Touch Therapy

Chapter 20

The frantic nature of the reunion was surprisingly short-lived, dissolving quickly into something softer. Kirishima peppered featherlight kisses wherever he could, causing Bakugou to let his head fall back and a breath escape his lungs that he felt had been trapped there all day. His eyes were prickling with unshed tears, his body quivering within Kirishima's grasp. It almost felt like he was going into shock, the amount of emotion he was feeling kept bubbling under the surface, threatening to overflow as he tried to focus solely on the positive ones.

Kirishima noticed, of course, and stopped his ministrations in order to lean back and examine Bakugou's face. Bakugou could feel the other boys' concerned stare, but forced his teeth to grit together in one last attempt to hold the flood gates closed. His defence fell as quickly as it had come up when Kirishima planted the gentlest of kisses onto his lips. In a split second, Bakugou was crying again, his limbs tightening around Kirishima as he shattered completely. He was flat out sobbing now, his fingers curled into loose fists on Kirishima's shirt, as he buried his face in the other boy's neck.

Kirishima felt a wave of disgust and resentment towards Monoma and Kaminari for hurting Bakugou this way. Bakugou didn't deserve to feel this way. From the very beginning of their relationship, Bakugou had done nothing but try for him. Kirishima knew how powerful Bakugou's pride is, how much it controlled him, and the fact that he had pushed past that time and time again in order for Kirishima to understand his feelings meant everything to him. He had even vouched for Kaminari not to be expelled, but rather for him to be moved to the other class, because he knew that his expulsion wasn't what Kirishima wanted, despite how Bakugou personally felt about the electric boy.

Right now, however... Kirishima couldn't shake the thought that he should have known better. He should have known that Kaminari would try something to hurt Bakugou, he should have known that Kaminari would stop at nothing after he had seen how unhinged he had become during the encounter in the bathroom. If he had just been smarter... if he could have just been stronger, rather than running away like he had, maybe Bakugou wouldn't be hurting this bad now.

Kirishima could feel himself tearing up as well now, and couldn't stop a small, broken whimper from pushing through his lips.

Bakugou jerked back, eyes wide and shimmering, his full lips still quivering despite the stubborn lines forming between his brows as he fought back more tears. His crimson gaze flickered quickly over Kirishima's face, reading his expression, and like usual, he got it right on the first try.

"Eijirou. I swear, if you're going to try blaming yourself for anything that has happened, I'll-"

"It is my fault!" Kirishima cried out, cutting Bakugou off, "If I hadn't been so oblivious to Denk- I mean, to Kaminari's intentions and feelings, then I could have fixed this at the beginning! Before it had the chance to get this far! Before... before you got hurt..."

Kirishima trailed off, expression downcast, as his grip on Bakugou's waist loosened. How was he meant to forgive himself for this? How was Bakugou meant to forgive him?

"That's fuckin stupid."

Now it was Kirishima's turn to jerk back, his head snapping up to meet Bakugou's eyes. Bakugou wasn't crying anymore. He was scowling, his mouth pinched into a frustrated pout, as he stared Kirishima down, daring the other boy to try and correct him. Kirishima lowered his arms, allowing Bakugou to slip his legs back down so he was standing on his feet again, and they stared at each other for a long moment. Eventually, Bakugou sighed, rolling his eyes, before taking a step forward and placing a hand on either side of Kirishima's face, his thumbs rubbing at the tears that were still streaming endlessly down.

"You're a fuckin idiot... You can't help that people fall for you Eijirou. It's how you are, you're too fuckin pure for your own good. If you think Kaminari is the only person in this damn school who's crushing on you, you're more oblivious than I thought. You don't see any of the others trying to fuckin force themselves on you, or trying to break us up though." Bakugou sighed again, scrubbing a fist over the tired bags under his eyes, before continuing. "People are going to want you. Like it or not. How they deal with those feelings is their fuckin problem, but they're gonna have to deal with it one way or another, cause I'm sure as fuck not gonna make shit easy for them if they try and draw your attention away from me."

Kirishima stared.

Bakugou stared straight back, his jaw still set stubbornly, eyes still daring Kirishima to try and argue. After a minute, Kirishima's resolve broke, and a broad smile spread across his face, an almost hysterical chuckle rippling its way out of his chest.

"You love me..." he choked out, still laughing incredulously as the realisation fully hit him.

Bakugou huffed loudly, folding his arms across his chest and looking away with an adorable pout on his lips.

"You love me!" Kirishima cried out again, tears beginning to overflow, but this time driven by his overwhelming joy. When Bakugou didn't look up, Kirishima chuckled again, latching on to the other boys' shoulders and pulling him into a kiss. Bakugou melted against him, his body becoming putty in Kirishima's hands as the kiss continued.

It wasn't frantic.

It wasn't driven by anything other than the purest form of complete, unadulterated, love.

Fingers trailed over each other's faces, as if neither of them could bare the chance of forgetting what this moment felt like. In that moment, the moment they both fully grasped that the other one loved them as much as they were loved, Kirishima felt like he had just watched every baby in the world laugh for the very first time. His heart felt as though it had swollen in his chest, his insides so warm and full, all because of the blonde in front of him.

The kiss was finally broken apart, but they only moved back an inch, their breath still mingling in the air in front of them. It was quiet, but no words needed to be said. Everything they had felt had been put into that kiss, and Kirishima could tell that Bakugou felt it too. Kirishima's eyes flickered open briefly, and his heart swelled impossibly when he saw the gentle smile resting on Bakugou's lips. It was a sight he would do literally anything to be able to see for the rest of his life.

"...forever?" Kirishima whispered, ignoring the slight quiver in his voice.

Bakugou smiled wider, his eyes opening, and the look of adoration on his face made Kirishima's knees go weak.

"Like you have a choice. You're mine now, Shitty Hair."