiling her so much? She already played.”
Kirishima leaned over conspiratorially. “If she goes down for a nap, then we don’t have to keep her entertained when we get her home.”
Bakugo smirked. “Good thinking, shitty-hair.”
The plan was almost a success, except for that Maeko wanted to watch her ‘very-girly-little-kid-cartoons’ as Bakugou called them, once they got back to the apartment. After a few minutes of the atrocity of puppets and pink and purple schemed nightmares, Kirishima got up to use the restroom.
“Will you keep sitting with her for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
Bakugou grunted in response.
Maeko had been sitting next to him on the couch when suddenly she was laying her head on his knee. Bakugou was about to question her, when he saw that she was snoozing out little breaths as she slept there. He tried to instead move her, but she stirred and readjusted on his lap. Not wanting to endure another second of whatever the hell they’d just been watching, he left her be and used the remote to flick the T.V. over to something more suited to his tastes. Without realizing when it happened, he too fell asleep.
Kirishima padded back down the hallway after a few minutes. “Sorry, about that. How’s the...”
He saw the current state of his boyfriend passed-out with his head leaning on the arm of the couch, and his little niece curled up beside him using him as a pillow and smiled affectionately. He was extremely tempted to snap a picture of them with his phone but thought better against it when he thought of what Bakugou would do to him if he ever found it. Instead, Kirishima quietly took the remote from Bakugou’s limp hand and turned off the T.V. before sitting in an armchair and watching the two of them sleep. It was just too damn adorable. He still couldn’t believe that he had actually convinced Bakugou to come babysit with him, but there he was with a toddler passed out on him, like an exhausted dad. If that weren’t enough, Bakugou began talking in his sleep, with Maeko still having her head on his leg.
“Kiri… Stupid ass hair… Why is he so damn cute, though…he’s like a freaking house-wife. Eating all my damn fries…just want to tell him to…”
Kirishima wasn’t sure if he should be hearing all of this and was about to move Maeko when he heard the whisper an inch away from his own lips.
“Want to tell him how much I love that he’s my boyfriend. Fucking weak ass… can’t even man-up and say it out loud. Just want to be the best, but he’s the best… best one out there.”
Kirishima leaned in to peck Bakugou on the lips once, and Bakugou, still half-asleep, put his arm around Kirishima and grabbed the back of his hair looking at him with glazed eyes.
“You tell any body and I’ll kick your ass.” He slurred. “You taste like fries.”
Kirishima laughed quietly and picked-up Maeko, who continued to sleep with her head resting on his shoulder. “So, do you.”
Bakugou and Kirishima walked home together after Ichika returned from her errands, but not before Bakugou had squatted down to address Maeko.
“Remember, pip-squeak, if you repeat any of what I said to anyone, I’ll be back to noogie you so hard that you’ll lose that annoying quirk of yours for good.”
They walked side by side this time, and Bakugou had his hands up behind his head. Kirishima couldn’t stop smiling as they went, and soon enough Bakugou addressed it.
“What are you so cheerful about?”
He shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just that you did better than I expected you would. I was kind of worried that I might have to break-up with you if you weren’t nice to my niece, but you actually are pretty good with kids all things considered. You make a cute dad.”
Bakugou halted on the sidewalk and grabbed Kirishima by the front of the shirt, pulling him in close as if to threaten him, but it was only an excuse to whisper without looking suspicious.
“And you make a cute looking wife.”