Snowed In

Part 14

The dents in the front are still there, the hood and front bumper bent up. One of the headlights is cracked, the front tires looking newer, and the windshield replaced, but it is his car that spun out on a patch of black ice, the car he thought was forever lost to the treeline and snow, and now it sits here before him looking beat up, but having just been running a few minutes ago.

"I seriously can't believe you fixed this piece of shit," He extends his foot out, surprised to find when he taps the bumper with his boot it doesn't squeak or groan or completely fall off.

Kirishima laughs. "Well, I didn't do too much. Just towed it to Tetsu's shop and Itsuka and him fixed it all up mostly. Good portion of the time I was kinda in the way, but I'm good about handing over the right tools when asked!"

Bakugou knew that part of that had to be a lie. He had to have his hands deep in motor oil; there was no way Kirishima would be the type to stand around and watch. All the times he would disappear off with Tetsu, he could have easily come back or not gone at all, he's sure, but he was involved, Bakugou just knew it, but the giant idiot was downplaying this as if he didn't very likely beg his cousin and his wife to fix up this stranger's car for him.

Even more so, it wasn't a single day worth of thought. He had to have gotten the car towed before the snowstorm he was sure. Maybe when he was still passed out with the doctor he went back to drag his car from the side of the road. Maybe right there and then he decided he wanted to fix it up just because he was that type of guy. Nice. Thoughtful. Caring in a way that was almost painful to watch. The kind of guy who rescues a stranger from a storm, lets him stay at his house, gives him food, introduces him to his friends, all the while this stranger is a complete and utter ass, but he still did it. All of it. With a smile on his face, happily moving around Bakugou like he'd grown up here instead of crash landed.

Bakugou looks at him even now he still sees the most genuine of smiles, the sunshine radiating off of Kirishima even in the dark of winter, even when everything else around him is dead, somehow Kirishima brings it all to life. Brings Bakugou to life. And fuck, he's horrified to admit he likes it. Loves it. Wants to know how that might feel in the long term--

"So now, you know, you can go home."

It feels like a bucket of cold water drenches him. Poured directly down his throat, choking it's way down, extinguishing any and all fire that he held until even the embers were damp ashes in his gut, drowning.

He lets the hand holding his slip between his fingers, trying to play it off as natural as he runs both hands over the beat up hood of his car, face turned away from Kirishima in an attempt to square his features before he can see how disappointed he looks. His fingers are so wind-bitten cold now, he can't feel his fingertips. 

He shouldn't have let himself get carried away with dumb fantasies. He has a way out now, it's not a distant when , and Kirishima gave it to him.

His job, his apartments, parents, cat, sort-of friends, they all still exist outside of these few acres of distant village in the snow. He can't keep ignoring them. He has to go back.

"Thank you," Bakugou manages to say after a little bit more time of staring, telling himself to pull his shit together. He's sincere, he still can't believe Kirishima would do this just for him, but the new freedom it brings is hard to think about. He turns, somehow pulling a smile to his features, small but there, private, just for Kirishima to see. "Come on though," He takes his hand again, not as tight as before, but maybe just to make it last long enough to remember. "I have one other thing to show you."

---

Inside, the lights are on. Bakugou's almost happy for it, though it takes away from the dramatic glow of the last part of his display, they can see better.