Chapter Text
Strong gusts of wind greeted him the moment he stepped a foot off of the small ferry, ruffling his bangs backwards.
Though normally one to be irritated from such an act, a feeling of delight washed over Katsuki as his eyes roamed around the oceanside, taking note of the lack of people present.
He plucked his hearing aids out from his ears, wiping them clean with the dry cloth that he kept on his person at all times.
Once he was done with the menial task, he slipped the hearing aids into his pockets, sitting himself down on the pier.
The commute to Shirakawa-go had been stressful, but Katsuki still grabbed his painting kit even as a slight ache wracked his knees from every movement. He never was one to back down from an opportunity to refine his skills.
Colors littered the sketchbook within seconds, and an array of clouds soon followed, brightening up the sheets immensely in spite of how damp and grey they were in nature.
A pair of feet lodged in front of the immaculate view disrupted the entire whole painting process, and his small smile immediately vanquished, a scowl replacing it.
He had always hated it whenever people interrupted him while painting, and the four eyes fucker wasn’t an exception to this particular pet peeve though he couldn’t muster the energy to tell the man off, preferring to instead make his displeasure known with a scathing glare.
Without his hearing aids around, making out the man’s words was made even more of a chore even taking into account his proficiency in lip reading, so it took Katsuki about a minute or two to decipher what the guy was even saying–
“Where can I find the nearest hotel?”
Just as Katsuki was about to snap at the man to go ask someone else, another person randomly materialized into thin air, radiating as loud and obnoxious a presence as his bright red dye job.
The red haired man stepped forward, approaching the apparent tourist with a polite smile and the purpose of giving the guy a response from the looks of it.
Katsuki subsequently tuned them out, not interested enough to even bother reading the redhead’s lips.
Katsuki acted swiftly, not wanting to let any more of his precious time slip out of his grasp.
He collected his cluttered art supplies from the pier to slide back into his open duffel bag, leaving the two noisy dumbfucks to chatter their lives away without a single care in the world.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the redhead gesturing for him not to leave, and Katsuki scoffed at that, knowing that socializing was the last thing that he wanted to do right now.
With one final middle finger aimed towards those two losers, Katsuki hightailed his way out of there.
Leaving the premises shouldn’t have felt as freeing as it did, but at the moment, it felt as if he were a bird taking flight out of its cage for the first time in forever, and damn did it feel so fucking good.
```
Bakugou Sumiko had always been a familiar presence throughout his life.
Since he was a small brat, Katsuki knew that he could always count on his grandmother to shower him and everyone in their family with her unwavering kindness and patience even in the most trying times.
It went without saying that when the family’s patriarch passed away all those years ago from terminal cancer, his grandmother took the loss the hardest, but she also showed just how strong her grit was during that time.
She never broke down publically, and seemed to be handling everything well until Katsuki caught her sobbing into her hands on the night of his grandfather’s funeral.
Flash forward to a decade later, an autoimmune inner ear disease came after his ass like it was like some rabid angry mutt, cruelly stripping away his ability to hear and causing immense distress amongst everyone in the Bakugou family.
Ever the wise, Grandmother Sumiko was able to lighten up the grimness of Katsuki’s harsh new reality.
She voluntarily left the refuge of her countryside with the resolute goal of teaching her grandson the ins and outs of Japanese sign language.
His grandmother also took it upon herself to lend Katsuki a pair of her hearing aids for temporary use at least until he could purchase a hearing aid of his own, giving them all the leeway to save up the money without any financial anxiety around to burden them.
Thus, when there was news circulating around their family that Grandma Sumiko sustained a serious back injury, Katsuki took the initiative, offering to take care of his grandma for the following two weeks while on winter break.
It wasn’t the worst decision he ever made, and Katsuki knew he did the right thing the moment he saw his grandmother hobbling down the steps of her abode to greet him.
“You should have just stayed inside.” Katsuki’s body acted quickly, moving on pure reflex to catch the old woman who had just stumbled over her own feet. He looped their arms together. “I have a copy of the key right here inside my pocket. I could have opened the damn door.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.” His grandmother said slowly, making it easier for Katsuki’s hearing aids to work their magic. “So I wanted to welcome you here wholeheartedly through my own efforts.”
