#limitlessmonster

Aomine groans. “You’re worse than a woman.” His eyes flicker around the room. There’s already a mound of clothing on Kise’s unmade bed and a few unopened boxes Aomine remembers stacking in his barely furnished living room. “Where’re you gonna put all this shit?”

Kise shrugs. “I’ve got an extra room.” He scrutinizes the pile of clothing. “Maybe I’ll turn it into a walk in closet.” 

With a shake of his head, Aomine collapses on Kise’s bed, ruffling the clothes as he rolls over. He stares at the ceiling. “Finally got your own place,” he says after a moment of silence. 

“Yeah,” Kise’s lips twitch. “Probably gonna be a bit weird.” He runs his hands over the open lip of a box full of knick knacks and photo frames he took from his bedroom back home. “I’m used to living with so many people, ya know? My sisters never left me alone.”

Aomine chuckles. “Trust me, the quiet time will feel pretty damn good after a while.”

Kise’s smile is wistful. “Maybe.”

Aomine knows all the telltale signs that betray Kise’s emotions. He lifts his head off the bed, watching the way Kise’s eyes turn glassy. He’s not going to cry, not yet, but it’s there under the surface. 

He pushes himself into a sitting position, bending his leg top prop his foot on the edge of the bed. “Hey,” he says, reaching out to catch Kise’s hand, pulling it away from the box. “I’ll be over all the time, ya know? You won’t be alone.” He gives Kise’s hand a squeeze. “Sheesh, you’re such a baby sometimes.” 

“Am not,” Kise grumbles with an epic pout.

“Besides, maybe one of these days I’ll scrounge up enough money to get one of the other apartments here. Then you can’t even complain because you know damn well your dumb ass will end up at my door all the time.”

“Will not.” 

“Oh?” He smirks. “How many times did you use the word sleepover since you signed this lease?” Kise’s pout only grows more prominent. “More than any grown man should use that word, ya creep.” 

“Sleepovers are fun at any age for anyone, Daiki,” Kise says, reaching out to shove Aomine back against the bed.

Aomine laughs. “Whatever you say, princess.”

“Hmph.” Kise crosses his arms and makes his way toward the door. “Wouldn’t have to propose sleepovers if you’d just move in here with me.”

A silence sweeps across the room. Kise freezes in the doorframe, his shoulders hiked up, stunned by his own admittance. Aomine sits up so quickly his head spins, or maybe it’s the words that are making his head continue to spin. 

It’s not a conversation they've had yet. They’ve been together for almost 3 years (Aomine doesn’t count the fooling around before they admitted to feelings. He doesn’t count what wasn’t real yet). They’ve never talked about getting a place together or anything beyond the ease of their normal routine. 

“Ryouta...” 

“Daiki, I was just...” Kise glances over his shoulder, a flush burning bright on his cheeks. “I know we haven't--” He wrings his hands in the hem on his shirt. “I wasn’t try to force anything. I... It crossed my mind. The...” 

Aomine takes a deep breath. “Why are you stuttering?”

“You try asking this without stuttering!” Kise whips around, a frown already pulling at the corners of his lips. “I... I wanted to have a real conversation about this. I didn't want you to think I got this place just to... I mean, it would be nice if we could....”

“Kise...”

“But I’m happy,” KIse whispers. “I’m really happy with you. I am. And if you don’t want to yet.... or ever.... I would never---” He takes a deep breath. “I would never make you. I want what you want.”

With a sigh, Aomine pushes himself off the bed and wraps Kise in his arms. “You're a giant idiot.”

Kise grumbles something incoherent against Aomine’s chest before wrapping his arms around his waist. 

“Did you just call me an asshole?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Kise says, pulling away enough for Aomine to understand him. 

Aomine chuckles. “Sure. Well...” He slides his fingers slowly, gently through the soft hairs at the nape of Kise’s neck. “Let’s talk about it now then.”

Kise meets his eyes and nods slowly. “Okay.... let’s talk about it.”

Aomine leans in, his lips brushing lightly across Kise’s. “I think my answer is yes, Ryouta, so....” He deepens the kiss, swallowing Kise’s gasp of surprise. “Conversation over.”

“Daiki...”

“Don’t cry on me, loser,”

“I’m not crying!” 

Aomine glances over his shoulder at the mess of clothes on the bed. “Looks like you’re gonna have to share that walk in closet of yours.” 

Kise snorts, shoving against his chest. “I’d like to see you try to find the room.”

“Of course. You still have my email address?”

“Got it saved from the paperwork you sent last time.”

