Snowed In

Part 7

There's a long, long, second that might actually be two or three in which Bakugou doesn't blink. He stares, trying to wrap his mind around the situation at hand and angry at himself for thinking there was a situation at all. There wasn't. There couldn't be. He's delusional and Kirishima is just too damned nice for his own good and maybe there is a small part in Bakugou that is reminding him that it's been too long since he's gotten laid.

He needs to forget about it. Nothing happened and nothing will.

As soon as he manages to get himself under control, Bakugou can feel eyes burning into the side of his head. He turns, glaring as Ashido meets his eye unashamed of being caught staring. She looks smug, smile wide and knowing. Bakugou doesn't like how she doesn't immediately back down with his eyes hardened on her.

"See something you like?" She clicks her tongue at the end of the question.

He should have realized earlier that she was dangerous. Her attitude reminds him too much of Camie and clearly that care-free fun is a cover for how closely Ashido likes to look at people. Play it up with the bubbly persona until it was time to strike.

Bakugou curls his nose. "None of your damn business what I like and don't like."

She smiles, spinning around on her stool, but always keeping her head turned as to keep her stare strong. "Mhm, of course not. Kiri mentioned how you were driving up to the resort to see your parents."

He cocks a brow. "And what's that got to do with shit?"

"It means you probably aren't spending Christmas with someone special."

"You think I can't get a date!?"

She's baiting him, he knows that, but his anger management, especially with strangers, is still something he's working on. Even well aware of this fact, he bites. He's not going to just roll over and take it.

"Don't worry," She catches herself with a hand on the countertop, stopping the rotation with ease. Ashido winks, her eyes softer and her smile less sinister. "He's single too."

Bakugou can feel his throat tighten and he bites down hard on his tongue, hating how transparent it all is. How he is.

"Mina, are you playing nice?" Sero calls out from the kitchen and the mood shifts all too suddenly as Ashido jumps from her seat to follow the call of her boyfriend.

"You know I always play nice!"

Bakugou is left alone in the empty sitting area of the diner with the soft sounds of the couple doing dishes in the background. He is not... reeling from the short conversation. Nothing Ashido said was a surprise, technically, but hearing it aloud was... He doesn't know how exactly to process it. There's nothing to do with the information besides let it bounce around in his head, echoing from one corner to the other. Of course Kirishima is single. He lives alone with his dog in a house his father built and the only adjustment it seems to have from the original design is the little gym. Bakugou doesn't know what the fuck he'd supposed to do with that now.

It isn't as though he lives here. He was passing through and got trapped. If this was a fairy tale, someone would have tried to eat him already, but no. Nothing like that. Just a hot woodsman and his overly welcoming little town with his childhood friends talking too much and too loudly. As soon as he is able, Bakugou will leave. That's how this works. He doesn't stay here because a woman mentions someone being single.

His parents are already worried about him. His cat is surely running a muck with Deku watching after her. He has a job, a good one, with a plan to be chief in five years, tops. He has an apartment and people he kinda calls friends. Co-workers he drinks with after long shifts where ash is still smeared across their cheeks, shooting the shit to distract with anything that wasn't fire and death.