The corners of his lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, and he shook his head fondly at the old woman. “I see that some things never change huh.”
“You got that right,” A burst of energy engulfed Grandma Sumiko unexpectedly. She made a sharp turn to skip back towards her home, inadvertently dragging her grandson along. “Well, there’s no time to waste. Lunch doesn’t cook for itself and I still haven’t started on prep.”
His bags swung in his grasp, coming dangerously close to falling, something which would normally prickle at his patience if not for the fact that he was already in high spirits.
“There’s no need to worry,” Katsuki hiked the bags up his shoulders, and he soon regained control of his own two feet, holding the older woman back from going faster. “I’ll be helpin’ you out.”
Grandma Sumiko flashed her grandson a toothy grin, slowing down to match his pace. “Aww, sweetie, I knew I could count on you!”
“Damn right you can.”
```
Time ticked forward in a blink of an eye, and it didn't take long for them both to finish cooking everything they needed for their meal.
Soon they were digging into the rice pudding they had made and talking idly.
“So how's school going? I heard from your mother that you went back to uni recently.” Grandma Sumiko asked, dumping a spoonful of pudding into her grandson’s bowl. “I hope you've been getting along with your new classmates.”
“Uni’s been going okay, I guess…” He trailed off, shaking away beads of irritation which had clawed its way over to the pits of his stomach. “And everyone there is fuc— nice, I mean, but they can just be overbearing sometimes. “
‘Overbearing’ was putting it lightly to say the least. His classmates would constantly annoy the fuck out of him on a daily basis, throwing unsubtle looks of pity his way and gossiping to one another almost every time he was in the their vicinity.
But worrying someone who he cared so deeply for wasn’t something he felt comfortable doing. Instead, he settled for sugarcoating his words, something that was unheard of for his usual blunt self.
It didn't take long for his grandmother to break the ice, though, perhaps sensing that something was amiss with his response.“Why don't you tell me about some of the things you've painted?”
Katsuki jumped onto the shift of topic without any hesitation, rambling on and on about some of his most favorite creations he had painted this year and successfully placing a lid on any intrusive thoughts that threatened to erupt.
There wasn’t any use dwelling in things that shouldn’t matter in the long run after all.
```
The next few days flew by with Katsuki spending most of his time tending to his grandmother’s garden, and making sure her Mandarin Oranges and Strawberries were growing well.
He hadn’t had much experience gardening before his temporary stay in Shirakawa-go, but Katsuki found himself enjoying his trips to the garden to the point that he would even take out his painting kit from time to time to paint the scenery whenever inspiration would strike.
Therefore, he was mildly disappointed when his grandmother asked him to head to the nearby river to fish instead of work in the garden like usual since they were running low on food and money.
Google maps served as a great guide, allowing him to traverse to Shogawa river without needing to ask locals for any directions.
There were already two or three people loitering around the place once he got there, and he swiftly walked past them, plopping himself down on the furthest portion of the riverbed, opening up the fishing kit case that he was carrying.
Growing up, he and his father would often hike to the mountains, and they’d spend some time fishing in the creeks while they were at it, so he wasn’t a stranger to fishing, and he had his fishing rod assembled in no time.
Minutes passed, and his bait still had no bites, causing his patience to wear thinner and thinner.
He was on the verge of losing it altogether when he felt something tugging on his vest, and he turned around to see a little raven haired girl standing before him.
“What the–”
The little girl caught him off guard when she suddenly did some movements with her hands, signing the word ‘Hello’
Katsuki blinked once, twice, thrice and then four times until most of his bewilderment had worn off before signing back to the little girl. ‘How did you know?’
‘You have hearing aids on,’ The little girl pointed out, tilting her head to the side. It was then that Katsuki’s ruby red eyes zeroed in, locking in on the red hearing aids fastened on the girl’s ears just as she had gone on to confirm that fact over to him. ‘Just like me, you see… It’s why I spoke to you in sign language, we’re the same!’
He couldn’t quite grasp what had happened, but his heart squeezed gently in his chest. He was at a loss for words.
He and the girl…
They’re the same?
His internal ruminations came to a premature end the moment his peripheral vision caught sight of a flash of red zipping their way. His eyes widened when he recognized the person as that same redhead he met the day he arrived at Shirakawa-go.