He can hear Aomine typing on the other end of the line and notes, with some amusement, that he types considerably slower than Kise.

“I really appreciate this, Kise-san.”

“Just Kise is fine.”

Aomine chuckles. “Just Kise then.”

“Is there anything else I can help with you with?”

“Plenty, but I’m sure you don’t have the time for all of it.” A pause. “Or the qualifications.”

“I’m qualified for plenty.”

More laughter. Goosebumps pop up across Kise’s arm.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good.” He’s grinning now and secretly grateful that Takao isn’t perched on his desk to see this right now. “Well, if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to call.”

“Oh, I won’t.”

“Have a nice day, Aomine-san.”

“Just Aomine.”

Kise laughs. “Have a nice day, Aomine.”

“You too, Kise.”

“I could really use a favor, Kise.”

Kise tries to hide his grin when Aomine’s deep voice rumbles through his headset. He’s waving a hand behind him, trying to usher Takao away from his desk. Takao leans in instead and smirks, mouthing is that him, batting his eyelashes and pretending to fan himself.

“You know I’m always willing to do you a favor, Aomine.”

He can practically hear the smile on Aomine’s lips as he says, “Just the words I wanted to hear.”

Takao is laying across one edge of his desk, miming his heart beating out of his chest. Kise adamantly ignores him.

“What can I do for you?”

“There’s a long list of things I want to ask for, but… I’ll only ask for the work related one right now.”

Dammit… he curses the color that rises to his cheeks.

“Shoot.” His voice is breathless, his mind locked on all the things he wants Aomine to ask for, but will never voice aloud.

“I really need that one policy to go out…ya know which one I mean?”

“The policy for Akashi Seijurou?”

“Yes,” Aomine releases a groan of relief. “God, you always just know, don’t ya?”

Kise chuckles. “You did just send me an email on it not too long ago.”

“Right, right.” Aomine laughs. “This is a huge case. Guy’s got a lotta money going into this one and he wants it done as soon as possible. He’s kinda scary so anything you can do to help... Everything is in to send it out, right?”

“Pulling it up right now.” Kise fingers fly across the keyboard. He clicks through the paperwork on the case as quickly as he can, nodding to himself and softly humming the latest song stuck in his head. “Looks like everything is good to go. I’ll stay a little later to make sure this gets mailed out overnight today.”

“You’re a damn lifesaver.”

“Excuse you,” Kise laughs. He loves that Aomine isn’t afraid to use profanity on a work line. He’s confident enough in his skills to know they won’t let him go so easily, has said as much to Kise before. “Only for you.”

“Even better,” Aomine says with a quiet laugh. “Only for me.”

Kise smiles to himself and slaps Takao’s hand away when he reaches for Kise’s flushed cheek.

“Now let me go so I can work on this policy for you.”

“Hah? Can’t talk and work at the same time?” Aomine teases.

“Aomine…” He can talk and work at the same time. He does it with Takao all day.

He can’t talk to Aomine and work at the same time. Aomine’s voice is far too distracting.

“Got it, got it. I’ll let you go. Thanks again, Kise. I owe ya.”

“Anytime.”

“You do know this is your third time calling me this week.” Kise swears he has a permanent smile on his face. His customer service skills must have improved these past few months with these frequent calls from his favorite salesperson.

“Is it?” Aomine chuckles. “Hey, I always call with work questions. No one can deny that.”

Kise snorts in amusement. “That argument might be questionable when you consider the fact that our last conversation was roughly forty minutes long.”

“I had a lot of questions,” Aomine replies. “Needed a lot of answers.”

“Pretty sure you know more about my upcoming family events now than even most of my family members do.”

Aomine’s soft snicker over the phone makes Kise’s heart skip a beat or two. It’s not a sound he hears often, but he’s grown to like it. A lot.

“If anyone asks, we were discussing the merits of long term care riders and their benefits to customers interested in purchasing permanent insurance.”

“Were you reading a script?” Kise bites his lip to suppress a snort of laughter.

“Damn right I was.”

“Aominecchi! Language!”

The static sound of silence greets his outburst and for a second he thinks their phone queue has shut down like it did for two hours last week.

Then Aomine says, “Did you just call me… Aominecchi?”

Oh shit…

“Ah…”

“Kise…” Aomine’s voice deepens. It’s the kind of voice he’s used in past conversations to encourage Kise to spill the beans about a topic he wasn’t necessarily willing to elaborate on.  It works every time.

