A LITTLE PATIENCE
Established Kirishima x F!Reader | Established KiriBaku | Eventual KiriBakuReader
PART 03: The Universe Needs to Shut Up
WORD COUNT: 2.9K
SUMMARY: Avoiding Bakugou was all well and good, if only you actually could.
part one | part two | read on ao3
In the days that follow Bakugou is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere around you at once.
The weight of the failed lunch date sits heavy on your brain; with every day that goes by it grows heavier with the guilt of not telling Eijirou about the new wedge between you and his beloved, while he did his best to keep you happy without knowing that it was Bakugou who had impacted you so severely. Not once did he attempt to pry into the events of that day, which you respected and appreciated because if he asked you would answer truthfully — and you didn’t want to face the potential consequences of telling him what had been said. You’re sure it would devastate him to know that you had been so eager to try to form a friendship with Bakugou only to have it shut down by him saying that the two of you were only trying to be friends for your connecting piece.
You’d stayed away from their apartment since that was the easiest way to avoid running into him, as it was difficult to have surprise interactions if you weren’t in an environment he was likely to be in. He hadn’t tried to contact you again, and that was how you needed it to be right now. But the downside was that he consumed most of your thoughts. If you had free time, you were thinking about why he didn’t want to be your friend by his own choice and what potential issues he had with you. When Eijirou was hanging out with you, your brain was going a mile a minute with worry over what was or wasn’t told to him by Bakugou about your last encounter. Even at work you’re thinking of him, as he and his heroics were reported on every single day. Trying to escape him put him everywhere, like a vibrant sign you were desperate to ignore.
It wasn’t healthy behavior, and you’re sure there’s a strain on your boyfriend that he was shouldering without complaint — an injustice that needed to be rectified because he deserved better. You just weren’t ready to deal with it right now and that was okay.
But the universe was sending other signals, and Katsuki Bakugou was a neon sign staring at you from the other side of the produce department. They didn’t even live near enough to you to justify going to the same grocery store, so he was probably making a stop on his way home, but why did it have to be here?
You recover first, quickly dropping your onions in the produce bag you held before turning to walk the opposite direction, trying to avoid the migraine that would come if you looked at this blaring sign from the universe too long. You’d talk to him next week, and hopefully the mental commitment would be enough for the universe to calm down.
Next week should be better, less busy on your side and more open to the additional emotional strain that talking to Bakugou was likely to cause. More time for Eijirou too if you needed to come clean about how Bakugou was making you feel and get his perspective on the whole situation, should you not be able to work things out with Bakugou on your own.
But you first needed to get through your shopping before you had to get to the station — hopefully with minimal Bakugou sightings or mention for the rest of the day.
Your arrival at the station is met with instruction to go to Set B while being handed a list of questions — expected because Ayame was sick (this time actually sick and you knew because you brought her soup and medicine on your way to work). In your professional opinion Ayame’s scheduled interviews should’ve been rescheduled if she was sick so she could fulfill that commitment, but you also know too intimately what a hero’s schedule could look like on a good day so you could appreciate the station valuing this hero’s time and subbing you in. Your intimate involvement in the world of heroes made you the perfect substitute without risking a decay in quality of the interview, and you would be changing a couple of these questions depending on who it was in the chair.
Does your career impact your love life?
Knowing Ayame, it was an invitation for flirting and potentially a date invitation with no regard for true professionalism. Sure, you had a successful love story with a pro hero that was ignited by an interview, but you didn’t ask him about his love life. He told you before your first date to make sure you were okay with him trying out polyamory and his private relationship with Bakugou.
Dating a hero wasn’t all that glamorous, anyway. It was full of long nights, lost sleep, first aid lessons that unfortunately came in handy, and a lot of attention. And the attention was the first sometimes. The boost to your follower count on socials was nice for your marketability and ratings in television, but the occasional threats to your life, many a failed attempt to take you hostage, one successful abduction, and overall unease you sometimes felt when you were out in public alone were massive downsides to being publicly involved with a pro.
Besides all of that, most of the heroes you knew hated the dating questions if they weren’t publicly dating someone.
But more frustrating than your colleague putting a couple relationship related questions after you’d advised her not to do that, was the fact that a serious point of strain in your life was sitting in the chair across from yours on the set.