‘Eimu!’ That redhead stalked over to the girl—Eimu, and crouched down to her eye level, his hands never ceasing in signing. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why did you run off like that?’
‘I’m sorry, brother,’ Eimu replied, lips curling down into a small tiny ass pout. ‘I just wanted to see the fishies, and I thought you’d be stuck talking to that old lady in the market for a while longer.’
‘I’m sorry for the long wait, pumpkin. I was just–’
The man stopped signing mid-sentence, only just now noticing Katsuki who was a few centimeters away from him, and then his mouth ticked upwards in a grin, raising one of his arms to wave at him as if they were long lost friends who had just made a grand reunion.
‘Oh, hey there, I was just wondering where you had gone these last couple days,’ The guy walked closer, switching to signing to Katsuki instead. ‘I hope you’re doing alright? That tourist was making you uncomfortable last time, I’m sorry about that by the way.’
‘How did you know that I was–’ Katsuki’s eyebrows rose to his hairline, immediately thinking back to his interactions with that tourist, remembering how he hadn’t had any aids during that time. ‘I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids, but you knew I was deaf?’
‘I had a hunch.’ was how the redhead had responded with Katsuki detected zero dishonesty from it, and he found himself reacting in an inexplicably weird way to this newfound information, bursting into childlike laughter.
Embarrassment burned in his chest once he had collected himself, his cheeks heating up especially under the redhead’s burning gaze. He spoke aloud. “Is there a fuckin’ problem?”
“No,” The redhead switched to talking, his tone vibrant and cheery, bouncing off on Katsuki’s hearing aids easily. “I just didn’t expect that kind of reaction from you. Not saying it’s bad by any means— I think it’s cute actually.”
“W- What, cute?” Katsuki stuttered, his face bursting into flames. “You’re insane!”
“I’m not insane,” The man quipped, winking at Katsuki. “I’m Kirishima Eijirou, and you are?”
“You’re so corny,” Katsuki rolled his eyes at the man, ducking his head downwards to hide his still red face. “The name's Bakugou Katsuki.”
“Well, thanks for keeping my sister company, Bakugou,” Kirishima said, grabbing hold of his sister who had been starting to wander off again. “It was nice meeting you, but Eimu and I should get going now, we still gotta finish running some errands before sunset. See you!”
“Y- Yeah.”
In a blink of an eye, the two siblings were off, leaving Katsuki to his own devices. He quickly focused back to the task at hand, snatching his discarded fishing rod just in time to feel a bite on the line. Finally, a fish had fallen for the bait.
Grinning maniacally, Katsuki pulled with all of his strength, refusing to let that thing get away from him.
It was fucking game time.
```
The farmers’ market was buzzing with activity on Monday morning. Katsuki wiped some sweat off of his brow with a towel, cursing the weather for being so hot today.
They had finally harvested enough oranges and strawberries to be sold by the dozen, but Katsuki was having little to no luck selling them. He had only had three customers so far.
‘I’ll handle this,’ He swiveled around to address his grandmother who was slumped over by the chair beside him in exhaustion. ‘You should head back home and wash up.’
His grandmother looked like she was about to object to his suggestion, so Katsuki acted quickly, signing over to her. ‘I promise you that I have everything handled. Go get some rest.’
Reluctantly, Grandma Sumiko conceded to his plea, picking up her tote bag from the counter and taking her leave. As she turned away she reminded her grandson not to overexert himself in the heat.
Seeing no other option to lure in the customers, Katsuki decided to make use of the microphone his grandmother had placed on the table earlier this morning. “I have fruits over here for sale. Come and buy them while they’re still fresh, you dumb bastards!”
His attempt actually proved to not be futile when Katsuki saw a familiar redhead walking up to him with a grin, beaming even brighter than the sun shining down upon him.
‘You know it’s not really manly to call your clients bastards.’
‘And what of it, bastard?’ Katsuki challenged without any actual bite. ‘What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be looking after your sister?’
‘Relax, she’s over there.’
Kirishima pointed over to a grassy area in their vicinity where Eimu had crouched down, picking some daisies from the grass.
Katsuki couldn’t help but find that sight endearing, and his lips subconsciously curved into a small smile.