“It’s…” Kise presses mute on his phone and presses his forehead against the table with a groan. He catches sight of Takao out of the corner of his eye. He quickly taps out the word later into their existing IM and takes a deep breath before taking himself off mute. “It’s kinda what I started referring to you around the office here. I really only use it as a sign of respect, so it’s nothing weird or… anything.” He cuts himself off before he can sound like even more of an idiot.

Another long pause tempts him to hang up until Aomine says, “So, you talk about me with yer coworkers over there?”

Kise is glad they’re conversing over the phone so Aomine can’t see the nice shade of red his face is sporting right now. He can feel the heat in his cheeks and thinks he might need to take a swim in the frigid pool at their company gym after work today.

“I…” There’s no getting out of this now. “I do. But it’s only because we’ve spoken so frequently and you’re my favorite salesperson. And sometimes I get asked about my phone calls so I have to give at least some information away. And I’m at least letting people know you work here with us, just in another location. And—“

“Hold it,” Aomine interrupts. “What did you just say?”

“I’m letting people know you work here with us?”

“No, Kise.” If rolling your eyes had a sound, Kise is pretty sure he would’ve hear it right now. He’s positive Aomine rolled his eyes. “Before that.”

“About giving informa—“

“Before that.”

“About getting asked—“

A soft growl comes out of the phone and Kise stops breathing.

“Are you really this stupid or are you just pretending to be so you don’t have to admit it again?”

“This call may be monitored for quality and training purposes,” Kise counters as a reminder.

“Kise, I swear to god…”

Oh god… Kise draws in a slow, steady breath to ground himself. “That you’re my favorite salesperson?”

Aomine let’s out a heavy breath, like he’d been holding it while Kise skirted around his question. “Yes. That.”

“Well…” Kise sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “It’s true.”

“Mm…” Aomine’s deep hum of contentment through the phone has to be a national treasure. Kise wishes he could find the recording of this call just to hear it again. “Ya know, yer kinda my favorite too.”

Kise breathes in sharply. “You’re favorite…” what?

“Yes,” Aomine replies. “My favorite.”

The silence that follows is weighted in an indescribable way. Kise is certain this isn’t an appropriate conversation to have at work. His hard earned phone etiquette skills fly out the window when Aomine is involved and he’s grateful his boss hasn’t decided to pull and monitor his calls.

“I’ll talk to you later, Kise. Thanks.” Aomine pauses and Kise holds his breath. “For reviewing that illustration for me.”

Ah… “You’re welcome, Aominecchi,” Kise replies softly.

“Bye, Kise.”

“Goodbye, Aominecchi.”

“Where do you think you’ll go on your first date?”

Kise looks up from the salad he brought for lunch and blinks at Takao.

“Excuse me?”

Takao sighs and dramatically throws his hands up in the air in mock irritation. “Keep up, Ryou-chan!”

“Who are you even talking about?”

“You and Mr. Sex-Phone-Operator-Voice of course!”

Kise’s eyes widen as he makes a slashing gesture with his hand across his throat. “Kazucchi, keep your voice down. Jeeze…”

Takao cackles. “It’s hysterical how embarrassed you get when I mention him when you have no problem openly swooning and drooling over him on the phone.”

“Shut up,” Kise grumbles, shoving a forkful of lettuce into his mouth.

“You know those calls are recorded, right?” Takao grins, leaning his chin in his hand. “Anyone can listen to you charm him like the shameless flirt you are.”

Takao now listens in on  any conversation of Kise’s when he’s close enough to hear. He’s caught Kise on the phone with Aomine more times than Kise cares to admit and, yes, every single time Kise has been shamelessly flirting.

But Aomine flirts back. He laughs that deep, rich, heartstopping laugh of his, practically purrs Kise’s name every time he says it, tells Kise how he’s his favorite, how he loves Kise’s laugh, how he wonders what it would be like to work in the same office .

Kise wonders the same thing. He wonders if the novelty of talking to Aomine would wear off, or not exist, if they knew one another in person. If they worked face to face. It’s a thought Kise entertains every now and again, always coming to the same conclusion.

The novelty would never wear off.

It isn’t just Aomine’s voice that he likes anymore. He likes Aomine. He likes his laugh, the smile he can hear instead of see, the way he’s fearless, doesn’t care who hears, doesn’t care what he says. He likes Aomine’s dedication to his job, his blatant favoritism of Kise. He just likes Aomine.

“You never answered my question,” Takao points out.

“Kazucchi, I’m never gonna see him,” Kise admits softly. It’s another thought that’s been swimming through his mind and, again, he only comes to one conclusion. It’s highly unlikely they’ll ever meet in person.

