Caramel Blondie

3- eyes forward to the future

This one goes out to my best friend Jess, without whom all of this would be impossible. I hope your dreams find you, Darling. I'll be here with a bottle of champagne at the finish line.

Dec 20th, 1450 hours

Kirishima stood by the service counter in a café in Tokyo, in plain clothes. He fidgeted absently with the edge of his shirt hem, waiting.
He had arranged to meet with Bakugo here today, so that they could discuss what had happened at Sensō-ji temple.
Reportedly, it wasn't the only attack of its kind. Kirishima would find out today what that meant exactly.
That is, if Bakugo showed up.
He would never deliberately stand him up, but what if he'd simply forgot. Kirishima knew he had a lot on his plate at the moment, especially because of the new specialised team he was a part of.
A squadron of top heroes trained in policing and detective work. And they were investigating the group that was behind the bombing a few days earlier.
Bakugo had a lot going on, anyhow.
Kirishima shuffled his feet, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor.
"Eijiro?" The cashier called, and Kirishima approached the counter to pick up his coffee. Maybe he'd be able to sit down and be still now that he had coffee to distract himself.
He thanked the woman and sat down in a bay by the window.
Almost straight away, he was drumming his fingers on the tabletop. He stared out the window fixedly, not actually looking at anything, too caught up in his own emotional turmoil about whether Bakugo would stand him up, and also about that day at Sensō-ji.
He picked his paper coffee cup up and took a sip.
"Hey," Bakugo's deep voice broke his reverie, causing him to start.
"Oh! Hi, Bakugo."
Bakugo slid into the booth seat on the other side of the table.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the blond drawled. He glanced Kirishima up and down. "Nice top," he commented as he settled into his chair.
Kirishima was wearing a muscle shirt. It was quite close fitting, but there wasn't anything special about it.
"Oh. Thank you," he looked down at himself, then back at Bakugo. Bakugo had a tank top on, which could not contain his pectoral muscles.
For want of a better word, Kirishima wanted to call it 'side boob'. Bakugo was in very nice shape. Kirishima caught himself staring at Bakugo's chest, and felt his face heat up a little. He looked back up, into Bakugo's eyes.
Bakugo made no effort to discourage him.
In fact, Kirishima wondered if he'd even noticed him staring. Kirishima had thought he was being very obvious about it, but maybe he'd gotten away with it.
"So... Sensō-ji temple."
"Bakugo?" The barista called. Bakugo held up a finger.
"Hold that thought," the blond was already on his feet and moving towards the counter before Kirishima had time to respond.
Bakugo came back, now carrying his beverage.
"Walk with me? We'll go somewhere a little less crowded," he said. Kirishima got up out of the booth, and carried his coffee with him.
"Right," he murmured.
They wandered out of the café and across the road, into the park. The sun was shining, the grass was a perfect shade of green. There were a few people about, but not too many, and not too close to where Bakugo and he settled, under a big oak tree, their shoes sinking into the grass. It was a little chilly, but not too bad for a December day.
"The yakuza are involved in a turf war with a biker gang. We haven't figured out why they would attack a temple yet, but a symbol associated with the yakuza was found at the scene. We believe this is part of a chain of crimes that has been going on for some time."
Kirishima listened closely, took a mouthful of his coffee and swallowed it before replying,
"Why would you tell me this?"
"We were hoping you could help us." Bakugo was very serious.
"Well..." Kirishima was very unsure.
"The team I'm part of thinks your skills would be useful, and we think the gangs might involve you again. You're a potential target."
"I... okay, so it's just a couple of villains though, right? We can deal with that," he was trying to soothe himself more than anything else.
"Well, they have a few powerful quirk users on their side, so it's not as easy as that. One in particular has been an ongoing concern. I want you to be real with me here, okay? Have you ever had any problems with any kind of gang, particularly the yakuza?"
Kirishima felt as though his head was spinning.
"No, never," he answered quietly.
"Good," Bakugo nodded his head gently and took a long draught of his coffee. Kirishima took the opportunity to drink a little more of his, too.
"So you in?" Bakugo asked.
"I'm in, yeah," Kirishima was feeling quite overwhelmed, but he was sure of one thing and that was that he wanted to get to the bottom of this.
After he had gone home that night after the attack happened, Kirishima had curled up in a ball and cried for a while.
He was mostly desensitised to these things by now, and could act very nonchalant in the moment, but it was so hard at bedtime. Sometimes, he kept himself up all night thinking about the people he couldn't save. And about the terrible things he'd seen.
That night had been one of those nights.
There was a silence that hung between them. Kirishima let it be for a minute, but he soon noticed Bakugo smiling to himself a little. He wondered what Bakugo was thinking of.
"I'm just so happy you said you'd join us," he told him. He wasn't looking at Kirishima, but down at his coffee cup.
Kirishima drained the last of his drink, and held his hand out for Bakugo's.
"You done?" He asked. Bakugo glanced at his hand, and passed him the empty cup. The pair began to walk to the nearby bin. They got most of the way there, when Bakugo spoke again.
"Who knows where we'll go together next- who knows where life will take us?! Isn't that exciting?" His smile swelled  with exuberance.
Kirishima stopped dead, clutching the coffee cups.

"It's terrifying." Kirishima's throat had gone dry, a lump in his throat.
Bakugo's smile faltered.
"It's as good as it is bad," he defended.
Kirishima's free hand clenched into a fist. "But- I finally started to feel like there was a sense of stability. Everything has been so rocky, since way back. Since All Might- and now, after I finally feel a little better-" he broke off, emotion bubbling in his chest, choking off his words.
"Shh, I know." Bakugo reached out, hesitated, then allowed himself to gently brush away Kirishima's tears. He had turned from overeager to soft and calm, as though a switch had been flipped. "Everything is unsure right now." In spite of himself, Kirishima stepped into his chest, crashed his head against Bakugo's shoulder, tried to bite back his tears.
The blond gently wrested the coffee cups from Kirishima's tight grip and tossed them into the bin nearby from where they were standing.
Bakugou wrapped his arms around him, "But I'm here. I'm here, and it's going to be okay," he whispered. Kirishima's eyes burned and he blinked the water from them, dewdrops rolled down his face and soaked Bakugo's shirt. Bakugo wrapped him so tight in his arms. He clung to the blond, the scent of caramel coiling around him. "Want to know a secret?" Bakugo's voice rumbled through his chest, Kirishima felt it all.
"Mm?" Kirishima bunched the material of Bakugo's shirt into his fists.
"I'm scared too," he smiled bashfully.
"What?" Kirishima lifted his head, surprised.
"I just have trouble admitting that out loud. Because saying it makes it feel more final."
Kirishima didn't know what to say. He rubbed his tears away and looked up at him, taking a moment.
"Well... It's going to be okay, you know why?" Kirishima let out a small chuckle.
"Why?"
"Because I am here!" Kirishima mocked All Might.
Bakugo smiled broadly.
"Fucking dork," he chuckled softly.
They let go of one another, finally.
Kirishima was embarrassed.
"Sorry-" he muttered.
Bakugo was looking away, into middle distance to his left. He muttered, "s'okay."
Kirishima tried to pull himself back together, and took a big, deep breath.
"

We've got this."
Bakugo looked at him, a hint of pink across his cheekbones. There was an assured look in his eye, as though to say, 'yes, we do.'

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*this chapter published 25/06/2021