“She really loves flowers that grow around the farmers’ market, so we stop by here even on days we don’t have any vegetables to sell.” Kirishima spoke, grabbing Katsuki’s attention back. “But I don’t mind. After all, it makes her happy, and there’s no harm seeing beautiful flowers every once in a while.”
“You sell vegetables?” Katsuki asked. Without meaning to, his eyes wandered down to the other man’s arms. “I could have sworn you were a construction worker or some shit with arms like those.”
“Haha, close enough, but not really,” Kirishima laughed, leaning his muscular arms atop the stall almost as if he knew Katsuki was eating them up with his eyes. “I’m a farmer who also sells vegetables, you see.”
“How is that supposed to be close en- Ahh!”
The world spun for a good minute or two when Katsuki’s legs were taken right out from under him, and his arms scrambled for purchase before landing around the shoulders of the farmer who had scooped him up.
“See, this is what I meant by ‘close enough’,” Kirishima explained, winking down at the blond in his arms.
“Alright, I get your damn point,” Katsuki thrashed around the man’s arms, doing his best to shut down the small part of him that actually enjoyed being held this way. “Now put me the fuck down!”
“Okay, okay.”
The redhead relented, setting Katsuki gently back down on the ground. “That was a good workout, let me know if you ever want me to do that again.”
“Hah? the fuck?” A flush traveled to Katsuki’s cheeks at the man’s words, and he elbowed him on the arm. “You’re insane if you think I’d ever want to be picked up like a fuckin’ damsel in distress.”
“Sure, you don’t,” Kirishima smiled at the other man teasingly whose skin was growing redder by the minute. “Well, anyway, my offer will always be on the table, so don’t be shy.”
“You can shove that offer up your ass ‘cuz I would never-”
It was at that specific moment that Eimu lost interest in playing with the flowers and began skipping her way over Katsuki’s stall, her red eyes shining with excitement for some reason.
‘Hi there, mister.’ It was a little harder to decipher Eimu’s sign language this time around with how much she was bouncing up and down, but Katsuki’s trained eyes managed it albeit with some difficulty. ‘It’s good that we are able to run into you today. My brother and I missed you lots, and we’ve both been hoping to meet you again. It’s perfect timing.’
“Eimu!” a scandalized Kirishima exclaimed, forgetting to sign for a moment before he composed himself enough to finish the rest of his sentence in sign. ‘I can’t believe you told him that.’
In response, Eimu cocked her head to the side, innocently. ‘But it’s true isn’t it? You couldn’t stop talking about him while we were running errands for him that day we met him, and even yesterday—You were saying how you wished you could get to know him more.’
The little girl’s words made Katsuki’s heart do some weird flip flop somersault bullshit thing in his chest while color splotched his cheeks, putting the strawberries lying around the stall to shame.
‘Um, well, this is awkward,’ Kirishima addressed the blond with an equally red face. ‘I can’t deny what she just told you. I do wanna get the chance to get to know you. It’s fine if you aren’t cool with it though so-’
‘Just do what you want,’ Katsuki interjected with such hastiness that it visibly caught both of them off guard. ‘I mean it’s fine with me, so do as you like.’
‘Good to know,’ Relief took over Kirishima’s expression, but it disappeared the moment he looked Katsuki straight in the eye, bashfulness gracing his features. ‘I was worried that I was crossing boundaries, so it’s reassuring to find that you’re fine with us getting to know each other more, and that it wasn’t just me being overly eager.’
Katsuki lifted his arms up to deliver his response, but found himself unable to do so with how the distance between him and Kirishima was shrinking, sending his heart into overdrive.
If they were to lean in just a little bit closer, he could get a taste of the other’s glossy looking lips, and fuck—
What the fucking hell?
He bit his lips and angled his face away from the other man, fending off temptation.
These actions didn’t go unnoticed by Kirishima. The redhead jolted in place, stepping away from Katsuki with an apologetic wince.
‘Sorry about that,’ Kirishima said. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’
‘Nah, it’s fine.’
For a while, they stood uncomfortably in silence until suddenly Kirishima’s eyes lit up, and he pointed at the fruit being sold in Katsuki’s stall. ‘Can I buy some of those?’
‘Huh?’