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t even know what he looks like,” Kise groans. His head tips forward, his forehead making contact with the cafeteria table. He groans again.

“Do you want to?” Takao asks.

Kise tilts his head to the side, peering up at Takao through strands of hair covering his eyes. “You know I do.”

Takao grins. “I know what he looks like.”

Kise’s head is off the table in an instant. “You… what?”

“I know what he looks like,” Takao repeats, his grin spreading wider. He looks like the Cheshire Cat, but Kise isn’t in the mood for his games.

“Kazucchi, so help me…” His hand twitches, itching to grab a pen that isn’t near him to lob at Takao’s grinning face. “If you don’t tell me what you mean, I’ll—“

“I printed a picture of him.”

Kise gapes. “You printed…”

“It wasn’t hard to find him on the company website.” Takao shrugs and reaches into the back pocket of his dress slacks. “You wanna see?”

Drawing in a sharp breath, Kise nods. “You know I do…”

Takao unfolds the paper and slides it across the table. Kise realizes two things. One, Aomine is hot. Like tall, dark and handsome, bad boy, let me slam you against the wall and leave you breathless kind of hot. And two, Kise is royally screwed, and not in the way he wants to be after seeing that photo.

“Fuck…” he mutters, unable to take his eyes away from the mischievous gleam in the eyes of Aomine’s photo.

“My thoughts exactly,” Takao laughs and comes to the same realization as Kise. “You’re screwed.”

“I have a confession to make, Aominecchi.”

Kise hides in one of the small conference rooms on their office floor. He had transferred Aomine’s call to the phone in here to avoid Takao. He doesn’t need him sitting at his desk, cackling while he admits that he’s been thinking about Aomine ever since he saw the face that went with that sinfully deep voice.

Well, maybe he won’t say it in those exact words, but something to that effect.

“Mm… do you?”

Kise hears the smile in his voice and runs his palm down his face. It’s warm. He’s probably blushing. Thank god Takao didn’t follow him.

“So I may have looked through the company website…” he trails off and stares at the computer in front of him where he’s pulled up Aomine’s profile once again. “And checked out the team profiles.”

“Yeah?” Aomine drawls.

“And I noticed you play basketball.”

Aomine chuckles. “That’s what you noticed?”

“Well…” Kise rubs at his nape and imagines the smile on Aomine’s face. His heart thunders in his chest. “Obviously that’s not the only thing I noticed.”

“What else?” Aomine asks.

Kise frowns. “Now you’re just being mean.”

“You’re dancin’ around the real subject, Kise.” Aomine is laughing again. “You were looking up my picture.”

With an internal groan, Kise finally says, “I saw your picture.”

There’s a pause on the other end. Kise’s heart is beating so loud now he’s not sure he’ll hear Aomine if he says anything else.

“So,” Aomine finally says, his deep voice breaking through Kise’s incessant heartbeat. “Like what you see?”

Kise draws in a sharp breath, holds it. When he finally exhales his voice is soft, breathy. “How could I not?”

There’s the laughter again. Deep, rich. Like velvet across Kise’s skin. He shudders.

“Good to know I didn’t disappoint.”

Kise snorts. “Aominecchi, I highly doubt you could do anything to disappoint me.”

When Aomine lets out a sound similar to a gasp, Kise slaps a hand over his mouth. The realization that his words sounded so close to a confession dawns on him and he doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t know how to make it seem like Aomine hasn’t been invading his thoughts day in and day out.

“I just mean that… you’re my favorite, you know? I like you. Not just because you’re good at your job or you have this great voice or that—“

“Kise,” Aomine interrupts. Kise’s name comes through the phone as a soft growl. “You talk too much.”

Kiss presses his lips together.

“Never thought I’d been into an idiot who talks as much as you do, but can’t control my tastes, can I?”

“Aominecchi!” Kise hisses, indignant. “I’m not an idiot!”

“Sometimes you are,” Aomine chuckles. “But hey, gotta let you go. Got a meeting to get to in five minutes. Should’a been setting up already.”

Kise sighs. He really should get back to his desk anyway. “Okay, okay.”

“Talk to you later, pretty boy.”

Kise blinks. “Pretty boy?”

“And by the way, Kise,” Aomine pauses and Kise holds his breath. “I looked up your picture too.”

The silence on the end of the line is proof that Aomine hung up, but Kise doesn’t put the phone down until it starts to beep loudly in his ear. When he hangs up, he stares at the phone in disbelief. Aomine had looked up his picture, had been wondering what Kise looked like too.