“Hey,” Bakugou greets, and you force a smile as you take your seat. Instantly a tech is by your side, trying to attach the small microphone to your shirt quickly given the five minutes he had to get you prepared for this interview.
Bakugou looks nervous, sitting in full gear in the plush yellow armchair while you try to look at anything but the nervous hero. But why was he nervous? Was it you and the tension between you that had his knee bouncing, or was it the fact that he hated the more social aspect of being a pro?
The sound of a rip followed by something hitting the hardwood at your feet had you looking at the tech who is now smiling sheepishly at you as he adjusts the microphone. An apology is mumbled and dismissed, as this was just a button on a shirt even if it had been a gift from your boyfriend. Your dry cleaner could fix it if you brought them a replacement, so it wasn’t worth getting mad over — not when you had to pretend that you and Bakugou weren’t currently on the best of terms.
“I’m sure you’ve done enough of these to know the drill,” you comment, hoping he agrees so you don’t have to give the overview designed to help the interviewee relax. It was unfair to say, but you didn’t want him to relax. Part of you wanted to know that he felt as uneasy around you as you did around him; while the other, significantly kinder, part of you simply wanted him out of your line of sight to avoid adding to your stress levels before your date night with Eijirou. The redhead always picked up on tension and you didn’t want to throw his boyfriend under the bus.
“I’m pretty shitty at them, being honest,” he admits, and you nod your head as you look over the questions. “I got the list beforehand so I’m ready, but I hate stuff like this.”
“Only doing this for the rankings?”
“Citizens deserve to get to know more of me.” The response is mindful of the potentially rolling cameras, and you nod your understanding as you set your paper to the side. You couldn’t look uncomfortable — people knew you were dating Red Riot and knew that he and Dynamight were good friends, by extension you needed to be good friends with Dynamight. Or at least act like it. This would be live, not pre-recorded, there was no editing out discomfort in this situation.
Cameras start rolling and your introduction is cheery and professional as it should be. The “hero face” settles on Baukuou, all signs of discomfort leaving his posture and helping you relax just that much more knowing that he would put on just as good of an act as you could.
“You’ve been sailing the top ten for years, never really accepting offers for one-on-one interviews like this or any real exposure since you believe that your hero work should tell the story. Why choose to break out of your shell now?”
“The people of the city put their trust in me, and Japan as a whole puts their trust in the pro heroes to keep them safe.They should know more about who I am and what I stand for.”
You knew that his answers would be scripted out, or at the very least he’d be given bullet points to touch on since he didn’t do media like this. But his delivery sucked and the answer was bullshit, something that you knew the public was going to brush off in the excitement that Dynamight was finally doing some interviews. This is feedback you’re sure you can’t give him personally, given the current state of your acquaintanceship with him, but you trust Eijirou will block him on it since he was definitely watching.
The rest of the interview is just as painfully scripted, but he feels less robotic towards the end. He wasn’t a natural communicator by any means, and it would be very easy for viewers to say that he didn’t do interviews often and wasn’t comfortable with the spotlight and have that be the reason why it didn’t feel natural until the end. They would also say that your experience was helpful in getting him to relax during the forty or so minutes you’d been talking, and that would be a boost to your reputation in the field.
“Can I ask you a question?” Bakugou asks, and you hesitate initially but nod when you see the producer’s thumbs up from the corner of your eye.
“I’ve been grilling you for fifty minutes, I don’t see why not.” The tease lands, he relaxes more, and you watch him curiously as you wait for him to ask. This was happening only because you were the reporter in the chair, Ayame would not have gotten a question shot back at her and you were half tempted to call her and tell her to take better care of her health so you wouldn’t have to deal with this shit.
“When you look at a pro hero, what do you see? Or what do you look for to determine if that’s a hero you would stand beside?”
You think you hate him. The question doesn’t necessarily feel targeted, but you know it’s not out of nowhere and likely to do with the situationship you were in due to your individual relationships with Eijirou. Why he wanted to do this shit on live television was beyond your understanding, but you’d deal with that part later. And you think you will have to get Eijirou involved regardless, if only to understand what the hell went on in Bakugou’s head.
