Worthy of Love (KiriBaku)

Chapter 7: Spice

 The four friends entered the dorm together. There were a few of their classmates milling about the common area on the main floor. It seemed that they were some of the last ones to make it back from the academic building. Mina stopped in the living room to chat with Jirou and Momo about the weekend, overly enthused. Sero halted beside her waiting patiently for her to finish before they went upstairs together. Stomach grumbling, Kaminari wandered to the pantry to find a snack. He turned around to ask Kirishima what sounded good, but found that his friend had vanished.

"Huh?!" The electric blond looks around bewildered. "The hell? I swear he was right behind me."

"Who?" Hagakure asks from one of the dining tables. She was surrounded by the remaining female students from their class.

"Kirishima!"

"He just went upstairs." Uraraka answers him. Her eyebrows knit in worry. "He has been acting a little strange today."

The other girls nod (save for Hagakure, because who could really tell?).

"He's not his usual bubbly self." Asui chimes in.

Kaminari grimaces. "He said he didn't sleep well."

"Well, maybe he just needs some rest." Uraraka said with a small smile. She returned to the conversation with the other girls. 

"Yeah, maybe," Kaminari mutters mostly to himself.  ______________________________________________________________________________

Back in his room, Kirishima checks his phone for any new messages. The screen is blank. He sighs, setting it down on his nightstand. He begins to change out of his uniform, throwing the dirty clothes in his hamper. A pair of grey sweatpants calls out to him and he puts them on before collapsing on his bed. 

'Maybe just a little nap before dinner will do me good' Kirishima thinks to himself before drifting off to a gentle sleep.

Two hour later a soft knock comes from his door. He yawns and stretches his arms over his head before going to answer it.

"Coming," He croaks. His voice is deep and gravely from sleep.

A timid Koda waves at him with a slight smile.

"Oh, Hey, Dude."

"Dinner's almost ready," The boy squeaks out in his high-pitched voice. As if on cue, Kirishima's stomach growled at him.

"Great! Let's go."

The two walked to the elevator and went down to the main floor in a comfortable silence. Kirishima knew that the other boy was a very shy person, so it was best not to force a conversation on him. The elevator doors opened with a happy chime revealing a boisterous noise from the dining area as the class awaited their meal. Similar to the training camp from earlier in the summer, the class would be tending to their own meals from now on. The two boys went their separate ways as Kirishima went to investigate what smelled so good in the kitchen. There was a strong, spicy aroma coming from a wok on the stove top. The pan was filled with a bright red substance. He stops and sniffs, inhaling it's delicious scent. A little bit of saliva drips from his lips.

"Smells great! What're we having?" He asks the person stirring the wok. His eyes drift up to meet Bakugo's unusually calm face.

"Mapo tofu," Bakugo replies, looking up from his dish to see Kirishima's drooling form. Kirishima's shirtless, drooling form. "Shitty Hair, why aren't you wearing a damn shirt?!"

Bakugo couldn't help but look down at the other's muscles - they were right there, right next to him, bare, and -

"Oh, uh, whoops," Kirishima smiled a little embarrassed at him. He reached around to rub the back of his neck. "My bad. I just woke up from a nap and didn't even think about it, but hey I can't spill on my shirt if I'm not wearing one."

Kirishima looks down at his half naked self. He usually slept without a shirt and hadn't even realized he didn't grab a shirt before leaving his room. It wasn't like Koda had mentioned anything to him about it when he came and got him for dinner, not that the shy boy would have. He stepped back from Bakugo and turned towards the dining tables before the blond could see the dusting of pink across his cheeks. He sat down at one of the large tables that his friends were at and waited patiently for Bakugo to finish the food.

"Hey, Kiri! You're looking better." Mina exclaimed happily a few seats down the table. She was sitting beside Sero who was scrolling on his phone, bored. 

He lightly chuckled. "Yeah. I feel a little better, I guess."

"Did you take a nap?"

He nodded as he rubbed some of the leftover sleep from his eyes.

A very full plate was placed in front of Kirishima. He looked up to see Bakugo standing next to him with his own plate before he sat down beside him.

"Oh, Thanks, Man," Kirishima said, still watching Bakugo. The blond seemed fairly calm as he began to eat his food.

"Aren't you going to serve the rest of us, Bakugo?" Kaminari whines across the table with a pout on his face.

"You got legs, don't ya?!" Bakugo glowered, already halfway through his plate. The rest of the class groaned as they went to the kitchen to serve themselves. "Keep complaining and I'll never cook for you extras again!"

The group quieted their criticisms as they each grabbed their plates and sat down. Even if they had to serve themselves, no one wanted to pass up on Bakugo's cooking. 

"Thank you for this food!" The class chimed before starting their meal. Kirishima smiled at Bakugo just as took his first bite... and immediately regretted it. Heat stabbed his tongue like daggers. His breath felt like dragon fire and his face grew warm.

"Oh my God!" He cried. He ran to the fridge to grab milk just as more people began to cough at the spiciness of the dish. Kirishima grabbed a gallon of milk and walked around the tables pouring glasses for everyone before settling back down at his own spot and chugging a full glass. He interchanged drinking milk and eating the tofu to keep the spice at a mangable level. 

"Bakugo! You made it too spicy!" Uraraka whimpers, fanning her face. Beside her, Iida's face was beet red and Asui's eyes were tearing up. "Deku, how can you eat that just fine?"

Midoriya looks up from his empty plate, seemingly fine. "What do you mean?"

"It's so spicy!" Ochako cried, motioning to the rest of the class that obviously in distress. 

"Well, Kacchan always makes his food like this. I guess I'm just used to it after all these years." Midoriya shrugs and goes up for another plate despite the bewildered looks from his classmates. "Besides, it's still delicious even though it's hot."

Beside Kirishima, Bakugo laughs dryly. "Come on, Extras. If that nerd can handle it so can the rest of you."

Slowly the rest of the class finishes with the aid of the milk that Kirishima poured. Momo pats Kirishima on the shoulder as she passes him. "It's your turn for dishes."

"Aw, Man." Kirishima groaned but knew that there was no point in arguing - everybody would take their turns cooking and cleaning according to the schedule that she and Iida had made. Tonight just happened to be his shift on dish duty. He went to the sink where the stack of plates was accumulating and began to rinse them off one by one. Bakugo scraps his plate off and places it on the looming stack next to the sink. He watches as Kirishima is now elbow deep in suds.

"Do-Do you want some help?" The blond mutters quietly so none of their lingering classmates would overhear his kindness.

Kirishima's eyes grew wide at Bakugo's compassion. "You don't have to. I'm sure you've got better things to do."

The other boy didn't move. He starred intensly at Kirishima. 

"You made dinner, too, so you shouldn't have to-"

"I know that! I want to, Dumbass!" He grumbled as he grabbed a plate and began to rinse it off before handing it to the redhead. "I'll rinse, you wash, okay?"

Kirishima smiled warmly, a solitary tooth sticking out. Bakugo could really be nice if he wanted to it seemed. "Sure."

Just then Kirishima's phone buzzed on the countertop:

Yeah. We can talk. I'm in my room.