But that fact alone doesn’t leave him speechless. It’s only now that he realizes that maybe he wasn’t the only one who let loose a confession on that phone call.

Never thought I’d be into an idiot who talks as much as you do…

A wide smile spreads across Kise’s lips. He presses his forehead against the table and laughs.

Aominecchi is into me.

“Ryou-chaaaaan!”

Takao slides onto the bench beside Kise, singsonging his name. Kise has been sitting outside by the small pond behind their building for the past fifteen minutes, debating on what to get his sister for her birthday. And maybe trying not to think about his conversation with Aomine and how he had suggested lingerie to impress her new boyfriend.

His eyes flicker toward Takao and the brilliant grin that lights up his face. The grin can only mean one of two things. Takao has news that will excite Kise. Or he has news that will come at Kise’s expense, and will, without a doubt, fail to excite him.

“You’ve heard, haven’t you?” Takao continues without being prompted. Always good at filling silences.

“Heard what?” He shifts on the bench to better look at Takao. To try and read the sparkle in his eyes.

“About our visitors.”

Kise glances around. He doesn’t recall hearing about any visitors. It’s definitely not food truck day, or Takao would already have his container of tacos, half eaten, in his lap. Maybe he missed a visit from the Vice President while he was out musing.

“Kazucchi, if I knew, don’t you think I’d be just as excited as you?”

Takao’s grin widens. “Oh, you’ll be excited all right.”

Kise scrunches his nose. “Are you going to tell me who it is, or are you—“

“The sales team.”

Kise freezes.

“The sales team is coming to visit next week.”

Kise stares at him. He’s not sure he heard Takao correctly. The last he had heard about company travel was that they had put a temporary ban on it. The company wasn’t necessarily hurting for money, but they weren’t in a position to expend any of the budget on unnecessary travel when technology like video conference could be used on a daily basis for communication.

“That can’t be right…” Kise shakes his head. Surely Aomine would’ve brought it up, right? “The budget…”

“Ah!” Takao holds up a finger and presses his other hand to his chest, deepening his voice in a perfect imitation of Midorima. “‘Takao, it appears we will be guests at your regional office next week, Thursday May 7th, to present the recent successes of the sales team and how it will positively affect your work flow and the revenue of the company.’”

Kise snorts. “And you make fun of me for Aominecchi.”

Takao shrugs. “I can’t help it that my taste in men leans toward pretentious, superstitious, tight asses like Shin-Chan.”

If possible, Takao’s correspondence with Midorima could rival Kise’s number of conversations with Aomine.

“I can’t believe he told you before an email went out,” Kise muses aloud. Midorima isn’t one to skirt around protocol. He follows the rules to a T. Unlike someone else…

Someone who didn’t share the news of the sales team travel with Kise.

“Do you think…” Kise bites his lip as he trails off. He stares at the rippling in the pond as two ducklings skirt across the surface near the water’s edge. “Do you think they’re bringing the whole sales team?”

“Ryou-chan.” Takao elbows him in the side and waggles his eyebrows. “Thinking about all the things Aomine can sell you on while he’s here?”

Kise pushes Takao’s face away and rolls his eyes. He ignores Takao’s laughter as he stands, lifting his hand in a brief wave as he says, “Gotta finish up with a few policies before I go so I’m heading back in.”

“Make sure to tell Aomine hi for me!” Takao shouts as Kise walks away.

Kise lifts a single finger over his shoulder and silently curses Takao for his insight. He knows exactly which policy to pull up as an excuse to make a call.

“You know, you don’t have to use the Nijimura policy as a reason to call me,” Aomine drawls, his laughter rumbling through Kise’s headset. Kise rubs his hands up and down his arms to flatten the goosebumps that raise across his skin.

“Well, besides the fact that I wanted to hear your voice,” Kise grins as Aomine chuckles again. “We are missing a signature on this one disclosure form…”

“What the hell, Kise? You’re supposed to warn me about these things.”

“Ah,” Kise raises his hands on either side of his head in surrender, even though Aomine can’t see it. “In fairness, it was forwarded straight to me so you didn’t get to see it and it just came in.”

“Yer a little shit, ya know that?”

Kise snickers. “Aominecchi, that’s mean.” He taps his fingers against his desk and stares at the email in front of him. He’s read it more times than he can count. It’s confirmation that the sales team is headed to their office. The entire sales team. “But now that I have you on the phone… tell me, do you have any plans for next week?”

