summary: You meet every Friday at the same bridge with a mysterious boy to exchange stories about each other's week. You've never exchanged names, but the connection between the two of you grows stronger—until he fails to show up one day.
pairing: bakugou x gn! reader
genre: fluffy angst?
word count: 1,103
a/n: I'm back, but a little rusty! please let me know what you think so that I can improve my writing :)
It had happened one Friday. Then the next. And the next.
Suddenly, an entire year had passed, and the unspoken meetings had become permanently engrained in my routine. In my life.
Every Friday at 8pm, I would walk to the bridge and meet him there. We would talk for hours about everyone and everything - turns out being perfect strangers makes for perfect conversation.
But this Friday was different. Maybe it was the gravelly tone of his voice, like the side of an unpaved road. Or maybe it was the dark glitter in his red eyes, hazy yet warm, like wisps of smoke rising from the ashes.
“The stars are infinite.” He finally spoke after several moments of silence, the wind ruffling his hair. A blonde tendril of hair fell over his left eye. I resisted the urge to push it aside, to touch.
“And so is the sky. And the moon.” I let his voice wash over me, before looking back up at the sky, at the stars that spanned the entire universe. The same stars that were brightly reflected in his eyes.
“But we are ever so finite.” I murmured, instinctively finishing his thought. It was a debate we had often - how small we truly were in significance compared to the infinite spanning world.
He nodded, his eyes still on the sky. Then it suddenly hit me. While I knew this man’s stories and had glimpses of his thoughts, I didn’t know something as simple as his name. I opened my mouth to ask, but when I turned, he was already gone.
It’s okay. I could always ask him next Friday.
Except next Friday didn’t come. Or the Friday after. Each day I went to the bridge, hoping, praying, that he would heed our unspoken agreement. Yet he never came.
Finally, one night, I decided this would be the last time I would wait for him. 10 minutes slowly melted into 2 hours, until it was obvious he wasn’t coming and that l was an utter fool. I left, face flushed and arms shivering from the biting cold. My legs moved all on their own, right towards the nearest bar.
“Espresso martini, please.” I murmured, ready to take my mind off of everything.
While those talks may not have meant anything to him, they had meant nearly everything to me. Maybe I had just hoped that he had felt the same; that he had also found relief in talking to a perfect stranger. My mind swirled with memories - his low chuckle, sarcastic dry wit, infuriating smirk.
“Your drink.” The bartender cut off my thoughts, raising an eyebrow as I downed the drink and immediately ordered another. I looked away, a flush already rising on my cheeks, before catching sight of something familiar.
Red eyes.
He sat in a booth, nursing a beer. And though he was surrounded by people, his slouched posture and insistent foot tapping revealed his true feelings. He looked back at me and stiffened. We stared at each other, time seemingly frozen. Then he stood and walked towards me, maintaining eye contact.
When he sat down next to me, I looked away. Some part of me felt betrayed that he was spending his Friday nights like this instead of with me. Another part of me felt relieved that he was alright, that he was well.
“Bakugou Katsuki.” He murmured next to me. His name. I stiffened.
Katsuki? Like the hero Dynamite’s name?
“I should’ve told you sooner but then I got scared. That you’d treat me differently because of my occupation-”
“So you decided to leave?” The words come out sharpen than I intended. I feel rather than see him flinch.
“There were emergencies. I was on call for the past couple of Fridays.”
“And today?”
He let out a deep sigh.
“I was there. Watching you.” He paused, as if waiting for me to interject. I stayed silent. He cleared his throat.
“I thought about how life is so finite. How I’m so finite. But then, there’s you.” He turned to me, trying to look into my eyes. I refused to meet his gaze.
“You made me feel like it doesn’t matter if life is finite, as long as I can spend more time with you. And suddenly, Fridays didn’t feel enough. And that… that scared me.” He stopped for a second, swallowing. I met his eyes, and this time they were burning hot, like red coals being stoked in a fire.
“And then- well, then I thought about how if life is so finite, then you shouldn’t be wasting your time talking to me because there are so many other people that are better than me. People that could make sure you’re happy and safe.”
“Bakugou…” I expected the name to feel foreign on my tongue, but it somehow felt just right.
You do make me happy. Make me feel safe. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words died in my throat. He continued.
“Putting myself in danger to save others is easy, and it’s my job. But being with you? That would be like painting a target on your back. And I could never put you in danger for the sake of my own happiness. Ever.”
I understood. It made sense why he wanted us to remain perfect strangers. This way we could still be in each others lives without the risk of villains finding out, finite together. When things remained finite, it was safer because you knew the boundaries and limitations. You knew that at some point, it would end.
While I understood, I also didn’t agree.
“If we’re finite anyway,” I whispered hoarsely, finally meeting his gaze. “Then screw it. Let’s just do it.”
“But-”
“You make me happy. And you will continue to make me happy. Finitely or infinitely, it doesn't matter to me.” I peered into his eyes, pleading. We stared at each other for a moment, and I knew.
The stars were still in his eyes. And they were infinite.