“That’s two questions, but luckily we’ve got time. I’d say for the second question, what I personally look for in pro heroes is their ability to care about the holistic health of the community that they’re serving.” You start, adjusting your posture so you’re better meeting his gaze. “Is their community service simply punching villains and calling it a day, or are they also helping elders carry their groceries and helping the less fortunate access the resources available to help them? Because they can fight crime, but are they contributing to reducing the societal inequities that are statistically proven to create the crimes and villains that they fight in the first place?”
The mask hides the raised eyebrow well, but you know his face well enough to know that look when you see it. He probably felt targeted in that response, but realistically every pro hero should feel targeted by that response. This was a stance you’d held for years, before dating Eijirou and before you’d ever met a hero. It was the topic of conversations you’d had with most of their circle of pro heroes, and he would know that if he listened when you spoke. They all needed to do more unpaid community service, in your opinion.
“For the other question; when I look at a pro hero, or even a hero in training, initially I see someone who cares enough about their community that they want to use their quirk to protect it rather than simply using their quirk for their own gain. However, how they act over time will shift whether or not that’s a hero I want to stand beside. Hero is just a word to some people, a status symbol. I don’t want to stand beside anyone who is only in it for themselves.”
The look in his eyes is not one that you know how to decipher — not that you really wanted to. He asked, you answered, end of story. You don’t fully hear his response, but thank him for his time and wait for the all clear before you stand and remove the microphone. He moves quickly in front of you, gloved hand holding out the pearl-like button that you never saw him pick up.
“Here’s the button that came off your shirt.” You don’t feel like it’s a trap, but still hesitate to take the small object from his hand. “I can fix that, if you want.”
“You can sew?”
“My mom and I took sewing classes together. We were too busy being mad at the fabric to yell at each other for a couple hours a week.”
“I’ll just ask the dry cleaner to handle it; wouldn’t want to inconvenience you any more than I already do,” is all you say as you start to walk from the set and you’re too aware of the way he follows you. Someone calls out to him and he says that you’re showing him out, and you roll your eyes at how easily the issue was let go because he was a pro.
“Why’d you drop the relationship question?” He asks as you push into the rear stairwell, appreciating your move for a private arena because he wasn’t going to stop talking to you. This was the one chance he’d had in a week, he couldn’t fuck it up.
“Because it was a stupid fucking question. But what the hell was that question you threw at me about determining if I would stand beside a hero? Trying to judge my relationship and why I’m dating him?”
“No! You’re good for him and he loves you, I’m not trying to ruin that or judge that. That’s why I want us to get to know each other, because it’s not cool for him that we don’t talk much.”
“Do you realize how fucked it is to openly say you only want to know me better to make things easier for him? LIke, do you hear yourself when you say that?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“It’s not an interest in me. You just want to make me more tolerable to be around, which stings that I make myself so fucking small to stay out of your way and that’s somehow not enough!”
“That’s not it at all!”
“Then what IS IT!?”
A door on a lower floor opens, and you both freeze at the potential of being caught arguing over Red Riot in a stairwell. It’s then that you notice how close you’d gotten to the blonde, your noses practically touching while you feel the heat radiating off of his body. He used Eijirou’s body wash in his morning shower, and you know this because the same brand and scent was sitting on his shelf in the shower at your apartment.
“I swear they took these stairs, maybe they’re outside already?”
People were looking for you and Bakugou, you were running out of time and did not need to get pushed to the point of tears again today. Not over him.
The door closing has you both releasing the breath you didn’t realize was being held, and you can only turn to start down the stairs to lead him out. The conversation was clearly over, he had nothing to say and you didn’t want to talk to him anymore so you walked in silence until you reached the first floor. You direct him to the west facing door that would take him to the lobby before you take the east facing door that would put you in the back alley.
This was reminiscent of when you’d first started in your career at this station. The evening anchor was awful, rude to you and everyone else for no reason, often saying things just to get the reaction he wanted to help him feel like he was in charge. This alley was where you’d sit and cry it out to avoid giving him or anyone else the satisfaction of seeing you affected so severely, then you’d go to the ice cream shop two buildings down and fix your makeup in the bathroom after ordering a little treat for yourself.
And today you would be going to the ice cream shop to do the same thing.