‘I love Strawberries,’ Eimu interjected, and both Katsuki and Kirishima practically jumped in surprise, having forgotten that the girl had been listening in on their conversation. ‘Can you please buy some for me, brother?’
The redhead regained his composure, and his smile shifted into a much more genuine one, handing Katsuki the money in exchange. ‘Here you go. This should be enough for a box of strawberries.’
‘Idiot, this is too much,’ Katsuki’s eyes widened in astonishment the moment he saw the money lying around his palm— two hundred yen. ‘They only cost six hundred fifty yen, so take your money back.
‘Keep the change,” Kirishima insisted with the shake of his shake in order to punctuate his point. ‘Think of it as a little welcoming gift between neighbours.’
‘I don’t wanna be in your debt, so I can’t accept the extra-’
‘You won’t be in my debt, I swear.’ Kirishima added, and winked coyly at Katsuki. ‘But if you really wanna make sure that’s not the case, you could stop by my vegetable stall next week and buy some to repay me. I wouldn’t be against seeing a cute customer first thing in the morning.’
‘Kirishima.’
The two Kirishimas simultaneously signed, on a similar sibling wavelength or some shit. ‘Yes, are you talking about me?’
‘You cheeky little shits,’ Katsuki countered, yet he played along, blushing as he signed the man’s first name to make his point clear. ‘Eijirou.’
Kiri— Eijirou lost his footing randomly until he caught himself, staring back at Katsuki with a red face. ‘Yes, Katsuki?’
Despite the fact that he was the only Bakugou present at the very moment, Eijirou still used his first name, and just that fact alone had Katsuki’s stomach acting all funny though he didn’t particularly hate the other man calling him ‘Katsuki’, so he chose not to point out how such act was unnecessary.
‘Fine,’ Katsuki directed them back to the topic at hand. ‘I’ll buy some vegetables from you next time, and we will call this whole debt thing a day.’
‘Yay,’ Eimu celebrated way too adorably to the point that it even managed to bring a small smile to Katsuki’s lips. ‘Brother and I will be looking forward to it, mister.’
Eijirou reiterated his sister’s words with a grin. ‘See you there, Katsuki’.
With that, after receiving the box of strawberries they paid for, the siblings took their leave, and suddenly, Katsuki found himself feeling some type of weirdness from the concept of just being by himself with no company.
Wishing to quell that feeling, he brought his painting kit out, letting his hands paint anything they wished as long as a certain individual with red shitty hair and pointy ass shark teeth wasn’t part of the equation.
```
The rest of the week flew by, and Katsuki kept his promise when the following Monday rolled around. He ended up purchasing quite a few vegetables from the Kirishima family.
Now, while he stood chopping away at the vegetables in the kitchen he found himself envisioning an exquisite hot pot meal.
“What’s got a smile on your face right now?” Grandma Sumiko crept up behind her grandson, a small smile playing on her lips as she watched him practically jump into the air in surprise. “You don’t normally smile that often while cooking dinner.”
“It’s nothing,” Katsuki replied defensively, repositioning his hold on the knife that he had nearly dropped just moments ago when she startled him. “I’m just glad that the vegetables I got for us turned out well is all.”
“You got them from this person named Kirishima, right?” Grandma Sumiko questioned, her smile taking on a sly turn. “I’m taking it that your meeting with him today also played a part in your mood?”
Katsuki stilled, taking a breather from chopping in order to calm his racing heartbeat, not wanting to risk an accident. “What? Of course not, how on earth could seeing that idiot make-”
“It’s getting late,” His grandmother said instead, not entertaining her grandson’s outcries of denial. “We should really finish cooking.”
“Right.”
His fingers moved on autopilot, continuing to chop the carrots. His grandmother started unwrapping the beef to help him cook.
Cooking had successfully done the trick of steering away any thoughts of a certain redheaded farmer from his mind until his grandmother spoke again. “There’s gonna be an upcoming Light-up event soon. You should go ahead and attend it with that Kirishima boy.”
He opened his mouth to say ‘Why should I go attend with him? He’s not even my friend’, but then his mind flashed back to the memory of Eijirou signing that he wanted to get to know him more, and his objections ceased.
“Tch, I guess that’s not a bad idea actually...”
