M u t e L o v e // KiriBaku

• "Fluent" •

Settling back home was far than just easy for him-- though he couldn't help but notice a change in Bakugo's behavior.

He's relieved to see him be alright... especially after that text, those nights ago. Though, he can't see Bakugou's inner well being.
As much as he hates to admit it, it's extremely difficult to read Bakugou.

He's joined Bakugo in his first full, healthy meal ever since Kirishima had left. Without a single care towards rules or decency, they share their meal up at Kirishima's door. He stared more than he talked, smearing a wrong impression across Kirishima's mind. He nudged Bakugo's knee and asked "you're very quiet, but you're around me a lot more. Did something happen while I was gone?"

Bakugou hesitated to respond. That was weird, to Kirishima...
He stared down and played with his fingers in an upset, awkward manner. He draws in a deep breath and looks up at Kirishima.

"Is it fuckin' stupid that I missed you more than I fucking wanted to? More-... More than I thought I would?" He asks, his tone a bit uneven throughout his phrase. His eyes shift to one of uncertainty as they always do whenever he uses his voice, waiting for any comments of guidance or approval from him. He can see him laughing and his heart earned another puncture. He gives Kirishima's cheek, puffed up from his smile, a light four-finger smack to gain back his attention as he said "Don't fucking laugh at me, I'm serious!".

"No, it isn't dumb or stupid!" Kirishima responded, "I felt really bad for leaving, maybe you just got used to having me around, helping you out."

His eyes lower again. He knew it wasn't that. A need to have Kirishima be around isn't him just being used to having him around. Then the same would have applied, for all the other times he'd gone to internships, as well.. or all other internships that Kirishima has gone to, too.

No... he knows it isn't.

He wanted to tell him, and he suddenly received a boost of courage.
He uses his voice, again... It sounds untrained, fragile as it cracks at any force, pushing out a heavy "hey." It was definitely louder than what he'd intended it to be. And he'd returned to being hesitant... he isn't confident that he should. Not in a time like this...

Kirishima's helping me. He isn't here for my emotions, he's here to help. That's all.

"Yes?" Kirishima asks.

He stared into those patient eyes, feeling helpless before such a calm, encouraging aura. As Kirishima's eyebrow raises, insinuating Bakugou to continue, his head whips to face off to his side, as he shoots a familiar short chain of words to him. There it was, again...

Kirishima laughs quietly, because there was that sign, again.
He thought of it as a sign to make him laugh, like a 'Hell yeah!' type of sign.
Bakugou looks back towards him, to find him laughing... his eyes, squinting in a hurt manner, stared in disbelief.

"You... f-... fucking said... you've been learning sign language more... You fuck..." He grits out, and Kirishima jumps.
"What!?-- I have! I'm almost fluent too--!"
"My ass!" Bakugo cries out, "it's the easiest fucking thing you could learn! It was one of the first fucking things I learned!" He scorns, slamming a fist down on his own knee. "You're-- You're just joking, right!?"
"I must have missed it! Maybe I overlooked it!?" Kirishima insisted, his expression pouring with panic. "Please, just tell me!"

Bakugou begins to glance away from Kirishima,- He was extremely nervous. "I-- No, I'm not fucking tell you."

Kirishima's laughter was far gone, at this point. He grabbed his shoulder, dragging him back into the conversation, signing to him as he asked him again, what it meant, and as he apologized deeply for his lack of understanding. He felt embarrassed...

He furrows his eyebrows, his eyes screw shut, his cheeks were red... Kirishima began to grow curious and upset. "Find out on your own, damn it... I'm tired."

He'd felt awkward for the rest of that day. Bakugou avoided him more, understandably... he kept to himself, the two didn't communicate much. And it guilt-tripped Kirishima to a fault...
He'd promised Bakugou that he would find out what it meant.

//
Stay with me
Won't you?
Your existence is home
//

Reminder: The book was not deleted, nor is it missing. This book is edited from its original copy (due to a rather confusing way of jumping towards plot peaks, spelling mistakes, and an overall amount of blurry or unsatisfactory [in the writer's eyes] scenes), therefore new scenes and a cleaner plot has been added. Updates are slow, but surely coming. Thank you!