“Next week?” Aomine is tapping something against his desk. Kise can hear it through his headset. “That’s a weird thing to ask. Guess I don’t have anything in particular planned. Might take mom out to dinner cause she’s been on my ass about seeing me these past few days.”

Weird thing to ask… “You say that like it’s a chore,” Kise says with a soft laugh. “Like you won’t get a free meal out of it.”

“I never said I wasn’t down for dinner.” Aomine’s voice deepens to that suggestive tone he uses when he’s trying to intentionally fluster Kise. “What about you?”

Kise scrunches his nose. Dinner with his mom, he reminds himself as he says, “We’re having some visitors in the office next week.”

“Are you?” Aomine bums on the other end of the line. “Like the VP? Pretty sure that guy is coming here sometime soon too.”

“Like another team,” Kise ventures, his fingers ghosting over the forward button of the email notification they received. Maybe if he sends it to Aomine...

“Another team, huh?” Aomine chuckles. “Hope you don’t have a favorite person on that team too.”

Kise frowns. Is he really not coming? “Aominecchi, I know that you’re—“

“Oi, Kise,” Aomine interrupts. His voice is muffled for a moment as he says something to someone away from the receiver. “Gotta get going. We’re going out for lunch over here at the company’s expense. Talk to you later?”

”Oh, uh… yeah. Yeah, talk to you later Aominecchi.”

Kise is about to press the button to hang up the phone when Aomine says, “Oh, and Kise.”

“Mm?” Kise pauses, his finger hovering above the end call button.

“I hope you don’t have any plans next Thursday cause I could use a tour guide around your area and, you know, you’re kinda my favorite.”

A smile spreads across Kise’s lips, so wide it hurts his cheeks. “I’ll see if I can spare the time.”

Aomine laughs. “I’ll see you then, Kise.”

“See you, Aominecchi.”

Aomine in person is better than anything Kise’s imagination can conjure up.

He’s a hair taller than Kise, but it’s enough to get a smirk of satisfaction from Aomine when he notices. And that smirk. Kise’s knees threatened to buckle the moment Aomine turns that smirk on him. His skin is darker than the picture suggested, his hair a deeper blue.

His voice sounds better in person than it ever has over the phone. He stands in front of their entire department and goes over the feedback they’ve received from reputable clients, the rise in business they expect to receive from word of mouth alone. When he finishes and gestures for Midorima to take his place to crunch numbers, he angles his chair enough to meet Kise’s eye and grins.

People have always told Kise that his smile is dazzling. But none of them have ever seen a real smile from Aomine. Kise doesn’t think he can never compare.

After the meeting, they’re released early. Aomine makes his way to Kise’s desk, walks with him as they leave the building.

“So,” Aomine says, nudging Kise with his elbow.

Kise feels a flare of heat erupt from the touch, even through the fabric of their dress shirts. “So,” Kise replies, grinning to himself as they walk down the street.

The weather is perfect. Kise silently thanks any and all gods out there for giving him clear skies and beautiful temperatures. He also thanks Takao for his constant weather updates.

“You buyin’ me dinner?” Aomine smirks and digs his hands into the pocket of his slacks. “I am an honored guest, after all, aren’t I?”

Kise rolls his eyes. “You’re insufferable, Aominecchi.” He shifts, turning to walk backward so he can face Aomine as he talks. The sidewalks have recently been paved and all the little kinks that used to trip him up have been smoothed out. Aomine won’t have to find out about his clumsy side just yet.

Just yet… Kise thinks, hoping this visit isn’t a singular one. Hoping that more will come.

“I was thinking we could go to a little hole-in-the-wall ramen shop I like to frequent,” he says, gesturing down the street behind him. “It’s only a few blocks away. It’s small, but I’ve never had better ramen than there.”

Aomine’s lips twitch. “I have a damn good ramen shop back home. You really wanna make that claim?”

Kise smirks right back. “Aominecchi, you haven’t had this damn good ramen.”

“Sounds like a challenge, Kise.”

Kise shrugs. “I do have better taste than you, Aominecchi. I mean, look at that tie.”

Aomine shoves at Kise’s shoulder. “You little—“

“So you’re only here until tomorrow morning, right?” Kise asks, turning back around to fall into step at Aomine’s side. “Takao mentioned Midorima staying until the evening, but most of you are headed out early?”

Aomine hums to himself, casting a side eye glance at Kise. “I’ll leave when I want to leave.”

“And…” He leans toward Aomine. “when will that be, Aominecchi?”

“Sunday night at the latest.”

