Roommates

Undeniable

Bakugo's POV

"So, how long have you lived here?" Midoriya asked. His friend had just dropped his bed off, and we were in the process of putting the legs back on the frame.

"I moved here about eight years ago. The day I graduated high school, I left town." I explained. I was running from my past, and this is where I ended up. "I moved here from a big city, so it was a huge adjustment."

"That makes you what, twenty-five, twenty-six?" He asked, scrunching his eyes as he did the math in his head.

"Twenty-six. My birthday was last April." I informed. "What about you?" I grabbed the screwdriver to put on the last leg.

"When did I move here, or how old am I?" He asked with a cocked brow.

"Both." I shrugged. I've never clicked with a roommate like this before. Usually, we would talk for a few minutes and go our separate ways. I liked Midoriya, though. His demeanor was completely different than what I was used to.

"I started working here about a year ago but didn't officially move here until four months ago." He began explaining as we stood up. We each grabbed one end of the bed frame and flipped it over. "I lived about thirty minutes away in a town way smaller than this. It had a total of one traffic light, two stop signs, a general store, and a gas station. I couldn't find work there since there were four hundred people and only twenty or so jobs. I applied for the server job here and thought the area was nice, so I decided to finally move. I haven't had the chance to explore anything other than the block the restaurant is on, but I'll get to it since I don't have to work as much."

"You don't?" I asked. Kirishima told me he was constantly working, so I was a little surprised to hear he won't be working as much. As long as he could pay the rent, I didn't care too much.

"I dropped down to three days a week, ten hours shifts instead of five eights." He shrugged. He slowly slid the bed frame to where he wanted it as we continued talking. "I like having more free time than work time. Since I live here now, I can afford to work a little less. My old roommate charged me one thousand for rent alone. That didn't include the utilities, toiletries, or anything else I had to pay."

"That's fucking expensive," I replied. For one room? The average rent here was about one thousand for a two-bedroom. It sounds like he was paying for everything by himself and his roommate was freeloading.

"Tell me about it." He scoffed as he walked to the mattress on the floor. I walked to the other side to help him. We paused our conversation as we picked the mattress up and slid it on the bed frame.

"How old are you?" I asked. He was surely out of high school, but I couldn't pinpoint an exact age.

"Twenty-three." He responded with a smile. "I turn twenty-four in a month." He wasn't too much younger than me. I was a little over two years older than him. "Thanks for helping." He smiled as he began throwing his blankets up on the bed.

"No problem." I smiled in return. "Do you have more furniture coming?" I asked, taking a look around the room. He didn't have anything other than the bed. I saw his clothes hanging in the walk-in closet, but everything else was still in boxes.

"No." He shook his head. "I don't have to work tomorrow, so I was planning on going and doing some shopping." He informed me as the time in the kitchen went off.

"You should check out Creati's Refurbished Thrifts," I said as we walked into the hallway since dinner was ready. Midoriya followed me into the kitchen, so I could grab the casserole from the oven before continuing our conversation.

"A thrift store? Sign me up!" He cheered.

"She finds extremely cheap furniture at estate and garage sales and flips them. She sells them cheap, and they're nice. She has the widest style design too." I set the casserole on the oven while I reached into the cabinet to grab plates.

"What kind of casserole is that?" Midoriya asked, looking at the food. "It smells heavenly." He bent down, sniffing the food. A small smile spread across my face as his eyes fluttered shut. He has long, thick eyelashes that would put most girls to shame.

"Taco." I don't know what I expected when I met him, but this wasn't it. For the first time, I might have a roommate I can tolerate talking to every day. It wasn't that I hated my previous roommates. I simply found them draining and exhausting. "Can you grab the lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and salsa from the fridge while I set everything up?"

"Of course." He said before turning for the fridge. While he was looking for everything I asked, I got to work on getting our places at the table set. I rolled my sleeves up and cut two pieces of casserole out, placing each one on a plate.

"What do you want to drink?" I ask over my shoulder. "I'm having merlot, but there's pop in the fridge, water, juice, or I have more alcohol choices." I picked up the two plates and turned towards him when he didn't answer. His eyes were wide as he stared at me. His face turned a light shade of pink as his eyes met mine.

"W-What?" He asked, quickly making his way to the table in the corner of the room, setting everything in the middle.

"What do you want to drink?" I asked, amusement lacing my voice. "I have water, pop, wine, beer, or juice."

"Do you have chardonnay?" He asked in a rushed tone.

"Yeah." I walked over and set one plate of casserole in front of each chair. "Sit down. I'll grab it." He didn't say anything before taking a seat. I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed two wine glasses. I grabbed the silverware we would need. I balanced everything in my left hand before grabbing the two bottles of wine with my right. When I turned towards the table, Midoriya was staring at me again. This time, he wasn't trying to stop his wandering eyes as his teeth softly bit his lower, glossed lip.

Should I acknowledge that I see the way he looks at me? Should I tell him I'm straight? I don't want to be too forward and accuse him of checking me out. I also don't want to hurt his self-esteem or make things awkward. I could bring up Ashido, even if she isn't my girlfriend. She's just my fuck buddy, but it would get the point across. Something in my heart was telling me not to do that, though. I set everything down on the table, deciding I'll wait until it comes up in casual conversation. Until then, I wasn't going to deny that I kind of liked the attention.