```
It just so happened that he ran into Eijirou a couple days later when he was fishing once again, and his mouth acted on its own the moment the other man flashed his dorky ass grin at him. “Are you and your sister free to come with me to attend that Light-up event thing this next Friday?”
Never before had another person affected him in this sort of way, after all… But here he was now, nervously playing with the seams of his blue yukata while anticipating Eijirou and Eimu’s arrival.
With the impending fireworks celebration due to occur later that night, Katsuki chose to forgo wearing his hearing aids which meant that he was forced to be more alert than usual.
Yet, in spite of this, the universe chose to act like a grade-A fucking asshole. As he stood waiting for Eijirou and Eimu, a brat bumped into his legs, shoving him toward the ground at breakneck speed.
He managed to prevent himself from getting his face caked with drink through the help of great reflexes, though his left geta wasn’t quite as lucky since it bore the brunt of the fall, leading the strap to snap.
“Fuck.”
His curse drew quite a lot of stares which were all aimed towards his way until he glared them all to submission, and he let out a relieved sigh at that before he turned his attention back to the strap, trying to mend it somehow.
He was so engrossed in his task that he hadn’t even noticed that someone was walking over to him, causing his heart to nearly stop in his chest the moment his foot was yanked out from under the ground.
“Hey, what the fuck–”
The words died in his throat upon catching sight of Eijirou who looked incredibly stunning in his black yukata.
‘Calm down,’ Eijirou momentarily stopped working on fixing the strap to address the man whose foot was lying on his lap. ‘This should only take a minute.’
Eijirou’s fingers felt like electricity on his skin, and Katsuki’s eyes snapped shut instinctively, surrendering to how good the touch made him feel.
Sadly, it lasted much shorter than he would have wanted as Katsuki felt the loss of warmth soon after, and his eyes fluttered open, coming face to face with Eijirou’s look of triumph.
‘There, all done.’
He twisted his foot around, noticing how the repaired strap seemed sturdy enough not to fall apart anytime soon. ‘Thanks, you really did a great job fixing it.’
‘No problem,’ Eijirou smiled at him gleefully. ‘I guess all my experience fixing Eimu’s strap whenever it breaks came in handy.’
‘Where is she by the way?’ Katsuki started looking around the vicinity in alarm in search of the small girl. ‘Weren’t you supposed to bring her along?’
‘She had a last minute play date with her friend,’ Eijirou explained, standing up and pulling Katsuki to his feet. ‘She told me to go ahead and meet up with you without her.’
Just the prospect of them being alone together screamed the word ‘date’, sending a flurry of jitters to circulate around his abdomen, and Katsuki shook his head at that, not exactly liking that he was acting like a girl from a chick flick.
Silently, they both started trudging their way through the crowd, passing by brightly colored huts with bonfires surrounding their patios, washing the atmosphere around the pair a hearty orange.
They stopped at a vacant bench right across from a bridge. Eijirou started the conversation, asking about Katsuki’s paintings.
‘It’s so cool that you get to study painting,’ Eijirou marveled like the dork that he was. ‘I didn’t exactly get to study college, so it always makes me happy to hear other people getting a chance to learn more about their craft.’
‘I’m sor-’
‘No, it’s fine,’ Eijirou was swift to sign his rebuttal, cutting off Katsuki’s apology. ‘Eimu is always my main priority, so I’d be willing to give everything up to give her the life that she deserves even if it means dropping out of college.’
‘What about your own happiness, dumbass?’ Katsuki’s response had caused Eijirou to reel back in shock, but the blond kept going, making his opinion known like the blunt guy that he was. ‘Instead of just giving and giving, you should also do something kind for yourself in order to be happy.’
For a while, Katsuki thought that he had rendered Eijirou unresponsive, but then the redhead looked at him with awe as if he had just said the most life changing shit ever.
Though, before there could be any further development to their little conversation, dozens of colors decorated the night sky out of the blue as fireworks were continuously blasted right after another.
Katsuki kept his eyes glued to the array of fireworks dancing around the sky, and for a second, a small part of him wished that he could hear the sounds of them popping as well.
But, his last advice that he told Eijirou replayed over his head, and he squandered those intrusive thoughts away, choosing to enjoy the fireworks with the most that he had right now.
And, just like that, everything was in the right place for now.