Kise cannot suppress the smile that spreads across his lips. He bumps his shoulder against Aomine’s and says, “You just can’t get enough of me, can you? I guess that means I’ll to show you around since you’re a tourist and all. Take you to all my favorite food places, the best things to see, the best shops, all of—“

“Kise.” Aomine grabs Kise’s wrist, stopping him. “You talk too much.”

“Wha—“

Kise’s confused protest is muffled when Aomine’s lips cover his own. It takes Kise a moment for the action to sink in before his arms raise to slide around Aomine’s neck and he kisses back.

Again, his imagination did nothing to prepare him for this. Aomine is warm, all over. His lips are like a fire brand against Kise’s. It feels right, Kise thinks in the back of his mind. Like finding the final piece of a puzzle he’s been working on all his life.

When Aomine pulls away, Kise blinks at him, dazed. Aomine’s cocky smirk draws him out of it and Kise shoves at his shoulder with a pout.

“Aominecchi! The first kiss comes after the first date.” He presses shaky fingers against his lips to hide his smile. “Those are the rules.”

“Kise,” Aomine grabs his hand, pulling it away from his mouth to thread their fingers together. “Pretty sure our first date was during one of those long ass phone calls.” He ignores Kise’s snort of indignation and adds, “Besides, I don’t like to play by the rules.”

He steals another brief kiss before Kise can protest and pulls him down the street. “Now c’mon. I’ve got a big bowl of ramen with my name on it and you better have a damn good plan to keep me occupied this weekend.”

Kirishima dips his head under the water, flicking his long hair over his shoulder when he resurfaces. “A shit you can’t take your eyes off of.”

Bakugou gives him the finger and lowers himself onto the edge of the tub. “Sure is big.” “Oho?” Kirishima flashes a pointy tooth grin as he glides toward Bakugou’s end of the tub. “Isn’t it?” His eyes cut to below the water and Bakugou presses a palm against his face and shoves him away. “Fucking moron,” he growls half heartedly. He’s tired, he realizes. Tired enough that Kirishima’s inappropriate quips hardly affect him. The night had been long. The number of civilians rescued had been significantly less than he was okay with admitting. Though they’d been praised for their efforts, Bakugou felt none of the pride of a job well done. The villain was still out there. He had still accomplished what he came to do and still got away despite hours of pursuit. Bakugou doesn’t have to hear it from Kirishima to know he’s disappointed too. Kirishima’s smile, though wide and teasing, doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hey.” Bakugou jumps when Kirishima’s wet hand presses lightly against his side. It’s the bruise, he notes. Kirishima traces the mark with the tip of his finger. “Does it hurt?” A loaded question, Bakugou thinks. “I don’t fucking know.” He slides to the floor, let’s his arm hang over the side so he can dangle his fingertips in the water. “You tell me.”

He doesn’t receive a response right away and, instead of looking at the expression on Kirishima’s face, his eyes track the movement of his fingers through the water. Finally, Kirishima sighs and moves closer to the edge of the tub. His arm is mere centimeters away from the lazy drag of Bakugou’s hand.

The cool, wet press of fingers to his cheeks finally gets him to look up. There’s pain in Kirishima’s eyes. Bakugou knows him well enough to see it, even as he tries to swallow it down. But there’s also relief and for the life of him, Bakugou can’t understand why.

“We lost a lot of people, didn’t we?” Kirishima says softly. His thumb swipes slowly across Bakugou’s cheek.

“No shit,” Bakugou mutters in reply, cursing himself for the way his face tilts into the gentle touch.

“But we also saved a lot too,” Kirishima slides his fingers up into Bakugou’s hair, lightly massages his scalp.

“Mm…”

When Kirishima brings his hand back to Bakugou’s face, he curls his fingers just behind his jaw to urge him forward. With a soft sigh of resignation, Bakugou tilts his head toward Kirishima’s.

Kirishima’s forehead is still damp, wet strands of hair tickle against Bakugou’s cheek.

“I thought…” Kirishima’s thumb makes another slow sweep across his cheek, dipping back inward to hover over Bakugou’s lips. “When you were hit…” His eyes cut to below the edge of the tub, to the bruise he can’t see from this angle. “You didn’t move at first… you’re usually up right away and you didn’t move so I thought—“

Ah… Bakugou leans forward and gently nips at the pad of Kirishima’s thumb. “Don’t be fucking stupid,” he growls, pushing himself forward enough to hover over Kirishima. “Like a blow like that could ever fucking kill me.”

Kirishima chuckles, though mirth is decidedly absent from the sound. “How could I forget… nothing can kill Blasty McSplode.”

“Don’t ruin mood, jackass.” Bakugou leans in, pressing his lips against Kirishima’s.

Kirishima lets out a huff of a laugh through his nose before parting his lips to deepen the kiss. His hand slides around to Bakugou’s nape, pulling him closer. The width of the bathtub wall between them is an obstacle Bakugou is already annoyed with. Heat burns in his palms and, in an effort to avoid paying extra for damage control to the hotel room, he lifts himself off the ground, kicks off his underwear and slides into the tub.

His legs brace on either side of Kirishima’s hips, his fingers tangling in the long strands of red hair. Kirishima groans softly when Bakugou gives his hair a tug.

“Shit, Katsuki,” Kirishima breathes as he pulls back to trail kisses down the line of Bakugou’s neck. “Shit, I was so worried…” Bakugou shivers and grits his teeth as Kirishima’s hands trace down his sides. His touch is feather light over the bruise-always hyper aware of everything-before he digs his fingers into Bakugou’s hips. “I was so…”

Bakugou nips at Kirishima’s earlobe, earning him a gasp in response. “Shut up, Eijirou.” He tugs at Kirishima’s hair again, urging him to tilt his head back. He mouths at Kirishima’s neck, relishing in the soft sounds of encouragement. “Stop fucking dwelling.”

“Mm…” Kirishima’s hands slip off Bakugou’s hips, his fingers finding purchase on the curve of Bakugou’s ass instead. He squeezes and Bakugou hisses out a curse and Kirishima’s name. “I think I need a sufficient distraction in order to stop dwelling.”

“Idiot…” Bakugou mumbles, cupping his hands around Kirishima’s cheeks. The kiss is deep. Soul deep. It makes him shudder, makes him groan into Kirishima’s mouth when a finger ghosts between his cheeks.

Bakugou grinds his hips downward, the motion insistent, needy. He would normally drag this out, normally leave Kirishima breathing heavily, nearly begging him to continue. But tonight they both need this, the comfort of one another, the skin on skin contact. He hates that he needs it, but he does.

And only Kirishima can make him feel fulfilled.

It only takes a few rolls of his hips for Kirishima to swell beneath him, to press against Bakugou’s ass. The teasing press of fingers and the promise of something heavier makes Bakugou growl out his impatience in a string of curses. He gives another harsh tug to Kirishima’s hair.

“Ah… shit…” Kirishima groans, bucking up against Bakugou’s rolling hips.

“Don’t fucking tease me, Eijirou.” He bites at Kirishima’s lower lip, harder enough for Kirishima to pull a sharp gasp through his nose. Bakugou soothes the skin with a swipe of his tongue before he breathes, “Just do it.”

“God…” Kirishima shudders, his finger brushing back and forth between Bakugou’s cheeks, delving deeper and deeper until his fingertip presses against his entrance. “There’s no—“

“We’re in the tub, idiot,” Bakugou grinds his hips back, making the water slosh around them for emphasis. “I can take it. Stop hesitating, dammit.”

Kirishima chuckles softly and slowly, so slowly, presses the tip of his finger through. Bakugou hisses at the intrusion and groans as Kirishima pushes in and out at an excruciating languid pace.

“Fuck…” Bakugou groans. “Stop fucking with me.” He slides his fingers into Kirishima’s hair and lifts himself on his knees. He tilts Kirishima’s head back, watching as Kirishima’s eyes widen, staring up at him with a kind of reverence Bakugou knows he doesn’t deserve. But Kirishima has always looked at him like that. The adoration only deepened when Bakugou finally gave in to what he really needed from Kirishima. “Eijirou…”

Kirishima’s lips tilt upward into a faint smirk. “Yes, Katsuki.” His voice is a soft purr.

“Mm…” Bakugou shivers when Kirishima adds a second finger and curls them deep, just barely glancing off his prostate. “Stop with the fingering and fuck me already.”

Kirishima snorts, a wide smile spreading across his lips. “And here I thought you’d say something romantic.” He laughs again, following the sound with a deeper press of his fingers.

Bakugou’s stomach tightens as a thrill of pleasure races up his spine. “Dammit, Eijirou,” he groans, pressing his hips back for more of that glancing pressure. “Who the hell do you think you’re screwing? Romantic...” He scoffs and manages to roll his eyes.

“What the—“ Aomine’s eyes narrow and he jogs forward, advancing on Kise. “Are you seriously running away? When the hell did you ever back down from anything?”